By BRUCE DENNILL
Tony Park‘s latest thriller, Die By The Sword involves the hunt for a weapon linked to Napoleon, involving people willing to kill for their prize.
Writing a book is a huge commitment. What are the elements that need to be in place if you are going to meet whatever writing goals you set?
Time, place, premise and routine. It might sound a bit mundane, but these are the essentials and all I need to get started. I’m lucky that writing is my full-time job, so I’ve got no excuse when it comes to finding time to write. The place and premise for Die By The Sword, were: KwaZulu-Natal, the Anglo-Zulu War and a missing sword. The last is probably the hardest, but most important – settling into and sticking to a routine, which for me is 1600 words per day, five days per week until I finish.
Conversely, what are the strangest or most creative procrastination techniques you’ve devised to avoid all that work?
Cleaning my swimming pool. I love it, and it’s also gained me a following on social media through my frequent #manvspool posts. I come up with funny reels to avoid writing and to touch a chord with my fellow pool-owning readers.
Is there a specific author (or writer, journalist, etc) who made you feel, “I want to be an author”? And what was it about them that spurred that feeling (anything from admirable eloquence to an outrageous public persona)?
When I was little boy my mother started me reading via the Biggles books. Retired air force pilot Captain WE Johns created Biggles, a flying detective. Those books made me want to be an author and an army helicopter pilot. Unfortunately, soon into my school years I learned that to join up and fly I would need to be proficient at mathematics and science. Sadly, I had to accept I was never going to be pilot.
Do you tend to read the same kind of material (genre- or style-wise) that you prefer to write? If yes, what makes that particular niche so attractive to you? If no, what do you think it is that makes each different area appealing?
Very much so. I like thrillers with a bit of romance thrown in, and a happy ending. Call me old-fashioned, but I read to be entertained and uplifted – not dragged down or tied up in knots with introspection. And I like books with aeroplanes and helicopters in them – especially helicopters.
Outside of your profession, what role do books play in your life? Are you constantly reading; is your house lined in bookshelves; are books the ideal gift to give or receive, etc?
By doing a novel and a non-fiction book per year – I also write biographies – I can make a living out of my writing and I allow myself two weeks’ actual holiday per year. I spend that time lying by my pristine swimming pool, reading books. If I’m not having to read through edits on my latest book, I read for pleasure, at night, in bed with a beer. I like paper books, but more often than not I use an e-reader, for convenience, and have recently started consuming audiobooks on long drives.
Who is your favourite literary character?
My favourite African novel of all time is Hold My Hand I’m Dying, by John Gordon Davis, set in the former Rhodesia. I loved his hard-drinking, hard-loving, hard-fighting leading man – ironically, a barrister of all things – Joseph Mahoney. I still do!