Brian Freeman - Author Interview: Setting

Pick one of your favourites among the settings from your published fiction stories or a setting which is an interesting example from your published fiction. What makes this setting one of your favourites or an interesting example from your fiction?

I think extremes enrich drama. Most of my books are set in Duluth, which is an extreme place – a small city on the shore of violent Lake Superior, on the border of the Canadian wilderness, in one of the coldest places in the U.S. The intensity of the setting reflects the intensity of the story. Weather plays an important role in many of my books, because weather inevitably plays a role in the life of people in the American Midwest. It’s a day-to-day reality of how people survive. It also means that the setting is intertwined with the characters.

Interestingly, my second book STRIPPED is set in Las Vegas – another extreme place on the opposite end of the spectrum. It’s wide open where Duluth is closed off, red hot where Duluth is ice cold. But they contribute to the novel in similar ways.

What is a setting from a published fiction story by another author you would compare this setting to and why are they similar?

People in Sweden refer to Minnesota as “Swedish land” because there are so many Swedish immigrants here, and because the bitter landscape is similar to Scandinavia. Not surprisingly, readers of the “Swedish noir” authors such as Larsson, Nesbo, and Mankell often feel right at home with the “Minnesota noir” of my books.

How would you describe the way you introduced this setting to readers of your story?

I’m not an urban author. We have plenty of great writers who set their novels in big cities like Los Angeles, New York, or Chicago. I wanted to write books with a more rural, more remote setting, dealing with intimate emotional issues rather than urban themes. That’s why I chose Duluth. It’s large enough that you can imagine dark things happening there, but small enough that you’re always bumping into your past. That’s the essence of my novels, and Duluth reflects those themes.

How would you describe the integration of characters and setting in this story?

Duluth was a very wealthy city once upon a time. In the early part of the last century, Duluth was the busiest shipping port in the U.S., and fortunes were made on mining and shipping. Most of that money and glamour have bled away with changes in industry. As a result, there is a sense of faded glory about Duluth; there is a sorrowfulness in the way people think about the past and yet a determination to keep going in the face of hardship. My characters bring that same mix of toughness and tragedy. They reflect the city, and the city reflects them.

How would you describe the interaction of story and setting in this story?

Well, of course, no one would want to visit the Duluth in my novels. The crime rate is way too high. I’m never sure whether the Chamber of Commerce will let me back in! However, Duluth gives me fertile ground for the kinds of stories I tell. I like scenes that are set outdoors. I like extreme weather influencing the plot. I like unusual, dramatic settings. In my fifth book, THE BURYING PLACE, for example, I located a ruined school building in the rural lands outside Duluth – and it proved to be the perfect creepy locale for many of the book’s scenes. It’s a real place, just like nearly all of the places I use in my books.

How much research did you do for the setting of this story, and what did that involve?

My books should give readers a “you are there” feel. I always say that movies do a great job with two senses – seeing and hearing – but a novel should activate all of your senses. Every scene should make you feel like an invisible observer, where you’ve been dropped down in the middle of the action, and you can hear, see, smell, feel, touch, and taste what’s happening around you. The way I capture that authenticity is by scouting locales for every scene the way a film director would. I carefully pick a setting that matches the tone of the chapter – and then I go there to record my own impressions. I use a voice recorder and camera to establish how the places feel to me – and then I pour all of that into the manuscript.

To what extent would you describe the setting of this story typical or atypical of the settings in your fiction stories?

This is who I am as a writer. It’s exactly the setting I like to write about. When I was growing up, my parents had a little cottage in rural Michigan where we went on summer weekends. That’s where I cultivated my love of the Midwest. To me, this area is about dirt roads, deserted beaches, storms, fields, and remote farmhouses. Those are the places I remember from my childhood, and I try to bring them to life in my books.

How do you usually decide on or develop a setting for your fiction stories?

I have to fall in love with an area. Some people may wonder about that, because usually I describe these places as pretty dark! It always seems to be raining or snowing. Everything’s in disrepair. You can’t trust your neighbors. It makes you wonder how I would describe places I didn’t like. However, I’m always attracted to the essential mystery of a region. If I drive through an area and wonder what’s going on behind closed doors or in its shadowy woods, that’s an area I’d like to write about.

