By The Way...

Wednesday, January 10, 2007
6:06:00 PM EST
Hearing Fidelity -- Regina Spektor
Welcome back to the Wednesday Author Interviews, in which we interview authors (surprise!) who are making books you want to know about. Trust us on this.

To get 2007 off to a running start, I'm pleased to introduce you to Duane Swierczynski, journalist, editor and crime fiction novelist, whose hot new novel The Blonde has been described by reviewers as an "action-packed outing from a writer who, fortunately for us, doesn't seem to know how to slow down." Which is what you want, when you're writing fast-paced capers. The book's a blast, and this interview's a lot of fun too. Let's get to it.

1. Quick! Tell us a little about yourself and The Blonde.

Probably the most interesting thing about me is that my brother Gregg and I were named after the Allman Brothers. (True story.) Which explains my weird name. You don't know how many people think I'm black and Polish.

By day, I'm the editor-in-chief of the Philadelphia City Paper, our town's top alt-weekly. But don't let that fool you. I've always been the minority hire, wherever I've worked. At Men's Health, I was the out-of-shape one. At Details, I was the uncool one. At City Paper, it's no different.

The Blonde is my version of a Cornell Woolrich-type story: an innocent guy buys a drink and suddenly, his life is turned upside down. In this case, it's a guy named Jack Eisley, who meets a blonde in an airport bar, who promptly poisons his drink and tells him that unless someone is within 10 feet of her at all times, she'll die. Which is why she poisoned him. To keep him close at all times.

Nobody believes me, but it's my version of a chick-lit novel.

What I'm trying to do with my novels is write a non-series series, exploring every mystery/crime subgenre I can get my hands on, all set in the same "universe." Of course, this means that someday I'll have to write a novel about a cat. And boy does that frighten me.

2. The majority of the book takes place over course of one truly crazy night. Talk about some of the joys and curses of limiting an entire novel to so short a timespan.

I love ticking clocks. My previous novel, The Wheelman, takes place over a weekend. The Blonde takes (roughly) 11 hours. The next one, Severance Package, unfolds in just two hours. I'm guessing future books will take 31 minutes, then 8 minutes, and then, finally, my crowning achievement: the 14-second novel.

Seriously, though: I think that writing a novel with a short timespan forces you to keep the back story to a minimum. There really can't be any wasted moments, because it will stick out like a fat dude in Spandex.

I'm actually worried about writing my next book, which has to unfold over a series of months. I think I've forgotten how to do transitions. I'm pretty much screwed.

3. Crime thrillers, like so many genres, have some aspects which seem hallowed by time (for example, snappy, hard-bitten dialogue), but which can also veer into cliche. When you're writing, how do you balance giving people what they want without it becoming too much of what they've seen before?

I'm the canary in my own private coal mine. I'm easily bored, so if something I'm writing lapses into lamedom, a little alarm in my head goes off. (This happens often.) And then I take my story in a different direction. If it ain't alive for me, it'll be dead on the page for the reader.

I'd rather fall on my face trying something weird than risk boring a reader with the same old crime crap.

Too many crime novels resort to the tried-n-true formulas. I love writers who instead take chances, blending sub-genres, experimenting with voice and structure. Guys like Charlie Huston come to mind--he's blended two of the hoariest genre cliches (vampires, private eyes) into one of most exciting and ball-busting series in recent memory (the Joe Pitt casebooks). Ken Bruen and Allan Guthrie are two other trailblazers who keep the genre fresh simply by acknowledging the conventions, and gleefully ignoring them.

4. Share a piece of advice you've been given about writing.

The best advice I ever received was from an editor named Gary Goldstein, who gave me this gem:

"Make it funny, make it dark, keep the body count in the low double digits, liberally coat with lotsa Philly ambiance, keep the surprises coming (never let the reader get too comfortable; keep 'em off kilter whenever possible) and you might just have a winner on your hands."

I printed that out and taped it to a wooden ruler I keep in my desk. I refer to it often, especially when I need a good ruler-beating. What's especially important about that advice is the bit about surprises--I think it's tremendously important to give your reader surprises whenever possible.

5. In addition to being a novelist, you are the editor-in-chief of the Philadelphia City Paper. What does being a journalist and editor bring to your novel-writing? What does being a novelist bring to your journalism and editing?

Being a journalist has beaten some of the bad writing out of my system. Not all of it certainly (just ask my editor), but enough. Journalism teaches you to be concise; space, after all, is precious. And some of my favorite crime novelists are former journalists--folks like James M. Cain, Laura Lippman, Michael Connelly, Horace McCoy and Jim Thompson. Every writer needs to be ripped apart with a red pencil now and again.

On the opposite end, I think writing fiction has helped me realize that story is king, even in non-fiction. When I edit stories for the City Paper, I find myself mostly looking for structure flaws--hiccups in the storytelling--and craving strong narratives that unfold like a novel. After all, journalism is just storytelling with the truth.

6. Speaking of Philadelphia, the city is almost a primary character in this novel. Was there more to making Philly the setting than the fact that you know the city so well? Would this story have taken the same shape it if had taken place anywhere else?

I am a Philly native, and know it well, but you're right--that's not the only reason I set my novels here. This damn city is a friggin' character. Ask anybody who lives here. With The Blonde, I thought it would be fun to play around with the old idea that Philly rolls up its sidewalks at 9 p.m. (Not quite true, but close enough.) At a certain point, the protagonist in The Blonde has to stay near other people at all times, and that becomes quite a challenge in Philly at 1 a.m. Trust me. I've been there.

Before I was married, that is...

---

Catch more of Duane at his blog, The Secret Dead Blog. Which is, in point of fact, neither secret (since I just told you about it) nor dead. He's just messing with you, is all.


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This entry has 2 comments: (Add your own)

• #2 Comment from monponsett 
  1/11/07 10:35 AM | Permalink

  His next novel, "I Dare You To Try To Pronounce My Last Name," hits stores Feb. 32nd.
  
  I'd need the full body shot to be sure.... but either he's a regular guy with Alonzo Mourning-sized hands, or his head is way too smallf or his body (leaving him looking like that robot Pinky and the Brain use when they try to conduct job interviews as a human).
  
  If Wheelman (you're the guy to ask... is his bookthe inspiration for the Driver series of video games?) sells, he should get his head fixed. I know people who most likely wouldn't beat him for having a small head or having a silly last name...but mix the two together, and it's ICU time.
• #1 Comment from stillunhinged 
  1/10/07 9:42 PM | Permalink

  Ah, you were right! This WAS a fun author interview to read ... and now I'm itching to read THE BLOND because Duane's answers made me laugh more than once.