Critical Mick

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Reviews by the Clown that All Other Critics Want to Strangle with a Black Turtleneck

Story Trumps All

Here's "the new Michael Crichton," Karen Dionne, on the top five writing lessons she learned from the original MC, on how her debut novel Freezing Point was completed, on Backspace, on a Chilean volcano, and on whether some marketing drone at Berkley / Penguin should be fed to a carnivorous rat. Critical Mick throws all the hard-hitting snowballs in this unruly email interview, September 2009.

Critical Mick: So! Lunch Tongue. Islands swimming with slimy brown penguin guano. Yikes! The Hollywood execs who made Happy Feet must have visited Antarctica on a different day than you.

Karen Dionne: I hear you, Mick. And I hate to be the one to break it to your readers, but the truth is, penguins don't talk. I say this with complete authority after spending many frigid research hours at the penguinarium at the Detroit Zoo.

CM: Seriously, Freezing Point contains a lot of detail about life in a research station and the environment of the ice shelf which rings true. You've been down to Antarctica, I gather?

KD: Actually, I haven't. But I lived in Michigan's Upper Peninsula for 30 years, where winter lasts six months. We'd have 4 feet of snow on the ground and see temps of 35 below (Fahrenheit, not Celsius), so I know snow and cold.

Editorial Note: Yikes! No wonder they stayed in LA. By any scale, 35 below is cold enough to freeze a studio exec as solid as Walt Disney.

Critical Mick's review of Karen Dionne's Freezing Point

KD, con't: Naturally, I did a great deal of research as well. The Lonely Planet Guidebooks are a terrific resource for authors writing books set in foreign locales, because in addition to an overview about the geography, climate and history of the region, they contain practical information, like what to wear and how to make a phone call. I also read the online journals of people who've spent time in Antarctica, and used details from their experiences in my novel, such as that personnel at research stations across the continent like to watch John Carpenter's 1980s Antarctic horror movie The Thing, or that the climate is so dry, an open bag of potato chips stays fresh for months. KD: As for my seemingly intimate knowledge of penguin guano, have you ever been to a penguinarium? CM: Disaster stories! Love 'em! Why an ecological disaster? And how likely is it to come true? KD: I know the idea of an environmental disaster is pretty far-fetched given the way we've really gotten a handle on the whole environmental issue after Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth came out, but hey - fiction is all about twisting the facts to make a ripping good story. That George Orwell guy - what did he know?

KD: That said, all authors write about subjects that interest them and about which they're most passionate. I've been concerned about the environment ever since I read Rachel Carson's environmental wake-up classic Silent Spring. During the 1970s, my husband and I fled the city for the Northern Michigan wilderness, where we lived in a tent with our infant daughter while we built a small cabin, sampled wild foods, and carried water from a nearby spring. I've since left the back-to-the-land lifestyle behind, but I'm still appalled at the way man is ruining the earth. So while I didn't sit down and deliberately decide to write an environmental thriller, that's what came out.

CM: Is water truly that scarce? Isn't 70% of the Earth's surface covered with the stuff? We sure have buckets of it pelting down here in Ireland, I tell you.

KD: Buckets of Irish rain aside, unfortunately, everything I say in my novel about the scarcity of clean water is true. Freezing Point's premise is based on three facts:

KD: In my novel, a concerned environmentalist puts those three things together and comes up with a plan to alleviate the world's fresh water crisis by using microwaves to melt Antarctic icebergs into drinking water on location, then loading the water into tankers and shipping it to thirsty nations around the world. But Freezing Point is a thriller, so naturally, his plan goes just a wee bit wrong....

CM: Energy beams from space melting holes through the Antarctic ice…. Did you rob that scene from Alien Vs. Predator?

KD: You mean someone's already used it? Dang. Well, I plead not guilty to thievery, since I've never seen the movie – I came up the microwave method on my own. Though once I started researching the novel, I discovered my idea was already under discussion by engineers and environmentalists. Maybe they watched the movie?

KD: The microwave scientists I talked to all told me there were cheaper and easier ways to melt icebergs into drinking water than what I was proposing; lasers or parabolic mirrors were two of their suggestions. But the image of that giant microwave beam shooting down out of the sky was so sexy, I had to go with it.

