HALLIE EPHRON: Suzanne Chazin writes a mystery series featuring Jimmy Vega, a flawed and complex but deeply humane cop navigating the veiled world of the undocumented in upstate New York. Her fans includes Lee Child, who says Vega "hits the heart, not just the pulse."
Her new book, A PLACE IN THE WIND, is scary because she wrote it more than a year ago and the story has turned out to be more than a little prescient.
This isn't the first time this has happened to me. I published my first novel, a thriller about the New York City Fire Department, in February 2001—seven months before the Twin Towers fell.
In 2014, I published the first in a series of mystery novels about a suburban New York cop named Jimmy Vega whose work often takes him into the undocumented immigrant community. This was not a hot-button issue when my first book came out.
What a difference a few years makes.
By the time I began my fourth book, it was the spring of 2016. Donald Trump was picking up voters with his hard line rhetoric on illegal immigration. He was a dark horse back then. Nobody—myself included—thought he'd win. But even so, it was clear he'd struck a chord. Overnight it seemed, more and more people across the United States were voicing strong sentiments against immigrants, particularly the undocumented.
I found myself intrigued by a singular question: what would happen if I introduced a man with Donald Trump's views into Jimmy Vega's little fictional upstate New York town of Lake Holly? It seemed fantastical to consider back in the spring of 2016. And even more fantastical to imagine what the outcome might be, especially given that my book wouldn't be in the stores until October 2017.
What sort of crime, I asked myself, would spark such a divide?
I settled on a teenager's disappearance. I invented a blond-haired, blue-eyed girl from a prominent family who walks out of a community center one night after tutoring English to immigrants—and vanishes. Jimmy Vega's girlfriend runs the center. A lot of her clients are undocumented.
Into this divide, I threw a local politician named Mike Carp, with strong anti-immigrant views, and a teenager named Wil Martinez, a DACA recipient fearful of losing his temporary legal status (who knew this could turn into a real fear?) Then I got Jimmy in trouble and had him demoted to Carp's driver.
Fiction is always a little larger-than-life. Heroes are more heroic. Villains, more villainous. The consequences of every action, more extreme. So of course, I imagined the worst. Marches that turned violent. Immigrants afraid to gather for fear they might be assaulted or deported. Young people with DACA who feared for their futures.
I pictured Carp as a man who uses his political office to cut personal business deals. A man who twists the truth and then defends its lack of accuracy. "Not every fact is a truth," he tells Vega. "And not every truth is a fact." Knowing Vega is a musician, Carp uses a musical score as an analogy. "Notes and beats—those are facts. But how you play them? That's truth."
As I was making up these scenarios over a year ago (really, I was), I had one overarching fear: that everything I was writing about would feel dated and irrelevant by the time the book came out. Donald Trump would be back on television, firing people on prime time. Readers would find my imagined scenarios over-the-top. Surely, no one behaves like this in real life.
I never feared the thing I should have: that it all would become too real.
SUZANNE CHAZIN: A funny thing happened on the way to the publication of my latest novel. The world changed.
This isn't the first time this has happened to me. I published my first novel, a thriller about the New York City Fire Department, in February 2001—seven months before the Twin Towers fell.
In 2014, I published the first in a series of mystery novels about a suburban New York cop named Jimmy Vega whose work often takes him into the undocumented immigrant community. This was not a hot-button issue when my first book came out.
What a difference a few years makes.
By the time I began my fourth book, it was the spring of 2016. Donald Trump was picking up voters with his hard line rhetoric on illegal immigration. He was a dark horse back then. Nobody—myself included—thought he'd win. But even so, it was clear he'd struck a chord. Overnight it seemed, more and more people across the United States were voicing strong sentiments against immigrants, particularly the undocumented.
I found myself intrigued by a singular question: what would happen if I introduced a man with Donald Trump's views into Jimmy Vega's little fictional upstate New York town of Lake Holly? It seemed fantastical to consider back in the spring of 2016. And even more fantastical to imagine what the outcome might be, especially given that my book wouldn't be in the stores until October 2017.
What sort of crime, I asked myself, would spark such a divide?
