Interview by Gary KembleThe adventures of Dexter Morgan, a forensic blood splatter analyst for the Miami-Metro Police Department by day, serial killer by night has proved a big hit since hitting the shelves in 2004. This week, Dexter creator Jeff Lindsay heads Down Under for the first time.
HS: Why has Dexter struck a chord?JL: Everybody seems to come up with a different theory, I think it's just people like an outsider who does forbidden things and tells them about themselves in a new and interesting way. To cut right to the chase everybody has a list, Dexter is doing something about his list.
HS: Do you think Dexter as part of the superhero genre, like a post-modern Punisher or Dark Knight?JL: Not consciously. I read comic books as a kid like everybody else and I still like them, but I didn't really think of him in that way. The post-modern thing makes me nervous because I get nervous when people take me too seriously.
HS: Serial killers are likeable, they always know what to do and what to say. Do you think that's part of the appeal?JL: Every one you read about, there's always someone who says 'he was so likeable'. I do make a point of that with Dexter, the reason he's likeable is that he's learnt what likeable people do and he just does it by rote. It's a performance and he's a good performer. And there's plenty of people out there like that. They're not all serial killers but if you look at the missing persons statistics I'd say some of them are.
HS: And sociopaths in the corporate world do pretty well?JL: [Laughs] Yes, they do.
HS: I wanted to ask you about the research process. The book you're currently working on involves cannibalism. You must have to read some grim stuff. Does that have an impact on you personally, having to read all that quite dark stuff?JL: Yeah it does. At the end of the day when you've been in that world you really need to take a deep breath and hug a puppy and read Dr Seuss to the kids and have a glass of wine and try to shake it off. But there were a couple of things recently for the cannibalism thing that were really giving me trouble for a couple of weeks. Bad dreams and things like that. It's not always easy to shake it off.
HS: Is it getting harder with each book because Dexter's existing in our society and not being discovered?JL: The thing you really have to watch for is when it gets too easy, because there are plenty of writers who have done a long series of books with the same characters and you can tell when they start to just phone it in. Automatic writing. And I don't want that to happen. So I do try to set things to make it a little harder for myself to keep me interested.
I kind of reached a crisis point with book three where I really thought about clunking Dexter on the head and throwing him into the bay, and moving on with life. But my wife and my agent talked me out of it. [Laughs]
HS: It's a popular character and putting the commercial side of it to one side, there are a lot of people who want to see Dexter continue because they have such fun reading the books. But for you as a writer I guess you would have to weigh that up with each book. Is this pushing it too far? Where else can I take this?JL: Back in the old days when I was an intellectual I read a book called The Fool and His Sceptre, and the whole premise of it was explaining the court jester, the medieval fool, and his job was to push the line every day and if he didn't push far enough over the line, he'd be beaten and fired and be out of a job, and if he pushed too far over the line, he'd be beaten and fired and out of a job. So it's a question of having to draw the line in a new place every day and it's kind of like that with this.
Great example is with Dexter teaching the kids to be careful killers. It's a funny thought. But when you come down to how does he do it. I'm right there in the territory of where the line is.
HS: I'd imagine not everyone is a fan of Dexter. How do you deal with the criticism you must get?JL: You know, the only criticism I've got to my face is from people who know me, who look at me funny and go, 'You're a sick bastard aren't you?'. As far as criticism larger goes, the reviews have been good. People who read it like it. There's one lunatic fringe group, I forget what they're called, five or 10 guys with a fax machine, they sent out a couple of faxes about how Dexter was going to turn our children into serial killers.
Like I say, that's lunatic fringe stuff. A couple of papers picked it up because it's the kind of story that gets people thinking there's a controversy but there's not. If a TV show can turn your children into serial killers, you've got bigger problems than any book or TV show can handle.
HS: I read a lot of horror and you do get those glances when you tell people you're a fan. But there's a huge difference between reading or writing books about horrible things and doing horrible things?JL: A book, no matter how horrible, is not going to turn you into a serial killer. Books don't have that power. If it's in you already it may stir it or help shape it or something but if it's in you already you've already got problems and you can't blame it on the book.
HS: You're heading Down Under for the Brisbane Writers Festival and some other appearances. Could you imagine being inspired to write a Dexter book set in Australia, or would that be too cheesy?JL: I could do that, and then I could bring my wife back and it would be tax deductable so maybe that would be a good idea. She's already pissed off that I'm not bringing her. [Laughs]
Jeff Lindsay tour datesSeptember 9-13: Brisbane Writers Festival
September 15 (5:30pm): ANU Meet the Author
Details: 'In Conversation' with Jeff Popple, plus Q&A and signing
Address: Australian National University
September 16 (5:30pm): Dymocks Melbourne CBD
Details: reading and book signing
September 16 (7pm): Readings Hawthorn and Sisters in Crime, Melbourne
Details: 'In Conversation' with Sue Turnbull, Q&A, signing.
September 17 (7:15pm): Shearer's @ Palace Cinemas, Sydney
Details: Talk, Q&A, signing
The AHWA Critique Group will celebrate its first birthday in October, and it has had a productive 12 months.
