Short Story Day Africa (21 June) brings together writers, readers, booksellers, publishers, teachers and school children from all over the globe to write, submit, read, workshop and discuss stories – and to foster the love of reading and writing African fiction. Global support for the project is growing. .
Many African writers are joining in the fun by answering the 21 Questions interview for SSDA. Judy Croom (website), poet, short story master and fabulous author of Dancing in the Shadows, tagged me - here goes…
The Interview
1. Do you actually enjoy writing, or do you write because you like the finished product?
I love writing. I love finding exactly the right words to translate the picture in my mind into a story which can move, entertain and transform others. There’s a powerful magic in words and I am proud to be a word-witch!
Now that’s not to say it’s easy, and doesn’t periodically drive me mad with frustration - just that I do love it.
2. What are you reading right now? And are you enjoying it?
Books on my bedside table (there can never be only one): The Imagined Child (Jo-Anne Richards), Matched (Ally Condie), The Edge of Nowhere (Elizabeth George), Flaming June (Amanda Coetzee). If I ever get off twitter, I’ll be able to finish them and tell you what I thought!
3. Have you ever killed off a character and regretted it?
Nope.
4. If you could have any of your characters over for dinner, which would it be and why?
Jessie (Turtle Walk and Rock Steady) because she’s good for a laugh, and could draw a cartoon of the evening afterwards.
5. Which one of your characters would you never invite into your home and why?
Mr Delmonico, the sadistic science teacher in Rock Steady, because he’s a bast not a very nice man. Also, the twisted sicko from my upcoming adult novel, Dark Whispers, because he’d bring his scalpel…
6. Ernest Hemingway said: write drunk, edit sober. For or against?
For.
7. If against, are you for any other mind altering drug?
Do coffee and chocolate count? If anything else, JUST SAY NO, PEOPLE!
Seriously, in my day job (psychologist) I have seen too many people fry their brains, destroy their lives and drag their families down with them as the result of drugs. Stay away from the stuff. Like completely.
8. Our adult competition theme is Feast, Famine and Potluck. Have you ever put food in your fiction? If so, what part did it play in the story?
I always put food in my fiction. Bad boarding school food, top end frou-frou cheffy stuff, and I have yet to write a book that doesn’t feature either sushi or pizza. I’m a pretty good cook in real life, so I guess that’s why it makes its sweet and savoury way into my word-smithery. I quite liked a scene I wrote for the upcoming thriller, set at a sushi bar with a revolving belt. All those long, sharp knives, and slices of raw flesh under transparent domes, going around and around and around…
9. What’s the most annoying question anyone’s ever asked you in an interview?
I can’t remember an annoying interview question, but a school pupil at a talk once asked me why there had to be so many words in a book – more sad than annoying, really.
10. If you could be any author other than yourself, who would you be?
If I could write like any other author, it would be John Steinbeck and also perhaps Elizabeth George.
11. If you could go back in time and erase one thing you had written from your writing history, what would it be and why?
Nothing. My regret is that I didn’t write more, and write it sooner.
12. What’s the most blatant lie you’ve ever told?
I never lie. Mwahahaha!
13. If someone reviews you badly, do you write them into your next book/story and kill them?
Anyone who treats me badly or unjustly will ultimately find aspects of themselves woven into despicable characters. You have been warned.
14. What’s your favourite bad reviewer revenge fantasy?
I try not to give them any more of my headspace or emotional energy. I much prefer fantasizing about kissy scenes with my hot heroes, and then writing these into my work in progress.
Having said that, I do believe that the best revenge is success. So I wouldn’t say no to penning a runaway bestseller, then granting a gracious nod of the head towards said reviewer across the clamouring crowds of fans at the launch of my next book.
15. What’s the most frustrating thing about being a writer in Africa?
We simply do not have enough readers. It’s been estimated that the book-buying public in South Africa is approximately 500 000 people. And that’s across all languages, genres and age-ranges. It’s nigh impossible to make a living from writing here, which is why more and more South African writers are beginning to target the overseas markets. We absolutely have to grow more readers, and it starts with getting kids addicted to reading. I consider myself something of a pusher in this regard (aha! Reading – a mind-altering substance I can endorse!), and help out with outreach programmes at festivals such as Franschhoek and Kingsmead to get kids hooked on books.
16. Have you ever written naked?
Uh-uh. But I do frequently write in my pyjamas and gown. I consider it a perk of the job.
17. Does writing sex scenes make you blush?
They sure make me hot and bothered!
18. Who would play you in the film of your life?
Ryan Gosling. I know, I know, he’s younger than me. Also, there’s that thing of him being male. But the boy can act!
Seriously, though, I think I could it myself. I’ve done a lot of am-dram in my life, competed in RAPS, and was even in a play in the Grahamstown Festival once.
19. If you won the Caine Prize for African Fiction, what would you do with the money?
Give up my day job and write full-time.
20. What do you consider your best piece of work to date?
My YA Romance, Scarred, which is not out yet. Of my already-published books – Rock Steady. That book came so easily, and it made me laugh.
21. What are you doing on 21 June 2013, to celebrate Short Story Day Africa?
Hopefully, I’ll be adding another chapter or two to my current manuscript – a YA dystopian. And I’ll be checking in on the stories on SSDA, of course!
Support WRITERS IN AFRICA by buying our books and reading some talented authors! You can find SSDA Chief Cook and Bottle-washer RACHEL ZADOK and SHORT STORY AFRICA here:
www.rachelzadok.com www.shortstorydayafrica.org twitter @rachelzadok
Wednesday, July 24, 2013 at 2:01PM 
