Desert and Danger with Edith Parzefall

 It is with great pleasure I welcome my dear friend and fellow MuseItUp sister, to my magic garden today. I give you the international jet setter and thriller novelist ...

  EDITH PARZEFALL. 
 

Come sit under the wattle tree, Edith. You have visited me in Australia but you aren't Australian. Tell us where you come from.

 I grew up in a little village in Germany, Oberhinkofen, surrounded by woods and fields, but with a—now abandoned—military training ground nearby and the city of Regensburg with 100,000 inhabitants in biking distance. So it didn't really feel like we lived on the countryside, with German and US tanks driving by and starfighters in the sky disturbing classes, while we enjoyed all the benefits of nature around us. As a child, I wouldn't have wanted to live anywhere else. Now, I live in Nürnberg with half a million inhabitants and enjoy city life.

What one place in the world appeals to you the most?

 To pick only one place is tough, Wendy. I've never been to Africa and I really hope to go there some day, maybe to Namibia, since it's rich with minerals and that should entice my partner to visit. And I'd love to return to Australia and South America. Both continents still offer so much for me to explore and the inhabitants are fabulously friendly and helpful.

Do you think you’d like to live anywhere else?

 I do dream about living in a house at the sea, but my life here in Nürnberg is extremely comfortable, and we have a small airport a short underground ride away. Even traveling to the other side of the planet isn't a big deal these days. So unless a move would offer something really intriguing, I'll probably stay put and keep traveling to different places when I find the time and money.

 
What is the setting for your latest MuseItUp release, Crumple Zone? 



Cover Designer: Nika Dickson

Crumple Zone is set in the Atacama desert in Chile, a fascinating place of stark contrast: a lush coast line set off against the barren desert rimmed by tall volcanos.

Tell us a little about this novel?


Crumple Zone is psychological suspense unfolding along Ruta 5, the Pan-American highway running from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. Lara is crossing her own emotional desert as she travels through Chile and hooks up with a seemingly charming backpacker—until trucker Enrique crashes into her and thwarts her flight from life and his escape from reality.

The main theme is? 

No risk, no love.

 Crumple Zone explores human emotions, most of all the power and danger of love. Beware, it's not a romance.

Who is the main character based on?

Mostly, Lara is a child of my imagination, although she shows some traits of my younger self, taken to some extreme. Of course I won't reveal which traits. :-)

Now you have us guessing. :)

Do you place much faith in your muse or do you believe writing is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration? Can you expand on this?

 Without inspiration, I can't work up a sweat. First I need a powerful idea that drives me on during the marathon of writing a novel. The quality of a first draft depends on how much perspiration I'm willing to invest right away.

Since revisions are fairly painful for me, I've become far more disciplined while crafting a novel. It spoils the fun of simply running with the muse but allows for more fun and satisfaction while polishing the story. I'm slowly turning from a true panster into a half-hearted plotter. In terms of percentages? I have no idea. I only know, without that tiny seed the plant wouldn't grow, no matter how ideal the sun, the soil, and the fertilizer might be.


Why writing? Why not some other craft like painting or quilting etc?

 In school, art class was too painful. Thinking back, I know I could have enjoyed painting, potting, or anything creative, but teachers forced creativity into molds that made my muse sulk. Why walk in shackles, instead of learning to climb a rockface? Since I always loved to read books or listen to stories, it came fairly natural to try my hand at it myself.

Is there anything that can pull you away from writing?


Traveling to unknow countries is a force that can make me drop my virtual pen quickly but I'm always hoping for an interesting story to spark. Friends can pull me away from writing fairly easily, because usually, they are very understanding when I turn into a recluse. So once they start dragging me away from my computer, I'm happy to comply and glad that they are still willing to talk to me.

Could you share an excerpt please?
 

 Here's an except from Chapter Twenty-Two:

The Atacama Desert changed colors the further south Lara drove. A hundred miles north of La Serena, earthen and reddish tones indicated a more fertile soil. Not only rocks, but dry shrubbery broke the smooth surface. Tiny green bushes sprouted white blooms. Suddenly, the desert turned purple. A web of flowers covered the sand and washed up the slopes of the hills.

“Wow, look at this,” Lara exclaimed. She switched to four-wheel drive and took the X-Trail off the road, carefully picking her path toward the first patch of color. She jumped out and knelt at the bed of flowers, no more than four inches tall. They swayed in the gentle wind, but she managed to take a few photos that weren't blurred. “This is fantastic.”

Rick laughed. “The flowers weren't in your guidebook?”

Her gaze arrested by this miracle of nature, she didn't look at him. “Of course they mentioned the blooming desert, but I didn't think we'd get to see it.”

“Why not?”

“It's rare. Only when the earth is moist enough can these tough little flowers make a stab at life, growing their little stems and leaves and buds and blooms, so they can spread their seeds before they die in the dry heat.” She gazed up at him and smiled. “We're damn lucky, dude. There must have been a light drizzle during the night.”

***

 
Thank you, Edith. I've enjoyed our time together and hope you and JJ will visit us again, if we don't get to your place first.  :)

 
Edith's books are available from
MuseItUpPublishing

and more of her books at here  at her Amazon page

 Edith's website

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