Despite having lived in Portobello for quite some time, Arbroath-born Doug finds himself in Dundee a fair bit mainly because his parents have lived there for more than 20 years.
“My dad is the former rector of Harris Academy and my sister is a primary school teacher in the city,” he says.
Tomorrow’s visit isn’t purely social, however, as he’ll be journeying through to appear at a Dundee Literary Salon in DCA, run by the University of Dundee’s creative writing department.
The salons have been running successfully for a number of years and are a chance for members of the local literary community to discuss writing, culture and ideas while meeting with publishers, writers and agents.
Doug (40) will be sharing pearls of wisdom with budding writers and discussing his most recent novel, Smokeheads, which was published by Faber and Faber in March.
It is a whirlwind of a thriller charting the exploits of four friends who head off to the remote Scottish island of Islay for a weekend of whisky-drinking and camaraderie.
Their lads’ weekend soon turns into a nightmare when they find themselves on the wrong side of the local police, then stumble upon a secret no-one wants made public.Doug will be at Dundee Contemporary Arts on Thursday from 5-7pm. Tickets are free and available on a first come, first served basis. Visit dougjohnstone.wordpress.com for more details.”Generally, the reception to Smokeheads has been great,” Doug says. “It’s had really good reviews and I’ve had loads of positive reader responses.”
Doug’s debut novel, Tombstoning, was published in 2006 and is a thriller about a man who flees his home town of Arbroath after his best friend mysteriously falls from a cliff to his death. Fifteen years later, the protagonist returns for a school reunion and, when someone else plunges off the cliffs, he begins to wonder if the events are connected in any way.
His next novel, The Ossians, was released in 2008, and is a tale of a young band’s wayward road trip around Scotland on tour. Doug and his band Northern Alliance even wrote and recorded an album of songs to accompany the tale of the fictional band.SmokeheadsDoug describes Smokeheads as a “direct thriller” a style that was a natural progression for him as a writer. “I have actually written a novel that remains unpublished. It took me a long time and, by the end, I didn’t really like what I had done. It was the longest I’d spent writing a book and it really showed. With my other stuff, once I’ve done the planning I tend to write quite quickly. I just bash it out and you can tell there’s an energy to it.
“When I wrote Smokeheads it was the fastest I’d ever written a book and I really enjoyed doing it. So I was much more keen to try and get a deal for that than the other book.”
Smokeheads is part of a two-book deal Doug signed with Faber over a year ago and he has also completed the second, which is due to be published in March 2012. “It’s not a sequel, but it’s a similar kind of thing. It’s called Hit and Run and, unsurprisingly, it’s about a hit and run!
“It’s another contemporary Scottish novel and it will be my first completely set in Edinburgh. Previous books have had some scenes in Edinburgh, but since I live there now I thought it was about time for my take on the city.”
One thing Doug likes to do is a bit of research. “I know plenty of famous and great writers who have never been to places they write about, but I tend to like to go to places and soak up the atmosphere.
“I don’t go with my notebook out and make lots of notes, it’s about getting a feel for the place. When I was writing Tombstoning I hadn’t lived in Arbroath for a long time, so I made a few trips back to hang out again.
“I did the same with my second book, The Ossians. I actually did that trip round the north of Scotland. I’d been to most of the places before, but it was really interesting to go back.”
The principle character in Smokeheads is Adam Strachan, a whisky nut of the highest order who can blind-taste and identify single malts by distillery and year.
Doug’s tantalising descriptions of sticky-sweet toffee, mustard kicks, oak smoke and worn leather are so convincing, in fact, that many people have commented that the book put them in the mood for a wee dram!
“I had a fairly healthy or unhealthy interest in whisky to begin with. I have enjoyed the odd single malt from time to time,” Doug admits. “I had been over to Islay a few times and I went over again for ‘research’ to go round the distilleries.”
Famed for distilleries such as Bowmore, Laphroaig, Ardbeg and Bruichladdich, Islay’s peat cut from mossland gives its world-famous malts a unique flavour. According to a character in Doug’s book, a smokehead is a nickname islanders have for fans of Islay malts.
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While swanning off on a ferry to indulge in some whisky-tasting might sound like a good deal to most people with a nine-to-five job, Doug’s life is one big juggling act. If he does have to be away from his wife and family because of work or events, he says it’s all about “give and take”.
“I’ve got about four different part-time careers that just about add up to a part-time living. I’m a musician as well and, in October, I started as the writer in residence at Strathclyde University.
“It’s one day a week and I’m dealing with students of journalism and creative writing one-to-one and I am really enjoying that.
“It’s hard to find time to do everything, but you just make the time and do it. My wife Tricia has got a proper ‘office’ job so I kind of pick up the slack I’m the house husband. I do the school run and the nursery run and make the tea and all that kind of thing.”
But Doug didn’t just fall into his creative way of living it took a PhD in physics and a graduate job before he realised writing was what he truly wanted to do.
“It was a roundabout route for me. I was always writing fiction and doing journalism stuff, playing in bands and writing fanzines.
“I did physics at university, then I did a PhD and went to work for Marconi as an engineer, but I really wasn’t enjoying it. I was starting to get music reviews published just by sending them off on spec so I just thought to myself I am never going to be able to make a go of this unless I quit this highly-paid graduate job!
“I quit way back in 1999 and did a postgraduate diploma in journalism at Napier University in Edinburgh. I started freelancing and I haven’t really held down a proper journalism job.
“Honestly, it was the best decision I have ever made because I don’t think I would have written the novels. It didn’t necessarily free up more time because I was probably more hours doing the freelance stuff but it was stuff I loved doing.
“The journalism also got me into the way of writing because there is a lot of crossover in the craft of writing. It’s about structuring things properly and also self-editing.”Words of wisdomWhen Doug is standing in front of a room full of book fans and budding writers tomorrow evening, he will no doubt be asked to impart some words of wisdom. “It’s so banal, and not particularly encouraging advice, but it is just a case of plugging away,” he explains. “It’s a kind of war of attrition and I got lucky but, in a way, you make your own luck because I kept banging on doors and I had one novel written, which I sent to everyone I could think of. “All of the agents and publishers turned it down, but one or two of them gave me enough positive feedback to say that, while they couldn’t print it, they’d like to see anything else I wrote.
“I think a lot of aspiring writers think they know best, but these people know what they’re talking about. I got very positive feedback from someone who had been a senior editor at Canongate for over 20 years, so obviously I was going to take her advice!”
Doug also believes there’s a balance to be struck between fighting your corner for the material you truly believe in, and not being afraid to change a plot or experiment with a new style after getting feedback.
“One of the things you learn while being a writer is not to be precious about your work, because you might be asked to cut it down in a very short space of time,” he goes on. “Don’t be afraid of making dramatic decisions or even cutting out entire chapters!
“I think Raymond Carver once said that when you’re first writing something it should be done in a kind of white heat and then you have to put on a completely different head for the editing and try and take a step back from your work.”
Music is also set to feature in the evening’s proceedings, as Doug likes to carry his guitar wherever he goes.
“I used to take my guitar with me for all book events when The Ossians came out and that was great, and I thought I’d really miss it so I just take my guitar to all my events.”
He is putting out an EP at the start of May called Keep It Afloat and expects to release another by the end of the year. “I’ve got a backlog of stuff. I’ve been concentrating on the writing for a couple of years, but I’m a little bit ahead of the game with that now, so I should have a bit more time for my music.”