KD: One of my experts sent me his calculations for how strong my theoretical microwave beam would need to be, taking into account the melting temperature of ice, the solar constant in space, the obliquity factor, and other scientific stuff. I included his calculations verbatim in the book:

KD: Sure hope he's right....

CM: Which came first: the notion for Freezing Point or the baddies inspired by Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water?

KD: I picked up Blue Gold by Canadian environmentalist Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke on a fellow author's recommendation after I started working on my novel, and wow. It's a little disconcerting to realize that the nefarious acts you've conceived for your villain are already being done in the real world, and more. People say my novel is scary. They should read about the real thing.

CM: Any sign of the birth of the People's Republic of Antarctica? No? JCB has fallen behind schedule…. (Obscure literary reference # 1)

KD: I'll say that's obscure. Thank goodness for Google...

KD: The question of who owns Antarctica is actually pretty fascinating. Seven nations have staked claims – literally dividing up the continent like a pie chart with the South Pole at the center, so they all have access. But other than those nations, no one recognizes their claims. And since there are no native Antarctic peoples, in reality, no one owns Antarctica. There've been a number of children born at research stations on the continent, however. If you ask me, those kids have a pretty good claim.

CM: How did this novel's backstory begin? What was the first drop of an idea?

KD: I got the idea for Freezing Point after I read an AP item in the newspaper about a 75-square-mile section of the Antarctic ice shelf that had broken off due to global warming. The image of that giant iceberg intrigued me. What if a researcher happened to be there when the ice shelf disintegrated? What if they were stranded on the newly formed berg? What if the disaster was somehow their fault? I combined those questions with the greatest April Fool's hoax in Discover Magazine's history, and ended up with a story about an environmental disaster in Antarctica and a grand philanthropic scheme that goes horribly wrong.

KD: What's interesting is that after my novel published, many of Freezing Point's reviewers mentioned the story's timeliness - yet that AP item is dated April 17, 1998.

CM: How / when / where was the novel written?

KD: I started writing Freezing Point in the fall of 1998 while I was looking for an agent for my first novel, a thriller set in the South American jungle I was calling "Kittens." (I know. Clearly, I had a lot to learn.) I found an agent who was willing to sign me because he loved the premise, but felt the novel needed a rewrite because the plotting was a mess. I agreed with his suggestions, and so I set Freezing Point aside and went back to work.

KD: After 3 complete rewrites under my agent's direction over 3½ years, Whisper of the Cat ultimately didn't sell. So I went back to Freezing Point, finished it, and that novel became my first when it sold to Berkley in January 2007 with an October 2008 publication date – a full ten years after I began.

CM: And did you have any help with it? (Handy segue to Backspace, no?)

KD: (Very!) When I first started writing with a view to publication, I was living in a small town in Northern Michigan. I didn't know any writers in the real world, so I began hanging out with writers on the Internet. I learned a lot about the business and the craft, but because the discussion forum we were members of was both public and lightly moderated, the site was plagued with nuisance posters and troublemakers.

KD: After one particularly chaotic weekend, I asked one of the writers who I knew had website experience how hard it would be to set up our own invitation-only discussion forums where those who were serious about writing could help one another without all the noise. We opened Backspace's doors in April 2004, and in the first week, 110 members joined.

KD: 5 years later, of those original 110 members, 47 have been published, most with major publishers, several more than once, and 6 are New York Times bestselling authors. Our present membership is now over 1,100. Aside from the not-insignificant help from my extraordinary agent, everything I know about writing and publishing, I learned from them.

CM: Go on, give us Backspace's plug.

KD: "Writers helping writers." It almost sounds too simple, doesn't it? But that's the purpose of the discussion forums, the public website (www.bksp.org) and our annual writers conferences in New York (www.backspacewritersconference.com). If your readers would like to know more about the Backspace community, Writer's Digest Magazine featured Backspace in their October 2009 issue. Folks in the U.S. and Canada can pick up a copy at bookstores, and anyone can read the extended interview at Writer's Digest's website.

CM: Sara Gruen was an early member. Who else that the good readership might know is a Backspace member?

