Interview with John St. Clair, Author of Stalin's Door

Interview with John St. Clair about his debut novel, Stalin's Door!

John St. Clair started his career as a novelist after spending 25 years battling fraud and abuse in the cyber realm.
John St. Clair lives with his wife in the northern Virginia suburbs. Stalin's Door is his debut novel.
Tea enthusiast. | Cautiously pessimistic. | He/Him. | Pro em dash and pro Oxford comma!

***Spoilers will be marked with a clear warning!***

You mentioned in previous interviews that you consider yourself both a pantser and
plotter. How much of genre do you feel affects that?

JS: Just to level set for the readers of this interview: a “pantser” will typically not know in
advance how a story is going to play out—they will just write and see where it leads them. A
“plotter” on the other hand likes to have all the details in their story worked out before putting
pen on paper. To be honest, I don't assess the genre I'm writing in before making the decision
on how to go about writing it. I find that my approach of thinking of the overall story arcs first,
often for an extended period of time, will give me the greatest chance at nailing down what I
like to call “the 50,000 foot view” of the story. From there, it's just fun to fill in the gaps with a
little pantsing. I will admit that in the moment of writing, I am often surprised at where I end
up!

Was the construction of the novel, the organization of the different sections and
corresponding perspectives, planned? What was your process?

***SPOILERS***
JS: For the technical construction of Stalin's Door, and considering its complexity, I did
absolutely plan out the sections beforehand. Eagle eyed readers will have no doubt picked up
on a few things. In the first section, “Zhenya's Tale,” there's a progression from Spring to
Summer to Fall to Winter, over consecutive years, with each season becoming progressively
darker in tone. Also, you'll notice that the ages of the protagonists increase with each section;
Zhenya as young girl, then Sava as an early middle-aged man, then Lera as an older middle-
aged woman, and finally Zhenya as an old woman. I wanted to show the passage of time and
in the same way offer different perspectives from each of the main characters' points of view.

Were your characters “walk-ons,” just coming to you, or were they carefully
constructed?

JS: The three main characters in Stalin's Door; Zhenya, Sava, and Lera were all absolutely
carefully constructed, and fleshed out before I started writing. Each of the minor characters less so.

You write three different perspectives that include age and socioeconomic
backgrounds. You mentioned in a previous interview that Lera was a favorite between the
three. Was there a character and perspective that you found most difficult to write?

***SPOILERS***
JS: An excellent question! While every author certainly “loves” all of his or her characters, I
do admit a certain first amongst equals when it comes to Lera. That said, I did find that the
writing of the character of Admiral Krayevsky to be, shall I say, challenging. You'll recall that
the age of the admiral and that of Sava, are equal, with their birthdays only 2 days apart. And
their careers within the Soviet Navy were wildly divergent. I wanted the admiral to be like a
foil to the character of Sava, so I took great care in writing his story too.

Was there a part of your own writing that surprised you or did you know everything
that was going to happen?

JS: Stalin's Door, the novel, had an interesting birth, so to speak. The first part, “Zhenya's
Tale” was written as a short story first, and was known simply as Stalin's Door. I sent it out to
some beta readers and received some excellent feedback. Later, I added what would become
“Sava's Tragedy” and entitled it Behind Stalin's Door. Both the first and second parts were
now the size of a novella and I again sought out feedback from my beta readers. Once I
finished the novella, I knew I had a great shot of turning it into a full fledged novel with the
additions of “Lera's Yarn” (Beyond Stalin's Door) and “Zhenya's Allegory” (Return to Stalin's
Door) the third and fourth parts to the story. All along the way I was still doing all that
arduous historical research to ensure my story was as authentic as possible.
***SPOILERS***
Getting into the nitty-gritty details definitely surprised me. Some scenes that turned out even better than I
could have hoped for were: the reception-party where Stalin makes an appearance, the scene
with Zhenya, Lera, and the hooligan guards at the train depot on the way to the Gulag, and
scene with Zhenya and Lera in the cemetery at the end of the novel.

How much of your story is “research-based” versus character driven?

JS: In any historical fiction piece, unless it's outright historical fantasy, I feel that the
author should strive to make it as genuine as they can. This is the reason it took me 5 years of
research to try and make Stalin's Door as authentic as I could. Details—even down to the most
minute ones—matter. Now that said, my characters have to live within that world that is well
documented. I'm trying to tell a story within a framework: a world and a time that my readers
haven't been to or lived in. My characters faced challenges and ordeals that fit within the
known facts of where and when I placed them into. My job as a writer was to make that as
interesting and compelling to read as I possibly could!

I’ve heard historical fiction authors discuss that sometimes history or the story itself is
sacrificed for the other. Did you find this to be the case in writing Stalin's Door? Do you agree
with this belief?

JS: I think it's perfectly fine to tell whatever kind of story you want to—and make
whichever sacrifices you need to. However, to be clear, if the author deviates a great deal from
the established facts of history, then the work should be either labeled fiction, or historical
fantasy. My goal was always to write my story within the genre definition of Russian historical
fiction, so my “goalposts,” so to speak, are very well defined and known. I tried extremely hard
to stay within these goalposts, for the sake of accuracy and authenticity.

