INTERVIEW WITH JOHN VERDON -Interviews

 

INTERVIEW:

Before I start with the questions, Mr. Verdon would like to thank you for your time. We know you are a very busy person and I imagine you will be full of interviews now that you have released a new volume of the Inspector Gurney saga.

Interview:

 

 The first is a question that we ask all the interviewees. If you had to choose a three-course menu: a first, a second, and a dessert, which three books (yours or other authors) would you choose and why?

Any three books by Ross Macdonald, in any order – because his deep plots, his vivid characters, and his evocative descriptions of people and locations are, in my opinion, consistently powerful and perhaps the best in the genre.

 

Tell us, how have you been in confinement? Has it helped you to write more or less?

I live in a sparsely populated rural area, and I am a natural introvert – so being isolated from other people is easy for me. Our home is on a forested hilltop, with no other houses anywhere in sight. The extra confinement caused by the pandemic has had relatively little effect on my life and no effect that I’m aware of on my writing. For that I am very thankful.

 Are you worried about the situation we are experiencing now, the pandemic, and the president's change in your country? Is reality worse than fiction?

We don’t have a television, but I still spend too much time focused on internet news sites. The insanity in my country is both fascinating and frightening – particularly the ease with which people believe things which are obviously untrue. That is probably the most disturbing aspect of what is happening here – the irrelevance of facts and the passion with which seemingly normal people embrace nonsense.

 Well, we'd like to chat a bit about how he became a writer. Tell us, how and why did that need to write arise?

It was a simple matter of being told when I was a teenager that I was good with words, and finding that I liked the process of writing. For me, it is more a source of delight than a “need”. When I write, I become completely absorbed in the world I’m imagining, and time disappears. I love the logical structure of detective fiction. Maybe that’s why I created such a logical detective.

 How is your work process?

I begin with a basic plot idea – for example, a motive for a murder along with the murderer’s way of concealing his involvement. I develop the plot details on index cards as the ideas come to me – along with the character traits of the principal individuals involved, the setting and atmosphere of the main scenes, the main personal conflicts, perhaps some key bits of dialog.

When I have a few hundred of these cards completed, I organize them in a three-act dramatic structure. Then I begin actually writing the story on yellow pads. As I transfer this very rough draft to my computer I do a lot of cutting and rewriting. When I have completed that, I do more cutting and some polishing. I submit that draft to my editor and together we arrive at the final manuscript.

During the course of the series, I have been blessed by having two wonderful editors.

 You write crime novels. What, in your opinion, must a novel of this style have to be good?

“Good” can mean different things to different people. But my own preference is for unique characters, plenty of conflict, a well-concealed crime, a vivid presence of evil, an intelligent detective, and a believable path to a satisfying solution.

 Are you a compass writer, or, on the contrary, do you prefer to be carried away by the characters, as other authors such as Jöel Dicker do?

I begin by knowing what the crime is, who committed it, how they did it, and why. I know in a general way how Dave Gurney will discover the truth,  who will stand in his way, and what will happen in some of the major scenes. However, when I get into actually writing those scenes, the characters take over. They create their own dialog, and sometimes the scenes end differently from the way I had planned.

John Verdon - Pau Sanclemente

 Is it more difficult to write a crime novel than stories of another genre? Doesn't change registration call you?

For me the crime novel is easier in some ways – because it’s more logically structured, and my mind works well with structure. And because I’m so fond of the genre, I’m not tempted to try anything else.

 The protagonist of his novels is Dave Gurney; why a man and not a woman? Isn't it repetitive to you that most crime novel writers invent a detective and that this is the protagonist of all their works?

Part of my original interest in writing about a detective and his wife who both retired from their city jobs and moved to a rural area came from the fact that my wife and I had just done the same thing. So, to some degree, I was writing about that experience and the expectations and conflicts that came with it. Also, I wanted my detective to have an analytical and introspective way of seeing the world and his wife to be more outgoing and spontaneous – which to some extent mirrored our own relationship.

As for the problem of repetitiveness, I think it can be avoided if the reader learns more about the detective as the series progresses, and if the detective’s experiences have an effect on him – if he grows and changes. Over the course of the seven Gurney books, Dave’s relationship with Madeleine has developed, at least in small ways. They have become more accepting of each other’s approaches  to their life of “retirement” – and although they still have different ways of thinking and feeling, they have become less combative.

 You have worked as a publicist. Has your old job as a writer helped you? Do you think that a writer should also be a publicist?

I don’t see much of a direct connection between my past career and the kind of writing I do now – except in the sense that all of one’s experience affects one’s sense of people, desires, interactions, conflicts, tones of voice, etc.

 With his books, I often feel that he is trying to show the reader that dark and depraved America is rarely known, and that is very far from the bucolic image we have of it in Europe. Moreover, I also notice a specific traditional tone in his characters and a dirty realism in the descriptions that reminds me, at times, of Poe's stories. Is that so, or are they my imagination?

All of what you say in your question may be true of the Gurney books, but it’s not my conscious goal to depict America in any particular way. I am mainly interested in manifestations of personal evil – selfishness, hatred, greed – and the disasters these characteristics lead to. Perhaps the thing all the Gurney books have in common is an emphasis on the high cost of dishonesty.

 Lately, I have the feeling that most of the books I read are covert movie scripts. Does it happen to you too?

I don’t read much current fiction so I can’t answer this. But I wouldn’t be at all surprised to discover that it’s true. We seem these days to be increasingly, even obsessively, focused on screens – movie screens, TV screens, computer screens, phone screens. It strikes me as unhealthy, but maybe that’s just a function of my age.

 You are a super salesperson, has had so many readers affected you when creating? Are you afraid of the blank page or of not satisfying the cravings of so many readers?

When I write, I am not focused on selling a product to my readers. I am trying to create a story that interests me. I write about the situation and the characters as intelligently and vividly as I can. I do have one reader in mind -- my wife. If she likes what I’ve written, then I am satisfied. And of course I am delighted that so many people around the world enjoy the stories.

 Out of curiosity, do you read the reviews? Do they influence you?

I do read reviews, but I’ve never done anything differently as a result of them.

 A new Dave Gurney story is about to be published in Spain, the seventh if I remember correctly. Over time it becomes more difficult to write stories with the same central character?

So far, it has not been a problem. (See my answer to your next question.)

 I have a feeling that over time Dave Gurney is becoming less logical and more vulnerable. Is that so? Over time it becomes more difficult to write stories with the same central character?

What you say about Gurney may be true. Aspects of his personality may be coming out in the more recent books that make him appear less rigid in his thinking. I want Gurney to be seen as a living three-dimensional character, and that can mean having him react to people and situations in varying ways. Perhaps he is becoming more real and therefore more complex.

 Out of curiosity, what are you reading right now?

Right now, I’m not reading anything. I’m immersed in writing the next Gurney novel -- about the strangest murder case he’s ever been involved in.

 Finally, as the author of a black novel, do you feel afraid of the human being?

I am afraid of self-delusion.

 

Thanks!!