Heather’s Bookshelf: Author Interview with Rathan Krueger
Book Title: Like Red on a Rose
Released: 09/03/24
Genre: Literary Fiction
Interview by Heather L. Barksdale
What inspired you to write “Like Red on a Rose”?
Krueger: For the better part of a decade, I had many false starts with writing a novel. The ideas got through the planning/prep phase, but never beyond the first chapter. Meanwhile, I was writing scripts for me to direct. What became “Shadows of Love” started off as two screwed-up women in love. I didn’t have a career, so there was a good chance people in the current climate would think the couple were how I felt about women and lesbians. So I came up with a “good” couple as secondary characters, Rudella and Piri.
Time passed and not enough people were interested in “Shadows of Love” for me to make it, but I knew I had something worth making. Instead of giving up on it, I got the idea to write an anthology novel with the four ladies. It would only cost hand cramps, and I could use it as a beacon. I quickly realized that the “bad” couple worked best as opaque characters, but “Shadows of Love” could work even better knowing more about Rudella and Piri. At the same time, I wanted the novel and the film to be able to exist by themselves. Someone could take in only one of them and not feel like they’re missing out.
I’m not a fan of most romantic stories since they assume the best part of a relationship is either the first kiss or the first “I love you”. Because of this, I feel they’ve done more harm than good. People chase that endorphin rush instead of letting the relationship strengthen and evolve. Because of that, I wanted to tell Rudella and Piri’s story before AND after they got together.
Because I knew there'd eventually be an audiobook and I wanted continuity from the page to the eventual screen, I didn't want to write from Rudella or Piri's perspective. I didn't want dialogue for the same reason. That meant I third-person narration was the way to go, although I did crack with one line the two share. Said line (heh) started with just Rudella saying it, but she and Piri were partners in life and prose, so I had Piri repeat it. Both times are far apart, for vastly different reasons, and furiously important. I hope Rudella and Piri are cast in "Shadows of Love" before the audiobook is recorded, or that the pedant in me won't mind their dissimilarity if not.
How did you come up with the names of your main characters?
Krueger: A Reader’s Digest name dictionary I’ve had for decades. One of my writer quirks while planning “Shadows of Love” was giving the couples names that were close to each other alphabetically. The “bad” couple hung out at the first half of the alphabet, so the “good” couple had to hang out at the second half.
Rudella and Piri became Korean and Mexican because I liked blind casting, when the role is open to any race. At the same time, with my lacking career, I knew I’d get a ton of grief if the best ones for the roles were one color. I then remembered a restaurant a friend swore existed, but was conveniently closed whenever I was around, that served Korean-Mexican food. Rudella’s specificity with hailing from Conyers, Georgia came from me loving Holly Hunter’s accent and finding out she’s from, well, you know.
Is there anything that you want readers to know about you, your writing process or your book?
Krueger: I come from the notecard school of thought. Doing all the hard work with thinking beforehand makes writing so much fun. And I start from beginning to end; there’s a flow that the piece might not have otherwise, and the current card, as you write, might alter a future card you weren’t expecting. My only regret with writing “Like Red on a Rose” is I approached notecarding it like a script, not a novel. I ended up doing more hard work as I wrote, which made writing drag on for two years.
Never again, dear reader.
If "Like Red on a Rose" was adapted into a movie, who would you like to see cast to play your lead characters?
Krueger: Because I plan on making “Shadows of Love”, with Rudella and Piri stepping out of the spotlight, I didn’t want to lock down anything besides their personalities and their fashion. A holdover from being a screenwriter/director was not having anyone in mind for roles. If you have an idea of who you’re looking for, you shut out someone different who’d blow your mind.
When you encounter writer’s block, what do you do to break yourself out of it?
Krueger: I try to do all the work in the planning so I don’t hit writer’s block. However, being less than prepared for “Like Red on a Rose” taught me that doing other things will let serendipity happen. Then it was a matter of writing it down before I forgot. David Lynch said that forgetting a good idea made him want to kill himself. I wouldn’t go that far, but I can relate.
Are there any tips that you would like to share with other aspiring authors on how you plan your book?
Krueger: -taps the notecard sign- Also, the only thing stopping you going from “aspiring author” to “author” is you. If you want to write, write. And take any opportunity to refine your craft (getting a text from me is like getting a novella). Like a Q&A.
What is your favorite genre, book, and/or author?
Krueger: My favorite book is “Dietrich” by Maria Riva. It’s a biography of Marlene Dietrich written by her daughter, but not for gossip’s sake. I love it because it’s a history lesson, and a character study, and an examination of femininity, and about movies, and honest.
What are you working on next?
Krueger: I have one more novel in me before I go back to filmmaking, so I’m writing a mythic revenge epic. I don’t think revenge should be a celebration, to give you an idea of what the end result will be. The first third of ‘25 will be me reading a tower of research books, the next third will be me (properly) notecarding my eventual novel, and the rest of the year will be me writing it.
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