Peter Church, Author of Thriller Dark Video
An Interview with a South African Crime Novelist
Dark Video by South African writer, Peter Church, is a terrifying tale of a naive university student caught up in the dark world of Internet porn. Suite 101 interviewed Church in May 2009 about the process of writing this gut-wrenching first novel.
Writing a First Novel
Q. Why did you choose to write a thriller?
A. I wrote an initial novel - a soulful story about a runner, called Strike of Lightning. I sent it to two publishers but although they were initially interested, they didn't think it would make a commercial success. So I tried my hand at something more daring. I studied Computer Science and my trade is programming. I find that a thriller with its plot has analogies to designing and writing a program - the pieces need to fit together in the right places.
Q. How did you prepare to write Dark Video?
A. I was fortunate to be able to take a break from full time employment so I had some time on my hands. I had the plot of the story in my head, so it was quite easy to just sit down and start writing. Dark Video started as the exploits of four 'bad boy' University students and the story unravelled as I went along. The settings are indelibly stamped in my memory so I didn't spend too much time revisiting them. I did research as I went along. Lots on the internet. For each scene I did different research. For the shark scene, for example, I spent a lot of time reading about them, watching them move, looking at their physical appearances, their behaviour.
Learning to Write Fiction
Q. What writing training have you had?
A. No professional training. In my work, I communicated regularly in writing. I love writing. When I was young I used to write these little novels that my Mom would have to read. I believe that imagination is the key to good writing and that can't be taught. Any technical weaknesses can easily be ironed out by professional editors.
The Process of Writing a Novel
Q. Did you do one draft complete, and then go back and polish it and rewrite, or did you edit it as you went along?
A. I wrote Dark Video very quickly, one draft, start to finish in about three months. There is a level of editing that you do as you go along, but I didn't change the original plot much. Four people read the initial draft and their feedback helped me polish it into a form that I could submit to a publisher. The final draft changed significantly, firstly the plot, with help from Mike Nichol, and then style and pace through Two Dogs publishing editor, Tim Richman.
Dark Video is published by Umuzi.
ISBN: 9781415200155
Read part two of the interview with up and coming crime writer Peter Church.
Writing Crime Fiction
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