john monaghan, Director of shanway press, asks martin connolly a few questions about his novel, belfast, with dinosaurs, 1979
Martin & John at the Book Launch, Aug 9, 2022
JM: So, Martin, from Belfast to Japan, back to Belfast in 1979… with Dinosaurs? Tell us about your journey.
MC: Well, I left Belfast in 1991, after completing my M.A. in Medieval Studies at Queen’s. I wanted to sample life in Japan. I ended up falling in love with the place, so I’ve now been living there for the last 31 years. But you know what they say, distance makes the heart grow fonder, and after such a considerable length of time, I began to feel the tug of going back, if not physically, then imaginatively. It’s likely a natural process for anyone who lives away from their hometown for a long period. I’m happy to live in beautiful Japan each day, be it commuting on a train or hiking in the mountains, but I can also live in Belfast in my mind, and in words on the page. As for dinosaurs, I remember growing up with them all around -two-legged ones.
JM: Would it be fair to say then, that the book, or at least the characters, are based on real people and true events?
MC: Some of the characters (principally Christopher and Michael) are based on real people, and the experience of growing up in Belfast (and Glengormley) during the Troubles. The novel takes the elements of autobiography and novelizes them. But, by far, most of the characters in this novel are completely fictional, or beg your pardon, may be completely fictional... And while the discovery of Ireland’s first ever dinosaur fossils was made by Roger Byrne (a real person!), the story around that is completely distorted. I had worries that my version of events might be taken as insensitive, but so far, I’ve been reassured that I’ve not stepped on any toes. Starting with the title, no reader could expect to learn the true story from this! But… they might come away with some respect for the likes of Roger even so. We are all indebted to him. Regarding all historical background elements, however, great care was taken to depict each particular day accurately, even down to the weather and what was on TV that day. I used a variety of sources to make the Belfast experience in 1979 highly detailed and historically accurate.
JM: How did the idea for the book come about? And were the dinosaurs always going to be involved?
MC: I’d been thinking about Belfast as a kind of blank canvas, a great as-yet unwritten space. I’d read a number of books about the place, but none seemed to put in too much detail. Other people’s canvases (books, that is) were very impressionistic, so much so you’d sometimes have to squint to make the city out at all. Or they were depressing. I realized that detail in great abundance could make the city come to life. So, I got busy with researching Belfast, and researching my life there, too. As the pandemic had just started and misery seemed to be part of that, the mind felt inclined to turn away from ‘now’ and dig a little into ‘back then’. Distance helped that process. As did books and some internet sites that provided me with images and abundant feedback from real Belfast people.
As for the dinosaurs, I think I hankered after some exotic angle from which to approach my subject. I had no desire to create a simple and possibly predictable portrait of growing up in NI. And somehow dinosaurs chimed in with the feeling of what I was seeing when I looked back…. dinosaurs…. fossilized thinking…. how to portray brutality in the comic mode… The Christopher character is always thinking of someplace beyond his present reality. I couldn’t fit spaceships and aliens into the story of Belfast very realistically, so dinosaurs it had to be! Thanks to Roger Byrne, of course, dinos do form part of the true story of this corner of Ireland.
JM: Why is the year 1979 significant?
MC: 1979 was a transition year, which is always good in dramatic terms. Transition for Christopher, moving from Barrack Street CBS to the Glen Road CBS school. My brother Jim, God rest his soul, however, pointed out to me that this was probably inaccurate -the move likely taking place one or two years before! But by that time, I’d already set the ball rolling. Considering what I did with the dino discovery story, however, this was a very trivial historical distortion. It worked, dramatically, so I kept with the year and it paid dividends. Once I started digging, I found that 1979 was bursting with interesting episodes -like…. all that thrilling worry over Skylab crashing down to earth, the election of Margaret Thatcher or seeing Christopher Reeve’s Superman at the cinema. Then there was the music! 1979 was a happening time! I must say that it helped that I had acquired a beautiful 1979 Northern Ireland Directory. So, 1979 it had to be.
JM: How long did the book take to write, and did you ever feel that you wouldn’t get it finished? Or did you ever have second thoughts about the story?