I settled on a teenager's disappearance. I invented a blond-haired, blue-eyed girl from a prominent family who walks out of a community center one night after tutoring English to immigrants—and vanishes. Jimmy Vega's girlfriend runs the center. A lot of her clients are undocumented.
Into this divide, I threw a local politician named Mike Carp, with strong anti-immigrant views, and a teenager named Wil Martinez, a DACA recipient fearful of losing his temporary legal status (who knew this could turn into a real fear?) Then I got Jimmy in trouble and had him demoted to Carp's driver.
Fiction is always a little larger-than-life. Heroes are more heroic. Villains, more villainous. The consequences of every action, more extreme. So of course, I imagined the worst. Marches that turned violent. Immigrants afraid to gather for fear they might be assaulted or deported. Young people with DACA who feared for their futures.
I pictured Carp as a man who uses his political office to cut personal business deals. A man who twists the truth and then defends its lack of accuracy. "Not every fact is a truth," he tells Vega. "And not every truth is a fact." Knowing Vega is a musician, Carp uses a musical score as an analogy. "Notes and beats—those are facts. But how you play them? That's truth."
As I was making up these scenarios over a year ago (really, I was), I had one overarching fear: that everything I was writing about would feel dated and irrelevant by the time the book came out. Donald Trump would be back on television, firing people on prime time. Readers would find my imagined scenarios over-the-top. Surely, no one behaves like this in real life.
I never feared the thing I should have: that it all would become too real.
HALLIE: We won't blame you, Suzanne, but I for one can think of some other scenarios that I wish had turned out to be true.
So what about incorporating current events and politics into a novel? What are the risks?
Bio: Suzanne Chazin is an award-winning novelist and author of seven mysteries, including her fourth and newest Jimmy Vega, "A Place in the Wind" (Oct. 2017). Her novels have received praise from USA Today, People Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and such authors as Lee Child, Hallie Ephron, Robert Dugoni, Jeffrey Deaver, and William Kent Krueger. Suzanne's first Jimmy Vega mystery, "Land of Careful Shadows," was chosen as one of the five best genre mysteries of the year by the American Library Association. Her third Jimmy Vega, "No Witness but the Moon," was named one of the ten best books of the year by the New Jersey Star-Ledger. Visit Suzanne on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/suzannechazinauthor/ or at www.suzannechazin.com
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ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your new book, Suzanne. I’ve enjoyed your earlier Jimmy Vega stories and I'm looking forward to reading this one, too.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if, given this “grounded in reality” turn of events, you might deliberately choose for a future story to be a “grabbed from the headlines” sort of tale?
I think incorporating current events and politics into a novel could be rather risky since, as Suzanne pointed out, the issue(s) might very well be irrelevant by the time the book is published. And I suspect that, if a book were a blatant attempt to sway readers to a particular political viewpoint, it would be likely to meet with reader resistance. Politics, after all, can be a dangerous minefield . . . .
Thanks for your readership, Joan. Oddly enough, I never think about politics or any political point of view when I write. As a former journalist, I simply find myself intrigued by the realities of our times and try to present them in human terms. When I started this series, the entire issue of immigration was not at the forefront of any discussion. That's why I started writing my characters--because I felt they were living in the "shadows" and rarely thought about as people with hopes and dreams like anyone else. I think to some degree, all books set in the current day have a timeliness to them. We can't entirely escape the zeitgeist--or our technology!
DeleteIn full agreement with Joan that incorporating current events and politics into a novel can be risky, but then, if authors don't do it, what's left?
ReplyDeleteWriting takes place on a current playing field with a healthy dose of what if. Suzanne's risk was greater because the political climate was part of the plot and not a backdrop. The scenario proved prophetic and life imitated art. That's scary! Kudos on being willing to take the risk. Looking forward to reading the book.
Thanks Kait! While all the books in the series to some degree are rooted in our current climate, I hope never to skate that close to the edge again! That said, my second book in the series, "A Blossom of Bright Light" was published in 2015--before the current emphasis on deportations that might split families. Part of that book concerned a teenage DACA and her two American-born siblings who faced an uncertain future with their father facing deportation. Many readers have picked it up now and think it's about our current situation. It was written in 2014.