KD: Sara is one of the original 110. Others who joined later whose books have done well in your part of the world are Pam Jenoff (The Kommandant's Girl; The Diplomat's Wife; Almost Home), Patricia Wood (whose debut The Lottery was one of 6 finalists in 2008 for the Orange Prize), Tish Cohen (Inside Out Girl, and Town House, which was a regional finalist for Best First Book for the Commonwealth Writer's Prize in February 2008), Elizabeth Graham (Playing with the Moon; Restitution), and Mark Bastable (Mischief; Icebox).

CM: Any up-and-comers you'd like to plug?

KD: I'd love to give a shout-out to Marcus Sakey, Sean Chercover, Tom Rob Smith, and Roger Smith, a South African whose first novel Mixed Blood is being made into a movie starring Samuel L. Jackson. I'll read anything these guys write.

CM: I saw Robin Slick listed amongst your members. She had an insightful interview on the Writing Show: "Is There Such a Thing as an Erotic Comedy?"

KD: I met Robin in New York in 2007 when she was on a panel, "You Write Your Mother with that Pen?" at our Backspace conference. Mark Bastable was the moderator. Gosh, that was fun.

CM: How did you meet Lee Child?

KD: Lee was our first guest speaker at the online discussion forums, and honestly, all I did was write to him via his website with an invitation. Lee really enjoyed his online visit, and so he also came to our first conference in 2006 for a thriller authors panel with David Morrell and Barry Eisler. Talk about the A Team! I remember sitting next to him in the back of the room during the last part on the program, stealing sidelong glances and thinking, "It's Lee Child. He's really here. At my conference!" Lee truly believes in helping newer writers, and I've seen evidence of that over and over. "Writers helping writers," you know?

CM: How exactly does it work? Do you need a black turtleneck, beret, antique cigarette holder and pair of spats to join? Awards and shit?

KD: For $40, we'll teach anyone the secret Backspace handshake. The only requirement is that an author be serious about their writing. And to make it really easy, we include a 5-day free trial so folks can check out the place to make sure Backspace is something they think will help their career. Turtleneck and beret are optional.

CM: Do all the hours at Backspace preclude work on your own writing? How do you balance the two?

KD: I spend about three hours a day on Backspace business, so that definitely cuts into my writing time. But thanks to Backspace, I'm on a first-name basis with bestselling thriller authors I admire, some of whom have read and endorsed my novel. What could be cooler than that? My writing schedule may be a little chaotic because of Backspace, but eventually, it all gets done.

CM: OK, back to Freezing Point. What an innovative way to launch a book! Give us the inside scoop.

KD: Thanks, Mick! I got the idea for an online book launch for Freezing Point when I realized that no matter where I held a real-world party, only a few of my friends would be able to come. So I set up a website (www.freezingpointlaunchparty.com) and with help from a dozen thriller authors, threw an online book launch where family, friends, and fans could mingle and win prizes.

KD: Entertainment included video welcomes from my agent and from the bestselling thriller authors who had given me blurbs (David Morrell, Gayle Lynds, Douglas Preston, and James Rollins), a reading by a professional voice actress who's also a New York Times author, a compilation clip with four authors who write series characters answering the question "Would Your Character Read Freezing Point" (including Lee Child - told ya he was one of the good guys) and a video clip from a thriller author who's also a medical doctor discussing the science behind my story's premise. Naturally, there were door prizes and a guest book, and two independent booksellers made signed copies available for purchase.

KD: The party was terrific. In three days, the website saw 2,700 visitors, and over 400 people posted comments in the guest book. I could never have done that in the real world!

CM: Is there anything that you had not realized that you had put into the novel until it was completed, published, and put out there for everyone to see?

KD: Funny you bring this up. There's a section near the beginning of the book that reads just fine in print and in context. But then a radio interviewer read it to his audience during a live interview:

KD: Listening to him read, I thought, eww - throwing up, stomach cramps, choking down bile, faking her period to avoid having sex - did I really write that? Good thing it was radio, and no one could see my face.

CM: What's with all the pregnancies and references to pregnancy? Foreshadowing the breaking of waters?

