Writing a book can also be a real challenge. At least that’s what some who successfully publish books say.
I “steal” a lot of things from real life, especially from my time as a court reporter.
One of them is the Swiss crime and Spiegel bestselling author Christine Brand. Her latest crime novel “Missing” was released in bookstores on World Book Day.
Christine Brand
Crime author
Open the people box. Close the people box
Christine Brand (51) was a journalist for various newspapers, including SRF. She has officially been a writer since 2018. She has written 10 crime novels – the latest one was published recently. Christine Brand grew up in Emmental and now lives in Zurich and Zanzibar.
SRF: A book consists of main characters. How does a figure like this come about?
Christine Brand: I am a very good thief. I “steal” a lot of things from real life, especially from my time as a court reporter. There I got to know countless perpetrators and their life stories, which helps me a lot when creating new characters. Sometimes I also take inspiration from colleagues and mix their characteristics with others. For example, this is how the commissioner of my new book, Manu Löwenberg, came about. I combine everything like in a “shaker cup” and create new characters. I then get to know them better in everyday life by asking them questions and letting them develop before they become main characters.
What’s it like to be friends with you? Aren’t you a little afraid of suddenly appearing in a book?
It happens all the time that someone I know hides something and suddenly shows up.
Why do you have a new main character now?
Mila Nova appeared in nine books and I feel a bit like I did when I was a journalist. If you cover the same event every year, you’ll eventually run out of ideas. It gets a little repetitive. I’m someone who doesn’t like to be bored and that’s why I had the feeling: Now I’m going to do something new again.
How do you approach a story?
John Irving always writes the last sentence first and then aims exactly there. I haven’t managed that yet. But since I started writing professionally, I first do an exposé. That means I write down the entire contents of the book on twenty to thirty pages. What I need to know most about crime stories is the crime, the victim and the motive. That’s almost the most important thing for me. How the case is solved is not that important. When I start writing, I write very intuitively.
Oh, now that would be a cool cliffhanger
To write intuitively, how should I imagine this?
Once I have the synopsis, I know how my book begins. While I’m writing, I might come to an exciting point where I think, “Oh, that would make a cool cliffhanger.” Then I’ll end the chapter at this point. What happens next comes to mind spontaneously as I write. Sometimes it even happens that while my fingers are moving on the keyboard, something happens in the book that I didn’t plan at all. Then I recoil and ask myself: “Jesses God, what happened now?” These are really very beautiful moments.
Can an author still communicate with others while writing?
You become a bit of a nerd. It’s not easy for the environment. That’s why I like writing abroad. In Zanzibar, for example, people know exactly that when I’m sitting in the “Beizli” they don’t even have to try to talk to me and when I’m sitting outside I’m approachable. My thoughts are then very much in the other world and not in the real one. It has also happened to me that I have confused the worlds. For example, I thought it was spring because it was spring in the book. Then I come out and it’s the dead of winter.
The interview was conducted by Elena Bernasconi.