Q&A with Chanette Paul

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This Q&A is with author Chanette Paul. Her North American and English-language debut thriller Sacrificed was released in October 2017. The New York Journal of Books praised the novel and Chanette calling it “a page-turner that will keep you reading long past the moment the midnight oil burns out,” and hailing Chanette as “among the classiest thriller writers of our day.” We chatted with Chanette back in October right before the release of Sacrificed, a thriller fusing politics, race, and family drama. Read an excerpt here (PDF), and you can order the novel via our website or IndieBound.

Chanette Paul

Why do you think crime and thriller novels are doing so well in South Africa recently?

Up to about fifteen years ago the perception was that South African crime novels – especially in Afrikaans – don’t sell well and publishers were very hesitant to publish them. This has changed drastically since.

The political changes in South Africa opened a whole new social and psychological landscape. Everyone regardless of race, culture, social standing, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or whatever differences there are, had to adapt in one way or another. Now that the shackles were shed, we had to learn what to do with our freedom and how to get along regardless of our differences. A situation like this is fodder to novelists. I think South African crime novels became so popular because it has the scope to mirror our current situation so accurately. We live in a crime-ridden country where crimes aren’t always solved, criminals not often enough get their due and good citizens live in fear.

One could argue that this should be the exact reason why it shouldn’t be popular, but to a large extent crime novels ‘rectify’ the situation. In fiction the crimes get solved, the baddies are punished in one way or another, and good citizens can breathe again. This brings comfort to the reader, it brings hope that it can be like that in real life, too. While you read you can still believe that good can triumph over evil – even if you have to take a roller coaster ride before that happens.

Since these novels often reflect what’s going on in society, do you think a crime novel can also be a political novel?

A distinction must be made between whether an issue – like politics – is written into a story intentionally or not. Since the Sixties, a lot of South African novels fell under the umbrella of so-called engaged literature where the intention is to use literature as a tool for change. In general, with some exceptions, I don’t think our current crime fiction qualifies as engaged literature.

My novels certainly don’t. I’m not a political animal. I write to entertain, not for propaganda or to tackle specific issues. I don’t intentionally bring politics or any other topic into my work. If there is a “message” or social commentary it is because the story, setting and characters brought it to the table – the latter more often than not without consulting me. Yet when portraying life in South Africa, even in fiction, it is almost impossible not to enter at least a sniff of politics into the equation. We breathe in crime and politics the moment we open a paper or listen to the news. Twitter and Facebook posts are awash with it. Novelists write from their own moral and philosophical point of view. Their moral values and the issues they are exposed to will naturally shimmer through in their work whether on purpose or not. A lot of South African moral issues center around politics, and crimes often have a political flavor. Maybe this is what gives rise to the thought that the South African crime novel per se is a political work.

Does the thriller genre make it easier to talk about current events or social issues?

Sacrificed is a novel with a political flavor but I don’t see it as a political novel. The fact that political issues did slip into the story was just the result of the situations my characters found themselves in. I certainly didn’t set out to write a political novel or to get across a political message. I’m a writer not an educator or proselytizer.

It started with a simple what if-question: What if a white woman married to a conservative white man gives birth to a black baby late in the apartheid-era? Sacrificed was meant to be that woman’s story – nothing else. I did realize this was a politically loaded what if but to me the moral issues are far more important than the politics. And I hope the story represents more than one side and allows the reader to come to their own conclusions.

What’s the most important thing for you when writing a new story? Do you first think about plot, or characters, or settings?

Character. I write about people first and only then consider their reaction to situations in a given setting. The latter becomes my plot. One can plot around your characters and according to their personalities, but to work out a plot and then force characters into it just doesn’t work for me. A setting can give rise to an idea for a story, but only the way my characters see and experience it, the way the setting impacts my characters and vice versa, is of real importance.

Sacrificed is your US debut. What are you hoping US readers take away from your work?

First and foremost, I would like them to enjoy the story, the characters and the
journey Caz and the others take the reader on. When the last page is turned I would like the reader to think that this is a damn good story… and wish there were more. If it makes readers think of all the grey areas between white and black, good and evil, good intentions and bad intentions, well great!

I tried to convey what it is like to be a South African living in the post-apartheid era, and if US readers come to understand more about Africa as a continent and more about South Africa, its complexities and the way we try to cope with it, it will be a bonus.

What’s next for you?

In Afrikaans I’ve published two books since Sacrificed. The one (Offerande) is the
follow up to Sacrificed and the other (Paaiboelie) is the fourth book in a different series featuring the nosy researcher, Jojo Richter. I’m currently writing the fifth book in the same series.

In English I hope to have the follow up to Sacrificed translated so Caz’s story and journey will be complete for English readers as well. And if that happens and everything goes well, I’d like to have more of my books translated.

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