David Michie: Sold! (By auction)

Pure Deception, David Michie’s second novel, had been auctioned before it was written. It hits the UK shelves this weeks, and is set to grip South African readers in February 2001.

Buy now!

The success of Pure Deception came about because the first draft of his debut novel, Conflict of interest, had been so well received that his agent, Lizzy Kremer, had to stage an auction in order to decide which publisher would get it. Little, Brown won the bid and also acquired the rights for Pure Deception.

Success did not, however, come overnight to this soft-spoken author. He wrote his first novel at eighteen. It was rejected. He produced nine more, but kept on receiving rejection slips. Having read Conflict of interest, a superb thriller, I found that amazing.

“What kept you going?” I asked. “Why did you continue writing?”

“I am a compulsive writer,” he chuckled. “And I guess there was a bit of egotism as well.”

Eventually it was the “second rule of writing” that got him published.

“And what is that rule?”

He smiled: “Stick to something you know.”

The breakthrough had come in the form of a non-fiction exposé called The invisible persuaders — how Britain’s spin-doctors manipulate the media. David knew, however, that fiction would provide a far more accurate platform to sketch the shenanigans of the high and mighty, since a more complete factual account would be dogged, and possibly gagged, by lawsuits. Besides, he wanted to be a novelist and immediately started working on Conflict of interest.

He confessed to using elements from his own life in the PR world: “Writing is like building a jigsaw puzzle. It is all about fitting the pieces together.”

“But you haven’t told me the first rule of writing yet,” I reminded him.

“If you can do something other than writing, do it.”

I must confess: Michie’s friendly charm took me by surprise. Somebody who was bold enough to have his book advertised as being “As good as The Firm, or your money back” surely had to portray a certain audacity in person? Not so. His answers were smooth, but never glib. He actually struck me as being shy. There must have been endless numbers of journalists before me, but a sense of bashfulness remained throughout our conversation, which lasted more than an hour.

Michie understands the media, though. His South African agents had not provided me with any information, so I’d had to do a bit of homework. In the end it was pretty easy to put together a profile, because he had written his own. I just had to chuckle when I came across a word-perfect biography on the Internet. (If you don’t understand the reason for my amusement, dear reader, buy Conflict of interest. All will be revealed!) David Michie is and remains the perfect PR person and has since registered his own website: www.davidmichie.com.

He was born in the then Rhodesia and studied at Rhodes University in Grahamstown — “a background I share with novelist Wilbur Smith.” Johannesburg, of all places, was where his PR career started. From there he moved to London and spent many years working for British firms, but today he is an Australian citizen. Although he regularly returns to the British capital, his wife works for an Australian charity and could never quite enjoy the English winters.

“Do you read Wilbur Smith?” I had to ask.

“I admire his productivity.”

Michie prefers reading biographies, but enjoys Dominique Dunn’s novels. Dunn’s real success had come after he had lost virtually everything that was dear to him. Michie, on the other hand, had hacked away, rejection upon rejection. His faith had carried him.

Being a Tibetan Buddhist, he often thinks about death — but not in a morbid fashion. On the contrary. Because death is a reality, he lives positively.

Like Chris Treiger, the main character in Conflict of interest, David Michie believes morality is more important than money. So, while writing a good story is the most important task he sets for himself, Michie believes that one can and should include social commentary in a good novel — as he has done with the child labour and child abuse cases in Conflict of interest. He uses the media for research and constantly peruses the lifestyle sections of the press, putting anything of interest in an “ideas box”. Every now and again he will browse through his box for inspiration. The suicide of his character Nathan Strauss (in the opening scene in Conflict of interest) had, for instance, been based on an event involving a member of the Rothchild dynasty.

I did not enjoy the need to include sexual abuse in the book (see my review) — to me the exposure of child labour was a strong enough social comment. David shrugged when I mentioned it: “At the time of writing the book, the newspapers carried a new story exposing sexual abuse nearly every second day,” he countered. “What struck me, was the senior offices held by the people involved.”

He had another appointment and our conversation came to an end. David insisted on paying for the coffee. When I bid him farewell he mentioned, quite off-hand, that he hoped our paths would cross again.

I could only agree.

“Having met him left a good taste in my mouth,” my German teacher had once remarked about somebody. It was David Michie who triggered that sound-file in my brain after so many years.

Pure Deception is on my must-have list for 2001.

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