| 1)
How would you classify your writing, and do you consciously try to write to a certain style or genre? |
 |
| I’m not sure how I would classify my writing. I write more toward the literary side of things, but without the stylistic fillips that one usually finds in that sort of writing. I definitely don’t write hard-boiled fiction. I actually try to avoid “style” altogether when I’m writing and try for straightforward, unsullied prose that can be read clearly. Which itself makes a certain kind of style, I suppose. |
|
| 2)
What type of crime novels do you like to read? Do you prefer series or standalone? |
|
| I don’t read much contemporary crime fiction, and shy away from series. My involvement in the genre runs toward the classic authors, like Thompson and Stark and Chandler and Hammett. Which isn’t to say that there aren’t good crime novels being written anymore, because there are, but I just don’t connect with them the same way I do with the older stuff. |
|
| 3)
Your subject matter is harrowing; all the more for the fact it is based on truth. When did you first realise you were going to write about this? |
|
| Originally The Dead Women of Juárez was going to be a boxing noir set in Mexico, but I found that the story didn’t have the kind of narrative push that would make it a worthwhile read. Consequently I started looking at problems endemic to Mexico that would make for good storytelling. Amnesty International (USA) had started a campaign to end the violence against women in Juárez and this situation resonated with me. Figuring out how to bend my initial concept to fit was more of a challenge than I expected, but I think it turned out all right. |
|
| 4)
Writing about such a subject and pulling it off so well in a first novel is quite an achievement. Did you ever worry you had (pardon the cliché) bitten off more than you could chew? |
|
I actually wrote the second half of the book twice. The first draft wasn’t up to snuff and I set aside the manuscript for months thinking I’d never get it right, but eventually I had some fresh ideas that got me going again. It helped that the nonfiction book, The Daughters of Juárez, came out right about the same time I restarted the second half and it was such an excellent exposé of the situation that I knew I was on the right track and telling the right story.
|
|
| 5)
The boxing scenes rang out as if they had been written by someone who had spent a good deal of time between the ropes. Do you/ have you boxed? |
|
| I have noodled around with boxing once or twice, but never in a serious way. Mostly I just love good fight stories, such as those written by Robert E. Howard and F.X. Toole. Plus, you don’t read a lot of issues of Ring magazine without picking up a few things. And studying fights closely teaches you a lot about how fighters move and think. |
|
| 6)
Did you consider writing about this subject in any other genre? |
|
| Not really. As I say, I was already set on writing a borderland noir when I happened upon the feminicidios and the two fit together particularly well. I’m not sure there’s a way to write about the dead women of Juárez that isn’t noir in some fashion; it’s just too horrible for any other genre. |
|
| 7)
Do you carefully work out your plot or do you fly by the seat of your pants? |
|
| I outline like nobody’s business. My outlines are somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000-10,000 words and are plotted out to the nth degree. I’m extremely cognizant of word count and how that relates to pacing, so the process behind the page is highly mechanical. There’s no room in my work for improvisation. Once I’ve plotted, I’ve already told my story, so all that’s left is to tell the story again, just with more detail. |
|
| 8)
What is the best piece of writing advice you have ever received? |
|
| From Hemingway’s A Movable Feast: "Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know." |
|
| 9)
Who would be your dream cast of movie actors for an adaptation of your story? |
|
| I’m not sure who I’d cast as Kelly, but I would very much like to see Giancarlo Giannini play Sevilla. He’d be perfect for the part, and when I wrote the book I had Giannini’s voice and manner in mind whenever Sevilla did anything. |
|
| 10)
Without giving away the plot, which book included your favourite plot twist of all time? |
|
| I still think Michael Crichton’s Rising Sun is one of the best thriller novels ever written. The story wiggles around so much in that one that it’s like trying to get hold of a downed power line, and a big reveal about two-thirds of the way in really shifts gears in a novel fashion. Forget the movie version (though Sean Connery is predictably great) and stick with the book. |
|
| 11)
What is your favourite movie adaptation of a crime novel? |
|
| I have a fondness for The Hot Spot, which adapted the novel, Hell Hath No Fury, by Charles Williams. I’d love to write something so spare and uncompromising. The book is good, too, and unabashedly hard-boiled. |
|
| 12)
Would you describe yourself as a crime fiction fan in general and, if so, which authors do you most admire and why? |
|
I’m a fan of reading and I cross genres quite a bit in my quest for good stories. I sort of happened into crime fiction after spending a lot of time writing and reading westerns, so I’m not sure it’d be accurate to call myself a crime writer or even a crime reader. I do write about crime and I do read about crime, but I don’t stay still for very long. After The Dead Women of Juárez I wrote another crime novel, but then I wrote a horror novel. Right now I’m working on a straightforward literary tale about illegal immigration across the US/Mexico border. The stack of books by my bed include a Star Wars novel, a horror novel and a nonfiction examination of the drug war in Ciudad Juárez. I’m kind of all over the place.
As far as authors go, I mentioned a few at the top that generally never fail to satisfy. Among contemporary authors I have a great deal of respect for Dave Zeltserman, who actually helped bring The Dead Women to Serpent’s Tail, where it was eventually published. Dave writes consistently good stuff at a breakneck pace. I only wish I could match his prolificacy and his skills. |
|
| 13)
What is your favourite read crime of all time? |
|
| I’m torn. I’ve read a lot of really great crime fiction over the years, to the point where it’d be tough to single out just one. I guess something like The Hunter (Richard Stark) would rate highly, or even from-left-field selections like Fletch or Confess, Fletch, by Gregory McDonald, which are more detective novels than crime novels. Hell Hath No Fury, which I mentioned before, is a strong contender. In the end I may just have to cop out and say I can’t make up my mind. |
|