To what extent do the settings of novels you read have an impact on why you read them, and why?

I do pick books based on their settings. I’ve always been a great fan of rural England – so Peter Robinson and his Yorkshire settings appeal to me. The same is true of the settings in books I read growing up, such as Ireland in Uris’s Trinity or Michener’s Hawaii. If it takes me somewhere fascinating, I know I’ll enjoy the book. On the other hand, a great writer can make any setting appealing. I may not have a lot of interest in gritty, urban L.A. – but when Michael Connelly takes me there, I’m happy to go.

Author website: www.bfreemanbooks.com



Brian Freeman - Author Interview: Internationally Bestselling Novelist

What kinds of fiction did you read as a child and teenager, and did you have some favourites?

I was a fan of “big” drama in those days – books written by authors such as James Michener, Leon Uris, Irving Wallace, and James Clavell. They wrote very long books, but of course, I had a lot more time to read back then! I enjoyed the sweeping character of their novels, often cutting across generations, with tremendous emotional depth in the stories and people. Some of my personal favorites were Uris’s Trinity and Michener’s The Source. They taught me how books could lift you out of the present day and transport you somewhere entirely different.

Would you say your childhood and teenage reading has had a distinct influence on how you write fiction now, and why?

That’s definitely true. I was attracted to writing suspense because of its breathtaking pace, but I found “pure” suspense to be somewhat sterile. If the book is only about action, then it feels hollow at its core. So I have tried to combine plot and pace with the character-driven drama I enjoyed reading in my early days. I want thrillers where the people and places come alive and have a human quality. That’s a debt I owe to those writers in the 1970s.

What did you do before you became a published novelist, and how did you come to write your first novel and get it published?

I’ve been writing all my life; in fact, I completed my first full-length novel when I was all of 13. However, I spent almost 20 years trying to break through in this difficult industry. Along the way, I did everything from mortgage banking and database systems to marketing and public relations – all very glamorous jobs, ha ha. I wrote a total of five novels before I even started the manuscript of IMMORAL, which was my breakthrough book. There were days when it would have been a lot easier to quit, but I still felt as if writing was my mission in life. I guess things happen for a reason. When I had IMMORAL almost ready to go, I stumbled into a contact with a leading London agent totally by accident. She read the book and fell in love with it. Six months later, we’d sold IMMORAL in 17 languages. At that point, people started calling me an overnight success – which is true, I suppose, as long as you forget those 20 years of abject failure!

How would you describe your style of fiction or your approach to writing fiction during your first few novels?

I write psychological suspense. It’s drama that arises out of the emotions, secrets, and sexuality of the characters. I try to create real, flawed, three-dimensional people. I don’t like writing about super-heroes or super-villains. I want all of my characters to operate in the gray world of morality that we inhabit every day, and to face moral conflicts that draw them across some terrible lines.

How would you describe your style of fiction or your approach to writing fiction now?

My style is the same; if anything, I think I carve out my niche of psychological suspense more cleanly with each new book, because I know exactly what I want to write. However, my process has evolved. I used to outline in considerable detail before I started every book. Maybe I needed that as a new writer to give me structure and guidance as I was getting started. Today, although I still do outlines and character studies, I leave it much looser, in order to give more spontaneity to the drafting process. It makes the books harder to write – because I start each day from scratch – but I think the result is even fresher.

Was your first published novel standalone or part of a series, and what advantages or disadvantages did this present for you?

I didn’t really intend IMMORAL to be part of a series, but my publishers and readers had other ideas! They wanted more Stride. I realized that the plot concept I had for my second book, STRIPPED, lent itself to another Jonathan Stride novel, and I adapted it accordingly. Since then, my first five books turned out to be part of the series. I love the depth of characterization you can carry across a series; it makes Stride and the people around him truly human as they evolve along with the plots.

If there’s a disadvantage to a series, it’s that many readers feel a need to go back and start with the first book. I write carefully so that you don’t have to do so – you can start anywhere in the series – but I can’t always convince readers of that fact! As a result, it can be easier to find new readers with stand-alones, because everything is contained within that book. I’ve now done two stand-alones for books six and seven: THE BONE HOUSE, which is available now, and SPILLED BLOOD, which is due out in the spring of 2012. Meanwhile, I’m working on the new Stride novel right now, and I expect I’ll do a mix of stand-alone and series books going forward.