DeleteThe book sounds fabulous, Suzanne. I think writers have to ground their stories in what the author sees as the truth, and some of our nation's truths are ugly. Even if Trump hadn't won the election, the racism and xenophobia that supported him would still be there, ripe for exploitation by some other power-hungry but morally challenged politician. If we, as a society, don't talk about these issues, they'll just fester in the dark. If writers don't spin the stories out to their inevitable conclusions, how will we ever learn to talk about them?
ReplyDeleteThanks Gigi. I agree. I believe writers must write what's in their hearts. I'm first generation American and immigrants are very near and dear to me, since my father only got into this country because of a two-line exception in the Geneva convention that allowed underaged children to be reunited with a refugee parent. I know we have so many issues facing our country. I wouldn't attempt to write about most. But this is one I felt I could humanize and get people to empathize with. I'm so gratified how often a reader has written to say, "I never thought about the situation this way. I gained a new perspective." (Of course, I hope I've entertained them too!
DeleteSuzanne, welcome--I love that bit of dialog about facts and truth. The book I just turned in (a year away from publication) has a lot of backstory about relations between Cuba and the US. There is just no telling what the facts on that subject will be next year!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great time for a book about the US and Cuba. Yes, it's very worrisome given publication deadlines. You never know what the future holds. But I like to think that a book has a long shelf life. Sometimes people need time to welcome an idea or point of view. The nice thing about a book is that it isn't a newspaper. It sticks around--in libraries. On people's shelves. You never know when something will strike a chord with a reader. All my best wishes to you on the book!
DeleteYes, what a tightrope it is! And there is no way to figure out the future, so no way to prevent it. It will be interesting to see what people say, right, because it is indisputable how long ago your book must’ve been written.
ReplyDeleteMuch smaller pitfall:
I was in the midst of doing my final revisions of the new book when the hurricane hit the Caribbean. I had mentioned someone going to St. John, sort of a random choice… I changed it to Aruba, because I realized St John would mean something more than just “one of those islands.”
Congratulations on the book!
Thanks, Hank. Yes, I really feel for the people of the Caribbean. And yes, a throwaway line could feel dated or tone-deaf right now (always the concern). I was in St. John for a week while I was writing "A Place in the Wind." I remember looking at all the beauty and feeling that dread you get when you know a deadline is approaching and you're not ready. And now I'm reminded how important it is to savor the moment. The book is out. And that moment in St. John is a long way from ever happening again. Can't wait to read your new book!
DeleteYou are so right-- "savor the moment" is very top of mind right now.
DeleteAnd oh, thank you! xoxo
Suzanne, it seems you were prescient in a way you (and many of us) wish you'd not been, but art reflects life, as we know. The truth is, it's hard to go over the top these days when incorporating themes that tie into politics. Who could have predicted a year ago how we'd all be reeling from constant front page revelations that make our nation feel less safe, less kind, less together? I foresaw a certain level of turmoil, but not the emotionally exhausting, day-in, day-out drumbeat we face. I'll bet many of your readers (including me) will look to this book as a way to make sense of the madness, and maybe find a new hero (Jimmy Vega) to remind us that right and justice will triumph if good people do not lose heart.
ReplyDeleteThanks Brenda. I am heartsick that things once considered beyond the pale of our country's politics or humanity seem to be "routine" now. The shooting in Las Vegas is so monumental...and yet so was Newtown...So was Orlando. It almost feels like fiction can't begin to keep up with the fissures in our country. And yet, one of the great things about fiction is that it can reduce something overwhelming to human terms and find reason and compassion. We need more of that as a people.
DeleteYes, we certainly do.
DeleteSuzanne, maybe you're psychic!
ReplyDeleteI wish I was--then I'd write the next Stephen King novel and make a lot more money! I think, as a former journalist and someone who loves current events, I just absorb things and then ask a lot of "what ifs" that niggle me until I write through them and try to find the answers.
DeleteThere are so many reasons TO put current events into books and so many reasons NOT to. I once put SARS (remember that?) in a book and then took it out when my editor said probably no one would remember. And I put 9/11 in a book but took it out because it was, years later, still too raw and painful, didn't belong in a mystery novel intended as entertainment. Tightrope walking.
