Saul A. Lelchuk
Saul A. Lelchuk holds a B.A. in English from Amherst College and a master's degree from Dartmouth College. He lives in Berkeley, CA. Lelchuk’s debut, Save Me From Dangerous Men, is the start of a series, which has been optioned for film and television and the foreign rights have sold in multiple countries around the world. Save Me From Dangerous Men was named a USA Today Best Book of 2019, a Booklist Top 10 Crime Debut of 2019, a Kirkus Best Mystery/Thriller of 2019, a Hudson Booksellers Best of the Year, and also has been short-listed for a Barry Award to be named at Bouchercon 2020. The sequel, One Got Away, will release in April 2021. Lelchuk is a member of the Mystery Writers of America (MWA) and International Thriller Writers (ITW). He is represented by the LGR Literary Agency and his film/television rights by the Gersh Agency.
Twitter: @SaLechuk
Is there a genre of music that influences your writing/thinking? Do you listen to music while you write?
I love listening to music when I write—but no lyrics. As soon as there are lyrics I start thinking about the words, instead of whatever it is I’m working on. But a nice loophole I’ve found is that lyrics are fine as long as I don’t understand them. I don’t speak French so I love listening to French pop. I listen to so much French pop while I write that I’ve actually gotten really familiar with quite a few French singers, to the point where I can name many of them when their songs come on—but I never know much of what they’re singing about.
My brother is a cellist with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in New Orleans, and he’s taught me so much about classical music. That’s usually what I start off with in the morning. I try to write for a couple of hours in the evening, too, but by then I’ve shifted to jazz—no lyrics, of course.
What period of history do you wish you knew more about?
My family is from Russia on both sides if you go back far enough, so maybe that’s why I’m fairly obsessed with Russian history (and Russian literature and Russian food, for that matter). I love reading biographies—Robert Massie’s work on figures like Peter the Great and Catherine the Great reads with more excitement than most novels, and the events described often feel more improbable. Besides, Russia is so rich with literary history. I remember the first time I visited, getting to see the Dostoevsky house in St. Petersburg and strolling along Nevsky Prospect as described in Gogol, or walking through Gorky Park in Moscow. That period of time in Russia is one that I am always eager to learn more about.
Favorite non-reading activity?
I spend the summers in New Hampshire, where my family has a small place on a secluded lake, and I probably spend about a third of my waking hours on a paddleboard (this is technically not a purely non-reading activity since I usually put a paperback in a Ziploc bag and bring it along). Getting to spend an hour paddling around is one of my favorite ways to think and hash out ideas free of any electronic distractions. I also like that paddleboarding is an activity that requires little in the way of concentration (worst comes to worst, you take an unplanned swim) and thus is well-suited to writing. There have been many times when I’ve been feeling stuck or uncertain, mid-book, and a bit of time out on the water always proves a good way to think things through.
Do you have another artistic outlet in addition to your writing? Do you sew? Paint? Draw? Knit? Dance?
I’ve played jazz trumpet for most of my life, and although I have absolutely zero chance of ever getting paid for my efforts I love picking it up to play. It’s always fun taking on some of my favorite pieces from decades or even a century ago and working my way through them. A few years ago, I was lucky to find my way to Ellen Seeling for lessons; she’s an incredible trumpeter who now directs the Montclair Women’s Big Band—one of the only all-women big band jazz groups in the country. Nothing more fun than trading 16-bar improvs with her during our lessons, although it’s also kind of terrifying given that she’s recorded platinum albums with everyone from The Temptations to Sister Sledge. If I need a break from writing I’ll pick up my trumpet, even for five minutes, and always sit down feeling more relaxed.
What brings you great joy?
I’m lucky to get to teach graduate creative writing at Dartmouth College, and walking into a classroom for the first day of a new term is always a pretty special feeling. There’s such diversity in the program—not just in terms of background, but also different ages, different interests, different goals. I might have a 23-year-old international student who’s never taken a fiction course sitting next to someone who has just concluded a forty-year career in journalism and wants to try their hand at something new. Getting to shepherd those different voices, and different intents, is a lot of fun. There’s something pretty amazing about seeing a small group of strangers meld together over a period of a few months, and in a creative writing course you really learn about your classmates/students in a rather unique way compared to other academic fields. Teaching fiction brings me a lot of joy.