MC: Started it about late March 2020, substantially finished it by March 2021, but of course was revising it well into early 2022. There was a false start, when I tried a tack that just didn’t work and wasn’t funny, either. But once I started proper, the book wrote itself, and the characters created themselves, too. Only at the start of Book Three, Finale, did I wonder: ‘How can I finish this crazy novel?’ That was a strange moment, and I didn’t like it, because writing should be a natural process, nothing forced. I ran at the door a few times, putting all my power into my shoulder (ouch!) and maybe on the fourth try, the doors, or gates, sprang open! If ‘Finale’ is rather frenetic, that’s because I felt I was on a mission, to finish the novel in the most satisfying way possible. (I hope that's how it reads...)
JM: Did you have any alternative ideas for a story to write?
The first approach was on a grand scale, conflating the Troubles with the violence of the universe, or something like that, but because it wasn’t funny, I had to let it go down the writerly plughole. I have an aversion to pretentious, theme-based writing, so that wasn’t a difficult decision. When I write fiction, I tend to have very fuzzy ideas at the outset, fuzzy ideas of what the story might be or who might people it. But however fuzzy the ideas may be, they all have to eventually resolve themselves into words on a page. Then, as a writer, you sift through those words to see if they contain any live embers. If they do, you blow on them a little and hopefully kindle some fire. It’s all about language. The main character is always the language. The language that underpins life in Belfast is pretty snappy, and even sometimes quite rude, so I felt I had to capture that. Bye-bye the grand approach.
JM: Did you receive any feedback during the writing process?
MC: I did, for the first few chapters, from my brother Jim. I would always send my writings to him to get his reaction. He was a great reader and could appreciate even the whackiest things I would put down on paper, for many years. Unfortunately he passed away in June of this year. He gets a good mention in the book, however, so he'll live on!
JM: Sorry to hear that. Now that you are settled back in Japan; what’s next for you?
MC: I’m working on a book of narrative adventure poems, the kind we used to read in primary school, but with a difference -from the perspective of where I am right now. I am also vaguely interested in producing more prose about Belfast, this time in the 1980s. Some episodes from that period in my life and the life of the city might be fun (and scary!) to re-imagine. Belfast is an exciting canvas to work with. I of course know Belfast has a dark side to it. Death and chaos and misery is part of that story. But people live on. And the best side of each person is too often occluded by blindness or a tendency to dwell on the horror people have had to endure. But Belfast people are ultimately irrepressible. There are many, many ways to tell their stories. Maybe next time, there’ll be spaceships!
MC: Well, I left Belfast in 1991, after completing my M.A. in Medieval Studies at Queen’s. I wanted to sample life in Japan. I ended up falling in love with the place, so I’ve now been living there for the last 31 years. But you know what they say, distance makes the heart grow fonder, and after such a considerable length of time, I began to feel the tug of going back, if not physically, then imaginatively. It’s likely a natural process for anyone who lives away from their hometown for a long period. I’m happy to live in beautiful Japan each day, be it commuting on a train or hiking in the mountains, but I can also live in Belfast in my mind, and in words on the page. As for dinosaurs, I remember growing up with them all around -two-legged ones.
JM: Would it be fair to say then, that the book, or at least the characters, are based on real people and true events?
MC: Some of the characters (principally Christopher and Michael) are based on real people, and the experience of growing up in Belfast (and Glengormley) during the Troubles. The novel takes the elements of autobiography and novelizes them. But, by far, most of the characters in this novel are completely fictional, or beg your pardon, may be completely fictional... And while the discovery of Ireland’s first ever dinosaur fossils was made by Roger Byrne (a real person!), the story around that is completely distorted. I had worries that my version of events might be taken as insensitive, but so far, I’ve been reassured that I’ve not stepped on any toes. Starting with the title, no reader could expect to learn the true story from this! But… they might come away with some respect for the likes of Roger even so. We are all indebted to him. Regarding all historical background elements, however, great care was taken to depict each particular day accurately, even down to the weather and what was on TV that day. I used a variety of sources to make the Belfast experience in 1979 highly detailed and historically accurate.
JM: How did the idea for the book come about? And were the dinosaurs always going to be involved?
MC: I’d been thinking about Belfast as a kind of blank canvas, a great as-yet unwritten space. I’d read a number of books about the place, but none seemed to put in too much detail. Other people’s canvases (books, that is) were very impressionistic, so much so you’d sometimes have to squint to make the city out at all. Or they were depressing. I realized that detail in great abundance could make the city come to life. So, I got busy with researching Belfast, and researching my life there, too. As the pandemic had just started and misery seemed to be part of that, the mind felt inclined to turn away from ‘now’ and dig a little into ‘back then’. Distance helped that process. As did books and some internet sites that provided me with images and abundant feedback from real Belfast people.