Through Lera and Sava’s sections, you explore events before, and that led to, Stalin.
With so many individual events occurring within a single period of time, how do you decide
what to include?

JS: This is a terrific question! The period of time that's central to my novel, known as the
“Great Terror” may only be a couple of years, however there was so much to tell! I really had a
tough time deciding. That said, when writing from the first person, past tense point-of-view,
my decision on what to include event-wise became a lot more clear. Only knowledge known to
the narrator, or events experienced by the narrator are going to be passed on to the reader. If I
as the author wanted to “pass on” something important history-wise to the reader, then I had
to make sure the characters in my novel actually experienced them. This is exactly why Sava
goes to work for the NKVD, and why Lera is exiled to the Gulags. They experienced these
things, and could tell their stories first hand. I felt this was a stronger and more genuine way
to tell my story!

What didn’t make it into the finished book, research-wise and otherwise? What was cut
in the editing process and how did you decide what to cut?

JS: Believe it or not, I don't have a lot of “bonus scenes” that got left on the cutting room
floor. For the most part, what is in the book is exactly what needed to be in there. Of course
the time periods I explored in my story could have been even bigger if I wanted, however I felt
that the way I structured it, with three very different characters, in three distinct points of
time in their lives, and three distinct locations—made my story riveting.

When reading Stalin's Door, I couldn’t help but draw connections to other events in
history that shared similarities. How conscious are you of the similarities between other
events of different times and places to the ones you wrote about?

JS: To be honest, when writing historical fiction, I always want to ensure I'm as accurate as possible for the time period I'm writing about. So, to answer this question, if there are
similarities between what is happening in Stalin's Door, and what is happening elsewhere in
history, it's likely because history tends to repeat itself.

George Santayma had said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to
repeat it.” Do you agree? Do you hope Stalin's Door can help us remember?

JS: I absolutely agree with this terrific quote, and am distraught to say that autocratic and
dictatorial rule are still very much rampant in today's world. My novel, I hope, can paint a dire
picture of what can happen when that autocratic and dictatorial rule are left unchecked. So in
a way, I do hope it can serve as a warning and a deterrent.

Have you ever visited Russia or the museum at The House on the Embankment? If not,
do you ever wish to visit?

JS: I have not yet visited Russia. I definitely would like to, one day. Certainly the trip would
include going to the wonderful House on the Embankment, in the heart of Moscow, and its
on-site museum. I fear that the current geopolitical situation and world events will prevent
this trip for many years to come, unfortunately.

Another author had described your writing style in Stalin's Door as “memoir.” After
reading the book, it feels like the perfect description. Was this intentional? Do you feel this is
reflective of your style in general, or was it unique to Stalin's Door?

JS: Writing Stalin's Door and giving it that memoir “look and feel” was definitely
intentional, as I have an affinity for the first person, past tense perspective. I don't know if it's
reflective of my style, however it was the very best choice I could make for telling this story.
All the events are witnessed, or recounted, by the narrators. If something isn't known to the
narrator, it won't be known to the reader. In this way, more than any other I can think of, one
truly is living inside the head of the protagonist. This is more intimate, and much more
rewarding, I feel.

You have a bit of a fantastical element to your story. As a writer, did you always intend
to mix genres? What inspired this aspect of your story?

***SPOILERS***
JS: I do admit I felt it was taking a bit of a risk when I added in these fantastical elements.
Thankfully they are tiny, in my opinion, and don't distract from the more pure historical
fiction elements. That said, in one very obvious case, when Zhenya is reunited with Lera, it
was necessary to bring in a little fantasy. I always knew they would meet each other at the end
of the novel, and quite frankly, I'm not sure there was any other way to go about it!

In my opinion, a good historical fiction entices the reader to want to learn more and
there is always more to learn. What questions do you hope the readers walk away with? Where
are you hoping they go next? What are you hoping to spark in them?

JS: A fabulous question! In so much of my feedback, I've been told that I've inspired my
readers to go and investigate the time period I refer to a lot, that of the “Great Terror” that
overwhelmed Moscow, and all of Russia, in the mid to late 1930s. Readers have also looked up
and researched the Gulags, the specific Russian naval ships I mentioned, and even the House
on the Embankment, not to mention the 800-pound gorilla in the room: Joseph Stalin
himself! I hope they can come away with a greater understanding of this specific time period,
that echos even today within Russia itself.

Is there anything else you'd like to share with current or future readers?

JS: I consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to write and I am truly thankful for all
the readers my book has found—and will find! I am always working on something new; micro-
fiction and short story contests, anthology submissions, and my second novel which I hope to
have out soon: Lucky Dainéil McElheney! I appreciate the time you took to interview me, Ellie!

Read more about John St. Clair and Stalin's Door on The Red Head Notes blog, including a review, interview, and guest post!

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