From Hopetoun to Hobart: How Alan Carter’s crime novels are inspired by place
Crime writer Alan Carter‘s latest release, Prize Catch, was inspired by living in close proximity to Tasmania’s controversial salmon farms. In this article, Alan dives deeper into how the landscape around him inspires his best-selling crime novels.
How much does the place where you live inspire you when coming up with crime ideas?
From the very first book, it has been central to my inspiration. Prime Cut came about when I was living in Hopetoun during the mining boom and the themes of boomtime and spectacular landscape loom large. The subsequent Fremantle-set Cato Kwong books were written once we’d moved back to Freo from Hopetoun. Likewise Marlborough Man was written while I was living in a house in the Wakamarina Valley in New Zealand watching the loggers log and hearing the hunters hunt. Now here I am in southern Tasmania and guess what? Yes, I do tend to be inspired by where I live (lucky me), but I also sometimes wonder whether it is just simpler for me to write what I know and see. Is that a sign of a lack of imagination? I know I’m in awe of those writers able to conjure up other times and places and imaginary worlds.
What sparked the idea for Prize Catch, and what did you learn while writing it?
You can’t live in Southern Tasmania’s Channel country and fail to notice all the salmon farms along the coastline. Nor swim in the ocean and notice the lack of marine life close to shore (in comparison with Fremantle or Hopetoun). Then when Richard Flanagan’s book Toxic: The Rotting Underbelly of the Tasmanian Fishing Industry came out, it was a must-read for those who care about the environment. At the same time, Mark Willacy’s Rogue Forces came out and Afghanistan war crimes allegations were in the news a lot, as was the chaotic and speedy withdrawal from the country. So I began wondering, Hmmm, what if…?
In what ways does this novel compare or differ from your previous work?
Starting up with new characters in a new setting is always scary. Cato and Nick have attracted their own (albeit niche) following, but will readers warm to these new people, this different place? I also pushed my own envelope a bit with the higher-octane action elements of this novel. Coming from a TV documentary background, I still have a tendency to rein myself in a little in a social realism sense. This time I let rip some more and enjoyed myself. I might have unleashed a monster!
What is next for Alan Carter? Will we meet Jill Wilkie and Hughsey again?
I’m neck-deep in the third Nick Chester novel set in Franz Josef, New Zealand. And if there’s a tsunami of love for Jill Wilkie and Hughsey, then why not?
Prize Catch is available now in all good bookstores and online.