As for the dinosaurs, I think I hankered after some exotic angle from which to approach my subject. I had no desire to create a simple and possibly predictable portrait of growing up in NI. And somehow dinosaurs chimed in with the feeling of what I was seeing when I looked back…. dinosaurs…. fossilized thinking…. how to portray brutality in the comic mode… The Christopher character is always thinking of someplace beyond his present reality. I couldn’t fit spaceships and aliens into the story of Belfast very realistically, so dinosaurs it had to be! Thanks to Roger Byrne, of course, dinos do form part of the true story of this corner of Ireland.
JM: Why is the year 1979 significant?
MC: 1979 was a transition year, which is always good in dramatic terms. Transition for Christopher, moving from Barrack Street CBS to the Glen Road CBS school. My brother Jim, God rest his soul, however, pointed out to me that this was probably inaccurate -the move likely taking place one or two years before! But by that time, I’d already set the ball rolling. Considering what I did with the dino discovery story, however, this was a very trivial historical distortion. It worked, dramatically, so I kept with the year and it paid dividends. Once I started digging, I found that 1979 was bursting with interesting episodes -like…. all that thrilling worry over Skylab crashing down to earth, the election of Margaret Thatcher or seeing Christopher Reeve’s Superman at the cinema. Then there was the music! 1979 was a happening time! I must say that it helped that I had acquired a beautiful 1979 Northern Ireland Directory. So, 1979 it had to be.
JM: How long did the book take to write, and did you ever feel that you wouldn’t get it finished? Or did you ever have second thoughts about the story?
MC: Started it about late March 2020, substantially finished it by March 2021, but of course was revising it well into early 2022. There was a false start, when I tried a tack that just didn’t work and wasn’t funny, either. But once I started proper, the book wrote itself, and the characters created themselves, too. Only at the start of Book Three, Finale, did I wonder: ‘How can I finish this crazy novel?’ That was a strange moment, and I didn’t like it, because writing should be a natural process, nothing forced. I ran at the door a few times, putting all my power into my shoulder (ouch!) and maybe on the fourth try, the doors, or gates, sprang open! If ‘Finale’ is rather frenetic, that’s because I felt I was on a mission, to finish the novel in the most satisfying way possible. (I hope that's how it reads...)
JM: Did you have any alternative ideas for a story to write?
The first approach was on a grand scale, conflating the Troubles with the violence of the universe, or something like that, but because it wasn’t funny, I had to let it go down the writerly plughole. I have an aversion to pretentious, theme-based writing, so that wasn’t a difficult decision. When I write fiction, I tend to have very fuzzy ideas at the outset, fuzzy ideas of what the story might be or who might people it. But however fuzzy the ideas may be, they all have to eventually resolve themselves into words on a page. Then, as a writer, you sift through those words to see if they contain any live embers. If they do, you blow on them a little and hopefully kindle some fire. It’s all about language. The main character is always the language. The language that underpins life in Belfast is pretty snappy, and even sometimes quite rude, so I felt I had to capture that. Bye-bye the grand approach.
JM: Did you receive any feedback during the writing process?
MC: I did, for the first few chapters, from my brother Jim. I would always send my writings to him to get his reaction. He was a great reader and could appreciate even the whackiest things I would put down on paper, for many years. Unfortunately he passed away in June of this year. He gets a good mention in the book, however, so he'll live on!
JM: Sorry to hear that. Now that you are settled back in Japan; what’s next for you?
MC: I’m working on a book of narrative adventure poems, the kind we used to read in primary school, but with a difference -from the perspective of where I am right now. I am also vaguely interested in producing more prose about Belfast, this time in the 1980s. Some episodes from that period in my life and the life of the city might be fun (and scary!) to re-imagine. Belfast is an exciting canvas to work with. I of course know Belfast has a dark side to it. Death and chaos and misery is part of that story. But people live on. And the best side of each person is too often occluded by blindness or a tendency to dwell on the horror people have had to endure. But Belfast people are ultimately irrepressible. There are many, many ways to tell their stories. Maybe next time, there’ll be spaceships!
Belfast Says 'YEAH'
