Interviews

Sibylle Barrasso Contributing editor to International Thriller Writers.

1. What was the inspiration for Fortuin?

Inspiration is ubiquitous yet so intangible.  I can’t really pinpoint what inspired me but somehow I decided to follow my previous book up with one about a wise ‘fortuneteller’ whose clients end up dead.  It didn’t work out that way at all.  There is no fortuneteller and the wisdom is highly suspicious.  Characters however, do end up as corpses.

Quite early on in the writing process, a quote I read changed the course of the story.  It became the motto of Fortuin (which means fortune):

I know how Fortune is ever most friendly and alluring to those whom she strives to deceive, until she overwhelms them with grief beyond bearing, by deserting them when least expected … Are you trying to stay the force of her turning wheel? Ah! dull-witted mortal, if Fortune begin to stay still, she is no longer Fortune.  (Boethius  in The Consolation of Philosophy). After I read this, the real story started coming together. 

The inspiration for the (healing) gardens of Paradise Gorge – seven of them, each with a different theme and symbolism – came from a book titled The Charmed Garden by Diane Morgan.

So Fortuin eventually turned out to be not about fortunetelling in any way but about the hurt we all suffer to a greater or lesser degree and the lengths we will go to, to find healing. It’s about how ‘fortune’ means something different to everyone and about the healing force of nature, and of love. 
It became a story about the warring forces of good and evil, love and hate, the choice between blindly suffering or bravely conquering our pain and the fine balance that we tread between these extremes. 

Which all sound like a mighty mouthful for what Fortuin really is - a love story written with a touch of humor, set in a mystical place where a couple of murders take place! 

2. Is Paradise Gorge based on a real place?

Paradise Gorge is a total figment of the imagination.  The consensus of readers here are that they wished it existed, but unfortunately (pun intended) you have to live inside my head or between the covers of the book to get there.  The general area where it is supposedly situated however, being the Overberg in the Western Cape, is very real and every bit as picturesque.

3. What writers inspired you to become an author?

Many, many, many.  However, some of the writers who inspired me to experiment with romantic suspense are Sandra Brown, Nicci French, Minette Walters, Sue Grafton, Nora Roberts, Mary Higgins-Clark and Jodi Picoult.  I know it is a diverse variety and not all of them are necessarily suspense and/or romantic novelists, but there is something in each of these writers’ work that influenced me and lead me to create my particular interpretation of the genre.

4. What do you do when you're not writing novels?

Work wise I do manuscript development for Lapa Publishers, as well as the occasional workshop and other story related stuff.  I do viability research for them and act in an advisory capacity regarding certain aspects of their category and women’s fiction divisions. 

Leisure wise, for the water baby that I am by nature, I have the best of both worlds on my doorstep. My cottage is on the banks of a river and the village where I live is just a touch inland from the Whale Coast, five miles as the crow flies.  Taking time off to watch the whales cavort is a real privilege and pleasure.  I enjoy snorkeling, so it is great that my favorite spot is a mere fifteen-minute drive from us.  Apart from swimming, direct access to the river makes it easy to do some kayaking and I love to play deckhand on my partner’s pontoon boat when he takes guests out for bird watching, sundowner cruises etc.  I’m also an eager if ignorant gardener, a music lover though not an expert and it goes without saying that I love reading.