Interviews

July - Interview with RainerSalt

This month we'll focus on Rainer Salt and the "Egg at Dumstreet".

You heard me right. Egg.

Very important, the first victim in this murder mystery actually. Set in mountainous Tavatia, a US citizen gets into trouble with the local law - not because he doesn't clean the steps when it is his turn. But because... Ah, I think you should read this, it's a great story, full of dry witty humour. "The Egg at Dumstreet" was book of the month in June and we can really recommend it.

Tell me Rainer, did you have trouble with your omelette or what inspired you to write this delightful story?

Rainer: Hmm, when I was around thirty, I lived as a tenant in a house that was very reminiscent of Dumstreet 9, where most of the scenes of the book take place. Some characters in that book are, in fact, inspired by my neighbours at that place. However, before you jump to any premature conclusion: neither the egg nor the unfortunate demise of any of the book's characters is based on real events. And no eggs were harmed while writing it... well, to be honest, the one on the book's cover was scrambled after its modelling act, which would probably count as 'being harmed'. But, at least, I didn't kill anyone.

Adultfiction: That's a relief! But it's amazing to hear what can serve as inspiration for mystery novels. Talking of mystery - what prompted you to swap genres? You mainly write SciFi and Dystopian fantasy. Or did before? Just curious...

Rainer: I read somewhere that writing outside your usual genre is a good way to hone writing skills. So I decided to give that a try.

I looked for a genre that is heavy on 30+ readers because that's who I wanted to write for, and I think Mystery is a good place to find them.

Adultfiction: Ah! So you were looking for a more adult audience. That makes sense—

Rainer:  Don't get me wrong, though. SciFi does have a surprisingly adult audience. There are plenty of experienced, wonderful folks out there. But still, I was looking for an alternative genre where #grownupreads would fit in.

Adultfiction: Glad you chose mystery, for that is my favourite genre. No, I'm not biased at all. Ehem. Where were we? Ah - Mystery. Tell me, what is the trickiest part about mystery writing?

Rainer: In general, any story that is placed in the real world (as opposed to Fantasy or SciFi) has to play by a lot of rules. For example, if your plot calls for someone to be arrested as a suspect and you're writing Fantasy or SciFi, you just can send in the Evil Guards or the Vogons and get the job done. No one will question you because arresting someone is what Evil Guards and Vogons do. If the plot plays in the real world and is supposed to be plausible, you have to check out the rules. The police won't go around arresting suspects at a whim. To take someone into custody, additional criteria have to be met, such as a potential threat to the public or a strong enough risk that the suspect might try to run. And that's just an example. There are so many things in our daily (or not so daily) lives that are being played by certain rules, and I had to look up a lot of details to make the plot plausible (and I'm sure I still have missed a lot of them).

Writing Mystery is even harder because it takes a lot of planning. Placing hints and red herrings along the way is an important element of the kind of story I wanted to write. And you can't do that unless you have a pretty clear picture of how the plot will evolve... or you need to re-edit your story after its first draft... or maybe both.

Adultfiction: We need to publish this interview on the mystery profile as well . . . You point out a lot of important stuff that mystery writers need to know! Okay, setting mysteries aside for a bit, tells us where did your love of books/storytelling, reading/writing/etc. come from?