Crime novelist and one of the new general managers at Woolworths in the Knysna Mall, James Fouch?. Not just a pretty face, Fouch? also speaks fluent Spanish which he began studying in 2005, "because I look damn sexy in the mirror when I do!" he teases. "Nah, I wanted to learn Spanish because I hate it when my mind becomes stagnant and I constantly want to learn new things."
Shopping at Woolworths Knysna these days may offer more than one has bargained for!
Most customers would not expect one of the friendly managers to be a published crime novelist, but James Fouch?, currently content to discuss good food at the Knysna Mall, actually has a New York publisher.
His debut novel, Jack Hanger, was published in 2010 and is the gripping tale of Dave Matters who suffers from a complex form of OCD and selective memory loss. Critics feel that Fouch? successfully lures the reader into the darkest niches of the main character?s disturbed mind.
Fouch?, like many authors, is a habitual observer of humanity, whether he is plotting his latest crime thriller sitting in the back of a coffee shop or at work with customers between the aisles.
?Most authors possess a strong imagination, yet they have an analytical and realistic view of life. We speak our mind by writing it down. This is our voice. In so doing we stumble upon possible solutions or create a cathartic outlet for readers dealing with issues related to the written material,? explains the author whose constant struggle with the injustices of a corrupt and demented society may be the reason he writes.
?In writing a crime novel you take control of the darkness. It is no longer your unknown enemy which may strike at any moment in real life, but you become the one who decides its destiny. You can redeem the twisted soul or not. It is in fact a process of empowering yourself and, in the South African psyche, it gives one some type of closure amidst a fearful and uncertain reality which may seem overwhelming at times.?
Fouch?, who grew up in Goodwood ?very close to Jack Parow?s turf?, he chuckles, admits he was never very good at languages at school, unlike assumptions that the opposite would be true for writers.
?I actually failed Afrikaans until Standard 9 when I finished my first manuscript. I?m a storyteller, more than a good writer, but I soon learned that if I wrote an essay the teachers liked, I would score enough points to carry my grades!?
A young and idealistic Fouch? was intensely disappointed when there was no reaction to the manuscript he had sent away for possible publication.
?Although I did toy around with the possibility of one day becoming an author on the far horizons of my future ambitions, while I was gobbling up Stephen King novels, I gave up the idea when no one was interested in my first attempt.?
It was only years later, urged on by his mother and his fianc?e (now his wife of four years, Marlene) to once again send away a half-finished manuscript, that he mailed off another set of pages.
?This time I had nothing to lose because it was no longer such an issue for me to get published,? he says. ?And when Raider Publishing in New York actually showed interest in my work, it was a very nice surprise, pushing me to finish the novel in the next two months.?
Once the book was published he was even approached by a Seatlle television station?s morning show to make an appearance, but found out to his dismay that he had to get there on his own expense.
Fouch? feels that his one saving grace was the fact that he has always been an avid reader, and the disappearance of a reading culture in the South African educational landscape torments him. He muses that his favourite author may be HG Wells.
Busy with his second novel, the soon to be completed King of Sorrow, he explains his writing process.
?I write mostly in coffee shops at odd hours of the day. There I get to hide in a distant corner where no one can notice me. I observe the world around me and use what I see to shape my characters.?
More experienced now, Fouch? believes a story needs two things before you start writing: a beginning and an end.
?You need to know where you?re going. So I plot the beginning and a rough end in my mind, then I begin on page 1. I also have many photos of places or items which inspired me or motivates me to create a certain scene or character to be used in my books.?
He says that he does ?not really dip into his own dark side to write a bad guy?.
?I?m just fascinated by the criminal mind. I try to understand the point of inception ? the point where the healthy moral conscience becomes the unhealthy uncaring criminal. I become this person and work out the scenes in my mind, then I document what I find.?
King of Sorrow is set in Nigeria (which Fouch? visited in 2010), Cape Town and George.
?I?m hoping this is going to be my big one!? he grins.
The Fouch?s live in George with their two Jack Russell terriers.
ARTICLE: ANOESCHKA VON MECK, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD JOURNALIST
Source: Knysna-Plett Herald
Source: http://showme.co.za/knysna/news/plotting-crimes-amongst-the-fresh-produce/
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