ReplyDeleteSo true, Hallie. When I was writing my FDNY series (which began prior to 911 and continued after), a wise editor suggested that my "after" books set the "after" in an unnamed future where a distance of time is implied. He believed that was the only reasonable way to write books about New York City firefighters. I couldn't ignore 911. But I couldn't touch it up close, either.
DeleteI don't know about other writers, but in the books I'm writing this year I' m able to take comfort not only from the usual solving the murder and bringing the bad guy to justice but also from having my characters be stronger together and triumph, in their fictional worlds, over bigotry and hate. Since these books won't be published until next year, or even later in the case of one historical I'm writing on spec, I have no idea what the real world will be like then. I'm hoping it will be better. In the meantime, I want to read about love trumping hate. Suzanne, I'll be adding your books to my TBR pile.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kathy. I don't think you can ever go wrong in showing people rising to their best selves. That's one of the things I think we're all looking for. Look how many people risked their lives in the Las Vegas shooting to help other people. That's one of the best things about fiction--we can make our world better than the world we're in. Good luck with your writing!
DeleteSuzanne, your book sounds wonderful. It is such a risky thing to include current events, but how can we not? Even science fiction pulls in the concerns of the day. We are grounded in our present.
ReplyDeleteNow for the really tough question--Since I haven't read your series, should I start with the first book?
Hi Deborah. Thanks so much! The books are a series but they also work as stand alones. All of them, even the first, published in 2014, mirror the times we are currently living in. If you like series characters and like to see how they evolve, I'd always suggest reading books in order. But some people like to read the new one and then go back. I don't give anything away so you're safe either way.
DeleteThanks for asking that question, Debs, as I was wondering the same thing. Suzanne, thanks for letting us know we could start with this new one that has me so interested.
DeleteDefinitely prescient, Suzanne! But even if you'd ripped your plot from the headlines, in the hands of a writer with strong characters, fiction can help us see things we might want to ignore in the headlines.
ReplyDeleteAnd there's plenty enough in the news today that is more bizarre than anything a writer could dream up. Russia playing a Cold War game using facebook, Twitter, etc. to foment hate against immigrants, along racial lines, the LBGTQ community, the Second Amendment in our country--and sadly, fanning those embers that were already smoldering. Sci-fi attacks against US spies and diplomatic personnel in Cuba! If you plotted a story along those lines, you'd be told to get 'real'!
You're right, Flora. I'm always amazed at how many stories start out as "fiction," or "sic-fi," and end up a little too close to the truth. Look at the popularity of "A Handmaid's Tale" or how many things "1984" got right. The human capacity for following demagogues never seems to wane. But even so...today's political climate seems "unreal." I agree!
DeleteThe book sounds compelling and I've added it to my list. Fascinating - and depressing- that real life has caught up to your book. And what an interesting discussion you have started here!
ReplyDeleteThanks Triss! I think the ancient curse, 'May you live in interesting times,' has never been more true!
DeleteI've added Land of Careful Shadows to my reading list. Please be careful what you write about next!
ReplyDeleteHi Jim! Where do you live? I won't set any stories there, I promise.
DeleteHope you enjoy the book.
Hi Suzanne, I live in Durham, NC. But the world is so interconnected these days that it probably doesn't matter where stories are set. So help yourself if you like--it's a pretty interesting area.
DeleteI should start a "pay me not to write about your town" concession!
DeleteI think when writers pay attention to the world around them and write about issues that concern them, sooner or later, we're bound to find ourselves anticipating real life. Sometimes, it's complete serendipity: Jenny Milchman's AS NIGHT FALLS, a thriller about two escaped prisoners in the Adirondacks, was published the same month that two real prisoners escaped from Clinton Prison in the Adirondacks.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, it's hard to escape the real world - like now! - and so its' influence seeps into what appears on the page. SF author John Scalzi just posted about his difficulties with producing fiction in a time when our country seems to be going off the rails. It's a great read, and I recommend it for anyone who feels distracted by current events.
Julia, thanks very much for the link to Scalzi. I have found him to be a thoughtful commentator on many subjects. (For anyone who hasn't encountered him, Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded, a selection of early columns from that same blog, is a great introduction.) I think that the problem he's describing about writing, I'm having with reading on many days, and fairly often with living in general.
