Just Before The Dawn by Bonnie Kozek
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US
Bonnie Kozek is the author of the Honey McGuinness hardboiled grunge
thrillers, Threshold and Just Before the Dawn. Kozek has received awards from the National
Endowment for the Arts and the Rockefeller Foundation. Learn more about her work at: http://www.bonniekozek.com or contact her at:
bk@bonniekozek.com
Can you sum up Just Before The Dawn in no more than 25
words?
Psychedelics, psycho-killers, and a lethal XXX-Rated
nightmare of biblical proportions: Welcome back to the twisted world of Honey
McGuinness.
What was your
motivation for writing it?
Truth is often unearthed in the most unexpected places,
utilizing the most unconventional methods, which requires an author to be
willing to get her hands dirty. I like getting
my hands dirty. I like plunging the
depths of a damaged psyche. Noir grunge
fiction provides me a perfect vehicle and offers a bottomless pit of grime. It’s a match made in heaven, I guess. Plus, it’s a challenge – like having a dinner
party and serving T-bone steak without the meat on it. Stripped of the traditional pulling of
heartstrings – stripped of prettified, multisyllabic, adjective-laden language
– I have to try to deliver a bone so tasty that my guests won’t notice. Not so easy.
So, I’m always on the lookout for a concept, a core –
something around which I can construct a story and use the vernacular of the
genre. Perhaps surprisingly, for Just Before the Dawn, I found that
kernel in a small book called The Prophet. Written by the great Lebanese poet, Khalil
Gibran, I read these words: “ . . . when good is hungry it seeks food even in
dark caves, and when it thirsts it drinks even of dead waters.” And I thought: Bingo! That’s it! See, I’ve got this protagonist, Honey
McGuinness, who’s so starved that she could actually travel that road. So, I set out to test her limits –
physically, emotionally, ethically and morally.
In all these areas, I tried to explore the depths to which she would
allow herself to sink. I tried to take
her to – or let her hover just above or below – that “point of no return.” I wanted to answer the question: Could Honey
descend to a place so dark and deep that she couldn’t claw her way out?
How long did it take
you to write?
About four years total.
I put it down for a number of years and then came back to it.
How much difference
does an editor make?
Working with an editor is detrimental to my mental and
physical health. Here’s why:
I had a literary agent and editor at a distinguished New York agency. Things went swimmingly for a while. He used words like “remarkable” and
“brilliant” about my work. He awaited
each new chapter with bated breath. He
said he loved the novel (which, by the by, is yet unpublished) and was certain
he could get it published by a well-respected house. We worked closely over a two-year period –
speaking daily. During this time he
suggested editorial changes, which I made without fuss. After the two years, when the book was
finished, he decided to have his new assistant read the manuscript, explaining
that the work needed “fresh eyes.” After
reading the manuscript, this prepubescent moron told his boss that he “couldn’t
follow the story” and his boss, my agent/editor, sent me an email saying that
he had decided he couldn’t sell the book, ending the email with one word:
sorry. Immediately after receiving the
email I fell down two flights of stairs.
Later that day I drove my car into a ditch. The following night I walked in a zombie-like
state into the home of complete strangers and proceeded to join the bewildered
little family at their dinner table where they were just about to partake of a
really nice home-cooked meal.
(Unbelievably, they let me stay.
Oh, the kindness of strangers.)
I’ll take a good proof-reader over an editor any day of the
week. If a proof-reader fails to catch a
mistake, it may be temporarily embarrassing (i.e. “Ghengis Kahn” instead of
Ghengis Khan”), but at least it’s not permanently disfiguring.
Who designed your
cover?
Cornelius Drake, which may or may not be a pseudonym for a
designer/photographer who may or may not make his or her bread and butter by
designing the covers of children’s books.
How much difference
does a good cover make?
A good cover can’t “make” a book, but it can help get a book
into the hands (virtual or actual) of a potential reader. No question about it. Conversely, a lousy cover can definitely
“break” a book. My philosophy is: if
you’re going to invest some serious money, this is the place to do it.
How important is a
good title?
A title can be of greater or lesser consequence, depending
on the content. In this case, Just Before the Dawn, the title was
crucial. Because of the XXX-Rated adult
content, I wanted to prepare and caution the reader. I wanted the title to be unambiguous: “You’ve
been forewarned! Enter at your own
risk!”