Did you find writing your second novel easier or more challenging than writing your first novel and why?

They’re all hard! It really is an intense and emotionally demanding process, because the characters become so real to you. It’s also a craft that requires tremendous time and care. Writing the first book took a long time, because I was working full-time at another job throughout the process. I think IMMORAL took about two and a half years to get on paper. By the time I wrote STRIPPED, I had more time to concentrate on the book, and it went faster. However, every book is a labor of love, with equal emphasis on labor and love. If it feels easy to write a book, then it probably doesn’t have the depth I want.

Who is another novelist whose fiction writing you admire and why?

I’ve always been a fan of Peter Robinson. He’s a Canadian author who writes detective novels set in Yorkshire. He and I share a love for depth of characterization in the stories, and his books often involve the past rippling forward with unexplained mysteries into the present, which is also true of mine. There’s a real kinship in his books that I appreciate.

Pick a series of novels you have written. How would you describe what makes that a cohesive series with strong appeal for readers? If you have not written a series of novels, how would you describe what makes one of your favourite series by another novelist a cohesive series with strong appeal for readers?

Most series books are held together by their people and places. In my Stride novels, Stride, Serena, and Maggie are the “glue” that bind each story together. They become real to the readers, almost like friends. People ask if I know the fates of these characters far in advance, and of course, the answer is no. We are all products of our experiences, and the same is true for the series characters. They are shaped by the things that happen to them, and that changes the directions of their lives, sometimes for good, sometimes for bad.

The setting is an important part of the series, too. Most of my Stride novels are set in Duluth in northern Minnesota, which is a remote, bitter part of the world, on the shore of Lake Superior. Some readers have called it a variant on Swedish noir, because there are strong similarities between Sweden and the Minnesota climate and culture. There is a romance to that cold, forbidding landscape. Readers may not want to live there, but they enjoy experiencing it through the books.

How would you summarise one of your novels in one paragraph?

Most of my books revolve around big themes. For example, THE BONE HOUSE focuses on trust and doubt. Mark Bradley is a teacher who is accused of having an affair with a student, and even though both deny it, he loses his job. When the sister of that student is found dead, the hammer of suspicion falls on Mark, and everyone assumes he is guilty. Only his wife, Hilary, maintains her faith in him, and she embarks on a lonely quest to prove his evidence and to prove that something very different was going on in the life of that young girl. However, each day seems to bring new evidence that points to her husband. So she must struggle with that basic question: How well can you really know the person sleeping next to you? And how can you continue to believe in him when the rest of the world thinks he is a monster?

How would you describe the appeal of this novel to readers?

I remember one reader writing to me to say that she had been reduced to taking illicit bathroom breaks at work to get in another chapter. That’s what I like to hear! If a reader loses sleep, fails to feed the kids, forgets to walk the dog, and keeps the lights on until the wee hours, then I’ve done my job. I try to do a delicate balancing act with readers: write books that are so pacy you have to keep turning the pages to find out what happens next, but provide a depth of emotion that the characters linger in your head for days when you’re done.

How would you summarise a chapter from this novel in one paragraph?

I love scenes that leave the reader questioning themselves…do I really know what’s going on? Can I trust what these characters are telling me? What’s the hidden dynamic between these people? In one chapter, Tresa Fischer approaches Mark Bradley as he is painting on a wind-swept island. They really shouldn’t be seen together, not after the accusations of an affair, but Tresa is still in love with Mark, even as she wonders if he is the one who killed her sister. Or is she hiding her own guilt? She remembers the warmth of his lips, but he has sworn that there was never an affair. It’s an erotic, unsettling scene.

How would you describe the contribution this chapter makes to the novel?

Ah, I said this book is about trust and doubt! But those are never easy themes for any of us. We can’t really know what’s going on in another person’s soul. So this chapter helps the reader capture the doubt that Hilary Bradley feels: Do I really know this man who is my husband? Is he lying about an affair with this young girl? Meanwhile, maybe there are other vital clues to what’s really going on…and maybe the reader won’t realize this until the very end…

Author website: www.bfreemanbooks.com