KD: When I first started shaping up the novel, I decided I wanted my main character to be married, and I wanted to complicate her situation by making her both diabetic and pregnant. There's a pretty rigorous health check folks have to pass before they can go to work at a research station in Antarctica, but things still go wrong, and when they do, dealing with them can be incredibly challenging. You might remember some years back when Dr. Jeri Nielsen developed breast cancer while she was stationed at the South Pole. Because it was winter and there was no way to fly her out, she had to teleconference with doctors in the States and perform a biopsy on herself. And back in 1961, a doctor at a Russian research station removed his own appendix. Zo's unplanned pregnancy while married to the station's director seemed like a good story complication.

KD: Or maybe I just wanted to counteract the perception that Antarctica is a frigid environment.

CM: My long-suffering wife read Freezing Point before I did. She enjoyed it as well, but had one big criticism: the blurb on the back of the novel has little to do with what's inside. Text there makes it sound like FP's a contest between Ben Maki and Rebecca Sweet. Sweet's hardly in the book at all. Should some marketing drone at Berkley / Penguin have a carnivorous pack rat hurled into their Hägglunds?

KD: I'm not so sure I like "long-suffering" and "read Freezing Point" in the same sentence, Mick, though I'm glad to hear your wife enjoyed it. I didn't write the back cover copy. Personally, I always thought "apocalyptic horror" was a little over the top, but at least it's better than "a guy does a thing with some stuff." Tell your wife I'm giving Rebecca Sweet a starring role in my next novel.

Editorial Note: Mick's wife is long-suffering because he is even less funny in person, and the poor girl can't escape crap jokes by clicking a simple link.

CM: David Morrell plugs you on Freezing Point's cover. He's more that the guy who gave Rambo to the world, he taught at the University of Iowa for years.

KD: David's another fabulous thriller author who reaches out to help and encourage aspiring writers. He's given the keynote address twice at our Backspace conferences, and both times, his speech was so moving, he brought the audience to tears. Ask Robin. He also gave me that fabulous quote ["Karen Dionne is the new Michael Crichton"], knowing full well it would open doors for me, as indeed, it has (see my answer to your last question).

CM: Is the Mark Bastable that you thank in your Acknowledgements the same Mark Bastable who wrote Icebox and Mischief? (Obscure lit reference # 2)

KD: Yep, that's that Mark Bastable, who also worked with us at NFG.

CM: That's right, we used to work for the same magazine! What did you learn from editing NFG?

KD: Working at NFG was a terrific experience. The main thing I learned was that great writing always stands out. Once you've read hundreds of short stories, you can tell within the first paragraph – sometimes even the first sentence – when you're in the hands of a master. I was particularly proud of our final issue, because three of the five short stories in it were submissions I'd picked out of slush and sent through to the other editors. It's a great feeling to find gold.

CM:What have you learned from editing other people's work in general?

KD: The most common new-writer mistakes are:

CM: "Karen is a member of Sisters in Crime, the Mystery Writers of America, and the International Thriller Writers, where she serves as Debut Author Committee Chair." How did all that come about? Before or after Backspace and Freezing Point?

KD: I think it's important for an author to join professional associations. Being an active part of the writing community creates opportunities. For instance, last year, while serving as the International Thriller Writers Debut Authors Committee chair, I learned about a proposed short story anthology that was to be a mix of stories from established authors and debuts. I submitted, and now have a short included in an anthology coming from Tor next June called First Thrills. Lee Child is the editor, with contributions from Steve Berry, Lincoln Child & Douglas Preston, Jeffrey Deaver, Heather Graham, Gregg Hurwitz, John Lescroart, Alex Kava, Michael Palmer & Daniel Palmer, Karin Slaughter, Wendy Corsi Staub, Eric Van Lustbader, and F. Paul Wilson. Such august company! That wouldn't have happened if I hadn't gotten involved.

CM: I understand that you have some good news and a new blog. What are you working on now?

KD: This summer, I learned that Freezing Point will be published in the Czech Republic and Germany. It's very exciting to think that my novel will be available in additional markets and languages.

KD: And last spring, my publisher signed on for a second environmental thriller from me. Boiling Point is about an erupting volcano, a missing researcher, and a radical scheme to end global warming. Because Berkley bought this novel before it was written, I was able to travel to Chaiten Volcano, in Northern Patagonia, Chile last April for on-site research.

