Please welcome Sir Doyle to The Real Talk.
Good Afternoon Sir Doyle. We are very happy to have you on the show.
Thank you it is my pleasure.
Shall we get started?
Of course.
Interviewer: Could you please tell us about yourself and what your life was like before writing?
SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE: I was born on May 22, 1859 in Picardy Place, Edinburgh, Scotland. My childhood was tough considering my father was an alcoholic which tore the family to pieces. My father passed away in 1893 due to psychiatric illness. Before writing my famous detective stories I served as a clerk at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary to Dr. Joseph Bell. Dr. Bell was a personal surgeon to queen Victoria and he is the one who inspired the creation of the brilliant detective, Sherlock Holmes. When I attended medical school I was astonished by Dr. Bell’s spectacular gift of observation, analysis, and inference in identifying the cause of a patient’s illness in making a diagnosis.
Interviewer: What were your inspirations, other than Doctor Bell, for writing in general and Sherlock Holmes?
SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE: Regarding writing in general I would say my influences were Robert Louis Stevenson, Jules Verne, Joseph Bell, Fortune du Boisgobey, William Crawford Honeyman. One author though influenced my writing and Sherlock Holmes and that is Edgar Allan Poe. Poe’s stories are a model for all time. One character that really inspired Holmes was C. Auguste Dupin, who was first debuted by Poe in “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” Dupin was a genius detective, similar to Holmes.
Interviewer: What awards did you win for your writing?
SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE: For Sherlock Holmes I won the Audies New Voice Award in 1996. For The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes I won the Edgar Allan Poe Critical/Biography Award in 2005. For Complete Sherlock Holmes I won the Audies Classic Award in 2014. Hound of the Baskervilles won the Audies Audio Drama Award in 2015 and the Listen Up Classics special recognition in 2014. One honour that I have received is my knight ship by King Edward VII in 1902, for my work on a non-fiction pamphlet regarding the Boer War.
Interviewer: Why did you kill off the character of Sherlock Holmes?
SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE: I felt that writing Sherlock Holmes was actually holding me back.I preferred writing about history and felt that such works were much more important in the grand scheme of things. My relationship with the character Holmes became less and less amiable. Writing about Holmes became more of a chore than writing about something l loved. So for my own sanity, l ultimately kills off the character Sherlock Holmes.
Interviewer: Tell us about the end of your life.
SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE: I died of a heart attack at the age of 71. During the time of my death there was some controversy because I did not consider myself to be a Christian but instead a spiritualist. I was buried on July 11, 1930 in Windlesham rose garden. My last words were were for my wife. I stated: “You are wonderful.”
Significant
Writing mystery has always been something l am interested in. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is significant because the way he writes his books and illustrate it is somehow powerful in a way that it makes a reader hooked and wanting to read more book written by him. Him writing style has empowered me to write something has is mysterious. I wish to write something mystery in the future
Excerpt
“The journey was a swift and pleasant one, and I spent it in making the more intimate acquaintance of my two companions and in playing with Dr. Mortimer’s spaniel. In a very few hours the brown earth had become ruddy, the brick had changed to granite, and red cows grazed in well-hedged fields where the lush grasses and more luxuriant vegetation spoke of a richer, if a damper, climate.” Pg. 80 The Hound of the Baskervilles
A cold wind swept down from it and set us shivering. Somewhere there, on that desolate plain, was lurking this fiendish man, hiding in a burrow like a wild beast, his heart full of malignancy against the whole race which had cast him out. It needed but this to complete the grim suggestiveness of the barren waste, the chilling wind, and the darkening sky. Pg 84 Hounds of Baskerville
Emulation ( “The journey of life”)
I took a deep breath, and set out for my stride
Neither glimpsing left nor right.
I knew my path would be filled with thorns.
A foe before striking never warns,
But l won’t give in without a fight
And l will fight with all my might
Cause my life is no so wretched,
And my dreams l’ll always follow.
For though l know life is a mad chase
Where all the tracks are set ablaze,
There is torment in showers of rain and
fire soothing all out pains.
Winter Garden Emulation ( taken from Kristin Hannah’s writer seminar)
The only time l cry is when l see my own reflection in the mirror. Why is that, wit all l have seen, Yet l still cry. I cry because l am no good or beautiful enough for other people. I am forever scared by the word of disappointment and failure. Every time l look in the mirror l see a sad, miserable girl who seem to be around shattered glasses, She is broken in pieces, She still hasn’t learnt to be strong or powerful. Maybe one day her portraits would show the world how she became broken and how strong she became after all she had gone through. That day forever waits in the future, waiting for her to grab hold of it.