What's the best piece
of business advice you've been given?
My father only gave me one piece of advice: Even the
grandest ideas start with a small spark.
Even the greatest fortune starts with a single dollar. So, when you find a passion for something,
start small – even if it means starting in your garage or your basement.
What's your favourite
part of the writing process?
I’m obsessed with words.
They’re powerful and endlessly mysterious. I believe that each and every single word has
a secret code – something that lies beyond its obvious meaning. The key to breaking the code is finding the
right word and then finding the right word to follow that word and then the
next, and so on. I adore spending time
finding just the right word – even when it takes me days or weeks, which it
often does.
Also, writing grounds me to the earth – to time and space –
which fulfills a hunger I have for terrestrial connection. It’s funny because, theoretically, fiction
writing wouldn’t seem a natural conduit to “reality” – yet somehow it works for
me.
What are your
strengths and weaknesses as a writer?
I think people become artists for varying reasons. Some are born with immense talent, others
make art to survive. (The two-time
Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and author J. Anthony Lukas once said, “All
writers are, to one extent or another, damaged people. Writing is our way of repairing ourselves.
” Lukas, diagnosed with depression ten
years earlier, hanged himself in 1997.)
It’s fair to say that I started out as a member of the latter
category. It’s a less intellectual
approach – at least in the beginning.
And the risks are titanic, because talent not wholly inborn is learned
and earned through the sweat of the flesh and the letting of blood. So, in the beginning, I fought demons on the
battlefield of the written page. That
has changed over time. I think that
knowing why I write is my strength.
My weakness is that when it comes to writing I’m a “one verb
at a time” type of gal. When I’m writing
I can’t take breaks. I can’t take a
walk. I can’t answer the phone. I can’t interact with other people. I can’t make any type of plan – even if it’s
something in the far distant future.
What aspects of
marketing your book do you enjoy?
None.
As a reader, how
would you describe your taste in crime fiction?
I don’t read really scary, gory books – books with deranged
killers or the likes – or any mass-market crime fiction. Other than that, I’m open.
What are you reading
now?
“Magic
Mountain” by Thomas Mann
If you had to re-read
a crime novel right now, what would you choose?
“The Burnt Orange Heresy”
by Charles Willeford
What's the best
collection of short stories you've read?
“When the Messenger is Hot” by Elizabeth Crane
Ever tried your hand
at poetry?
I have one book of published poetry, “Mania” – which has
original artwork by the American/Dutch artist, Jan Frank. Lately, I’ve been writing rhyming poems,
which I’ve found to be surprisingly un-childlike.
Do you read outside
of the crime genre?
For a long time I only read and related to really tortured
writers, poets, artists: Baudelaire, Rimbaud – the usual suspects. I remember reading an interview from 1919
with the writer Djuna Barnes. The
interviewer asked her why she was so morbid and she answered, “Look at my
life.” I mean, that’s what I related to. Not anymore.
Now I like rhyming poems and
Artaud. In the noir crime fiction genre
of the Honey McGuinness books, I’d say my favorite writers are Jim Thompson,
Charles Willeford, Charles Bukowski, Raymond Chandler. Outside of this genre? Oh, there are so many. Among contemporary writers I’m crazy for
Jeanette Winterson, Jonathan Lethem. I
read Alice Munro, Carl Hiaasen, Walter Mosely, David Foster Wallace. Then there’s Jean Rhys, Virginia Woolf, Anais
Nin, Henry Miller – that crowd. There’s
Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Steinbeck.
And Gabriel Márquez, Thomas
Mann, Alexander Dumas. I’m sure I’ve
missed some but as you can see, my stock is eclectic. Once you clean house, there’s room for everything. I like that.
Do you enjoy writing?
Beyond words.
Do you have any other
projects on the go?
I’m currently working on a novel (the working title: The Woman Who Was Good Enough to Eat),
which was inspired by the true story of a 55-year old woman who met a 30-year
old man and, two days later, married him.
Before the honeymoon was over he ate her, literally.
Just Before The Dawn by Bonnie Kozek
Amazon UK|Amazon US