KD: I stayed 4 days in the town at the volcano's base, though the town is without electricity and running water and remains evacuated after it was ruined by a lahar, and hiked to within one mile of the lava dome, where I saw steam vents, heard explosions coming from the caldera, and felt a small earthquake. Being in an area of both creation and destruction was an incredible experience that's really going to inform the new novel.

KD: Folks can read a more detailed account of what it's like to visit an active volcano and check out my pictures and video clips at my Boiling Point blog.

CM: Any man-eating llamas in that one?

KD: Wrong country - you'd have to go to the other side of South America to Argentina to find them.

CM: Please? - "Gimme baaack my wool." - "Take cover, Ross! The alpaca's packin'!" – "Call me Rambaaaa. Smelly humaaan! I spit on your grave!"

KD: How about man-eating pudu? That's Chile's Patagonian animal claim to fame. On the other hand, I probably couldn't get too many thrills out of including the world's smallest deer.

CM: Have we read any of the same shtuff? (Critical Mick Full alphabetic index) Was my review way off about them?

KD: Laura Lippman, Lee Child, Tana French, David Baldacci, Harlan Coben, Tess Gerritsen, Carl Hiaasen, but your list has a lot of authors on it I haven't yet read. Time to charge up the Sony Reader!

CM: What's on your nightstand? (books, I mean, but other items if you wanna....)

KD: Over the last few weeks, in print, I read Roadside Crosses and The Broken Window by Jeffery Deaver, and Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. On my Sony Reader, I read The Apostle by Brad Thor, First Family by David Baldacci, Vanished by Joseph Finder, and am currently reading The Verona Cable by Brent Ghelfi.

KD: Waiting on my nightstand (which is really a small table beside the super-luxe chocolate brown leather chaise in my office) in hardcover is Free Agent by my fellow ITW Debut Author Jeremy Duns, the Thriller Two anthology of short stories, an arc called The Knight by Steven James that somebody sent me even though Backspace doesn't review books, and The Lost Symbol by some guy named Dan Brown.

KD: I also read and loved Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, and recently picked up The Rat by Gunter Grass and The Namesake by Jhumpra Lahiri. It's important for a thriller writer to read outside their genre, or their writing gets stale.

CM: Saving the best for last: whether amateur or professional, who are your influences? Whose writing do you admire? Why? What elements make a good story?

KD: Every novel I've read has influenced me to one extent or another. Early standouts include The Boxcar Children series by Gertrude Chandler and everything written by James Michener.

KD: That said, there's no doubt Michael Crichton has the top spot on my list. Crichton essentially created the techno-thriller genre, and I think it's significant that much of what we now consider standard, he did first. Not all of his novels are equally stellar, but they all have incredibly imaginative premises and engaging storytelling.

KD: When Crichton passed away last November, Writer's Digest Magazine invited me to list the 5 top writing lessons I learned from him. It was an honor to be able to speak for all of the authors who've been inspired by Crichton's work. Here's my list as it appeared in their April issue:

1. CHALLENGE YOUR READER. Don't be afraid to tackle complex topics like quantum physics or manipulating the genetic code. Readers love learning something new. Stirring their curiosity is just as important as grabbing them from the first page. 2. SURPRISE YOUR READER. No one reading The Andromeda Strain could have guessed the ending. Novels should be novel. Unpredictability is key. 3. KEEP THE CLOCK TICKING. Timing, tension, momentum, pace—Crichton set the bar. A pounding heart keeps the reader reading. 4. GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT. Whether the details pertain to science, history or setting, readers expect your research to be accurate. 5. PLAY FAST AND LOOSE WITH THE FACTS. Story trumps all. Crichton's gift was making the impossible believable. Everyone knows that dinosaurs can't be cloned from fossilized DNA, but if they could …

Warm up to Karen Dionne with a visit to her Boiling Point blog, and keep an eye out for her next novel in 2010!

Yo! This interview transcript and all content on the DFA Guide site are copyright 2009 Mick Halpin. All links to other sites and documents are copyright to whatever source wrote something cool enough for Mick to give it a referral. Try to claim them as your own work and bad karma will catch up with you, baby. Believe it.

Irate, huh? Managed to piss off another one? Direct your hatemail to mick @ mickhalpin dot com.

This Page Was Last Updated On 29 September, 2009.