DeleteThanks Julia. I'm looking forward to reading the John Scalzi piece. Yes, I recall when Jenny wrote "As Night Falls," and then it happened. Not just the same idea--the same exact location!
DeleteCongrats on the book, Suzanne!
ReplyDeleteI think as others have pointed out, the risk is "dating" your writing - but I also think it's possible to deal with the bigger themes and avoid the "dated" references.
Mary/Liz
Thanks, Mary. And I agree. Writing something that is happening now can 'date' work. But I think that sometimes it serves to mirror a time period for people who might read a story several years from now. I guess it depends on how much interest there is in the subject. My only experience with this is that while I was writing the FDNY series (right before and after 911) there was a feeling on the part of many readers that they'd had enough of firefighters for awhile. Now, I get a lot of new readers to the series who don't feel that way at all. My sincerest wish is for us as a country, to find a way to humanely and reasonably sort out our immigration problems and give a path to citizenship for those deserving of it. I believe that if that happens, people might be far enough removed from events to be curious about this period eventually. I've tried to tell it as truthfully as possible, from all sides, and yet make it entertaining. One never knows how the world will receive it.
DeleteThe description of how your book came about and then plays like reality reminded me of how the end of The West Wing is eerily parallel to the rise of Barak Obama to the presidency.
ReplyDeleteIncorporating current events seems like it would be risky, if for nothing else than it could make the story seem dated as time passes. But if the story is well done, regardless of the events depicted, it will remain timeless.
Congrats on your new book!
Thanks Jay. Yes--the West Wing episode comes to mind. Fingers crossed. I don't really know what the future holds. I guess I felt moved to tell the story of these immigrants at this time. I know that an author is supposed to write books with an eye to what sells. But I figured if I was going to devote myself to several years of writing books on a topic, I wanted it to be something I cared about deeply. I don't know if that will be true over the long haul. Here's hoping!
ReplyDeleteSuzanne, I had a somewhat similar experience in that I wrote about sports-related concussions in my book, BRUTALITY, and two years after its release, the topic is on the public radar more than ever. I never could have predicted that.
ReplyDeleteWhat was it like writing the character of Carp? Was it stressful? A form of stress relief? I find it fun to write loathsome characters, but if they are too close to reality does that sap some of the fun? Congrats on the book!
That's a great issue to have addressed early, Ingrid. I can't imagine that issue won't get bigger and bigger in the coming years. A lot of schools are re-thinking this issue in a big way.
DeleteAs for Carp--it was odd. He was a fictional character so I "played" with him. And it was fun. It's just that the "play" came a little too close to reality. I have a harder time with my loathsome characters in general. I find that I prefer writing characters who are basically good but do petty, self-interested things. I understand them. I AM them. The really loathsome ones--I have a harder time getting into their heads. Even with Carp, I gave him an early well-intentioned moment--when the hero of the series, Jimmy Vega, takes a bottle to the head protecting Carp. Carp pulls out all the stops to make sure Jimmy gets the best care available. And Jimmy is momentarily impressed by Carp's desire to go all out for "his people." The poisonous side of "loyalty" seeps in later.
Suzanne, I recently saw your book on a "fall reads" list, and the cover and title intrigued me. Now, after reading you post here, I am simply gobsmacked. I read through your piece with my jaw truly dropped and mouth open. That your imagination is now reality is a bit scary, to say the least. I'm definitely putting A Place in the Wind on my wish and TBR lists, and Jimmy Vega as a character I need to go back and read.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Kathy. I hope you enjoy it. The funny think about fiction becoming reality: the other day, I found out that in 1898, a novelist wrote a book about the largest ocean-going liner hitting an iceberg and sinking. It was called "The Wreck of the Titan." This was 14 years before the Titanic. So I am a long ways off from that sort of prescience!
DeleteSuzanne, this is one of the best lines I've ever read: "Notes and beats—those are facts. But how you play them? That's truth." Brilliant, just brilliant, and so amazingly timely. I write comedy, so I try to be the antidote to all of the bad but, man, it is becoming an uphill march with cinder block shoes. Congrats, on the release. I'm looking froward to reading it!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jenn! I think this is a great time for comedy. We need comedy now more than ever. Wish I could write it. Please keep people laughing. It breaks down all walls between people.
Delete