Margie Orford: Author Interview

Margie Orford is an award-winning journalist and author, whose Clare Hart series has gained fans worldwide. She was born in London, but grew up in Namibia. She was educated in the US and South Africa, and can now be found in the beautiful Cape Town where she rules as the Queen of  South African Crime Fiction. She answered some questions for me on her journalism, Clare Hart and her writing.

You’ve lived in Namibia, the UK and New York – have your experiences there changed you as a writer? How so?

A writer is made, not born, so where one lives, how one lives, is the what shapes the raw material of oneself. I have lived in so many places – made a home and made meaning in so many places – that it has given me a sense of belonging nowhere and anywhere. That said, Namibia and South Africa are the places that have made me understand power, conflict and beauty.

You’ve gone from crime journalism to writing crime – was that an inevitable transition for you? Why?

In an article of a thousand or so words one can list all the facts. The facts, however, rarely tell the truth about violence, pain, rage and survival. I needed one hundred thousand words – a novel – to get to that. So that took me to fiction – where one distils facts and observation and experience into a different kind of truth.

Is there any other genre you would like to venture into and why?

I have written a number of non-fiction books – which a great to write. But in terms of fiction, yes I am ready for a change. I think another couple of novels – but standalones this time – psychological thrillers rather than procedurals.

Can you describe Clare Hart for us in five words?

Sharp-edged, intelligent, intuitive, afraid of love.

 You’ve written five books thus far about Clare – can you tell about her journey through those books to this point in time?  

Clare Hart started off investigating a series of brutal rape homicides (LIKE CLOCKWORK). In that first novel and in the subsequent ones she has learned more about misogyny and violence than anyone should know. On the way though, she has learned about resilience, courage and the unexpected places where love and generosity are found. She has learned that the every day brutality that exists in the world she inhabits does not erase goodness and ethics – her own and the people she has met along the way. She has learned to live with the fact that there is both good and evil in the world and that one can choose between them.

You’ve said that writing is a way for you to understand how South Africa fits together – what have you learned thus far about South Africa?

South Africa is and always has been an extremely violent place – slavery, colonialism and then apartheid. Our history explains much of the violence and trauma that we live with in the present. So writing the books – and doing the research that has been essential to them – has allowed me to delve into the psyche of a fascinating and enchanting country. It has shown me how much needs to be done for there to be healing.

What do you think is the greatest misconception people have about South Africa currently?

Hmmm. I am not sure. One of them I suppose is that a novelist from South Africa is going to write disguised sociology. We don’t, we write fiction that tells stories that are, hopefully – riveting and universal. The kinds of violence and the crime we see here is not different in essence to what you find in other places – particularly the crimes against women and children. The scale is rather stupendous, I admit, but the dynamics of power are no different.

I read an article that said: Orford plots so brilliantly that to stop reading is as harrowing as to carry on — which, I think is such a wonderful compliment! But, how do you deal with writer’s block or those plot threads that just aren’t working?

Oh god, I hit my poor head against a metaphorical wall, I moan and complain and think I am a total failure and that it will never work. Then finally, exhausted, I fall asleep and the clever part of my brain – over which I have little control – works it all out because I finally give it some peace. So I wake up with the solution to something that seemed impossible. And then it requires work and more work. Readers are smart – they have bothered to buy and then read your book. I think you owe them the reciprocal compliment of an elegantly resolved story…

Tell us about the authors that have inspired you?

The Brothers Grimm, Kafka, JM Coetzee, Alice Munro, Freud, Karl Marx,Toni Morrison, The Bronte sisters, Ruth Rendell, George Orwell, Ian
Rankin, Carole Joyce Oates, Shakespeare, those geniuses who made up the Greek myths, so many – I have always read – and I think what I read weaves itself into the fabric of meaning by which I can understand this strange and lovely world.

What’s next for you and Clare Hart?

I am working on the sixth Clare Hart – ZERO AT THE BONE – it is the darkest novel so far, or so it feels, but Clare, I think, is finally learning to loosen the tight hold she keeps on her feelings. Its going to be interesting I think…

For more on Margie, check out her website and Twitter.

Margie’s latest novel, Water Music, is out now in the US through HarperWitness and in the UK through Head of Zeus.