A seasoned reporter and a new favourite on the crime-fiction block, Karin Brynard is at the top of her game. Find out a little more about who’s sure to become your new favourite crime writer.
You’ve been a journalist for Rapport for many years. What is the biggest difference between reporting and novel writing, for you?
With reporting, you write the stories of other people, real people. With novels, you write the stories of imaginary people. As a journalist you feel very unsafe in a fictional world. In my case I was trained for over 30 years to stick to the facts. Now I was doing things that defied a lifetime of rules, namely inventing ‘facts’. The good thing about journalism, though, is that it trains you in writing and story telling. You learn about life. And life is what good fiction is all about.
What is it like having your work translated?
I was lucky to have super talented people do the translation on my last book, Weeping Waters– award-winning author Maya Fowler in SA and poet and literary agent Isobel Dixon in the UK, and to top it all off, an excellent editor, Lynda Gilfillan in Australia. I learnt several amazing things about translation during this process. Firstly, it is very, very hard work for everybody involved. Translating a book involves much more than just switching languages. You have to also translate vernacular and culture and address a different audience – in this case a wider international readership.
Secondly, it is a very creative process for the simple reason that the imagery and flavour of languages differ. You almost have to create a new language to bring out the exact tone of voice that the novel had in its original language. And in many instances you have to create it. Idioms and expressions in one language are not always directly translatable into another. Ordinary, simple Afrikaans expressions like ‘vetkoek’ and ‘roosterkoek’, for instance. How do you translate them, ‘fat cake’ and ‘grid cake’? We had loads of fun, because such tiny, silly things can become big puzzles.
Thirdly, I was surprised at how rich the Afrikaans language is in terms of swear words in relation to English. No wonder words like ‘bliksem’ and ‘donner’ and ‘voertsek’ are accepted as South African English words these days!
Who’s been your most important influence in your writing career?
The editor of my book. This is one person you initially have to persuade to ‘buy your story’. And then this becomes the one person who really wants your book to be the best it can possibly be and they are willing to put in the hours in reading and advising and re-reading and re-advising until you have a quality end product.
From my own side it has always been other writers – people like Deon Meyer and Marita van der Vyver who know the craft and gave me very good advice when I first ventured into fiction. And books, of course. I always try and read as much as possible, especially in this genre.
What’s your cure for writer’s block?
I wish I knew! I would bottle it and become extremely rich.
At the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival in the UK last year, I heard the bestselling crime author Lee Child telling the huge audience he didn’t believe in the existence of writer’s block, because writing is just another job. “Its like truck driving”, he said. “And truck drivers don’t sometimes struggle to get to work because they have drivers’ block”.
But, seriously, I think this phenomenon is real. To quote just two famous writers on it: Margeret Atwood said, “Blank pages inspire me with terror.” And Gabriel García Márquez said, “All my life, I’ve been frightened at the moment I sit down to write.”
What’s the best writing advice you’ve received?
Apply bum to chair. If this fails, apply bum glue.
Who are your favourite writers?
My crime-reading life started with Agatha Christie, the British auntie who turned crime into the biggest business in publishing. These days I love South African crime fiction: Deon Meyer, Mike Nicol, Angela Makolwa, Margie Orford. They’re part of a fast growing number of internationally acclaimed authors who are running with the big stars – like Lee Child, Michael Connelly and Ian Rankin. And then there’s the super cool and very hot crime-cum-sci-fi bunch, lead by Lauren Beukes and Sarah Lotz. Very exciting.
I also enjoy Australian Peter Temple, British Michael Robotham and Scottish Ian Rankin as well as American writers James Lee Burke, John Sandford and Dennis Lehane, to name but a few. I’m a fan of the Scandinavian superstars like Jo Nesbo and Stieg Larsson. I most recently read ‘Gone Girl’ by Gillian Flynn – loved it.
What’s the biggest compliment someone can give you about your writing?
“I’m giving your book to others as presents for Christmas and birthdays.”
What’s your advice for young authors hoping to get published?
Just do it. Keep on doing it. Make use of all the tools available to you. Read. Read books on writing. Do writing courses. They can be weekend crash courses, full time university courses. Or part-time ones, like Mike Nicol’s: getsmarter.co.za.
Make use of a manuscript developer – they will help you to improve your work, which will ease your way to publishers.
Go to book festivals, listen to veterans and novices in the craft alike. Meet authors and publishers. Discover new books.
What can we expect from you next?
Coming next year is Our Fathers. It’s a story that happens in two places – Soweto and Stellenbosch. In Stellenbosch, Captain Beeslaar lands in the midst of a murder case involving a rich property developer and gets asked by star detective Vuvu Quebeka to help solve it. In Soweto, Sergeant Ghaap gets involved in a high-speed chase for an abducted pregnant woman and her baby boy.
Searching for another good read? Take a look at a few of our top picks, here.
