Favorite All-Time Read: That has never been an
easy question for me to answer. For now
I will cheat and say it is a tie between Love
in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and The World According to Garp by John Irving, with The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by
Junot Diaz nipping at their heels.
Who do you consider your
author crush? See my answer to first question.
If I must pick only one I will say John Irving since he is the only one
of the three I have met. The other major
literary hero/crush I have been fortunate enough to stand face to face with is
August Wilson. Two gargantuan talents
who were kind and generous to me.
What do you like most
about this author? There are a great many things to admire about the prose of John
Irving. I will say his greatest talent
is laying out goals for his main characters to strive for in a manner that puts
you in their skin, making you feel the urgency and desperation, causing you to
share the exhilaration of the moment of triumph upon arrival, if indeed it does
arrive. Otherwise, experience the
despair of coming up short as if it was happening to you.
How big of a reader were
you, growing up? I was an extremely avid reader as a kid and that habit remains
undiminished. Shortly before
Thanksgiving last year I gave #ReaderThanks on Twitter (where I go by the name
@authorofpatches) to Beverly Cleary, Donald J. Sobol and Jules Verne for being
amongst the first to fuel my fire for stories.
As an adult reader, what
genre do you tend to read the most?
Literary fiction, but I certainly do not restrict myself to
it. I have two rules for myself as a
reader. Read often...Read varied. This not only keeps things fresh as a lover
of stories created by others but is also invaluable to me as a writer. The influences on my writing come from many
sources. When it comes to reading, what
I seek are good books. This is not
technically a genre, but perhaps it should be.
Do you have to be in a
certain mood to write?
I do not. Certainly
there are times when I feel more creative than other occasions. I am more of a night owl than a morning
person and this extends to my pen hand.
But there is no telling when the muse will strike, and if I must summon
her I will do so rather than waiting for her to show up. A writer writes as much as possible. The more I am writing, the happier I am. It is also a very effective diet plan because
when immersed in writing I tend to neglect getting around to eating.
And do you have an ideal
writing space?
Not really. I have a lovely
writing desk in my attic that I have not sat down to write at in ages. These days I am much more likely to be found
writing on my couch, or at my dining table, or on the train to or from work, or
at my 9-5 corporate desk, or on a park bench.
One of my favorite writing experiences was scribbling a short story
while sitting at a loud and crowded bar.
It happened to be an outdoor bar, but when walls surround me my mind is
no more confined than when they do not.
Preference of genre to
write in?
The first full length novels to enthrall me were those by Jules
Verne. I rapidly went through 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Around the World in 80 Days. I have read many more science fiction novels
since. Yet when it comes to stories of
my own creation, I am most comfortable writing about people here on earth
dealing with situations and emotions we can all relate to. On any given day depending on who was asked
about which story of mine, I suppose it could be called literary fiction, or
mainstream, or contemporary, or upmarket commercial, or
ethnic/African-American.
How did the inspiration
for Patches of Grey come about?
To date the sparks for my novels have come in the form of a
question that I felt compelled to fully explore. With Patches of Grey the question had to do
with self identity. People fit certain
descriptions and to varying degrees allow this circumstance to determine how
they see themselves. Of the various descriptors
placed on us, race is one that I am especially intrigued by. We do not choose it. The ways in which it differentiates us from
those of another origin are primarily cosmetic, at least at a glance. But the ways in which it determines how we
view the world and our desires and our prospects are often potent. These issues are what set me off to writing
about a young man coming to terms with how to define himself, and with how
others see or fail to see him, regardless of what he does to influence
perspective.
There are times when
aspiring authors come face to face with rejection. Do you have any counsel on
how they can handle such moments?
Shrug it off. If you are lucky enough to get helpful feedback
rather than a form rejection letter with zero personalization to it, consider
yourself lucky and be sure to consider the advice. But you are the final judge so feel free to
ignore what does not strike you as being true.
It is your story. Write it as
best as it can be written, which will mean plenty of rewriting, but you alone must
declare what readers will get to see.
Rejection of your writing does not mean that it is not any good. It does not mean your dream has been
killed. It is simply the fork in the
road. Take it. If you do not find this answer
sufficient motivation to keep on keeping on, check out my blog post HANDLING REJECTION FOR DUMMIES – I MEAN WRITERS
How do you deal with
writer's block? I
write until it goes away, which must mean it was never truly there to begin
with. That uneasy feeling must have merely
been garden variety laziness.
Do you have a writing
process that you adhere to? Not really.
Unless you call staring at a blank piece of paper or white box on
computer screen until my fingers start moving a “process”.
Once they do start moving, the only way I know of to write a novel is to
first put down everything that comes to mind, followed by twisting and shaping
and reshaping the unwieldy first draft down to its essence.
Shorter works seem to be
in vogue more than ever. Do you think
that more and more authors will go that route such as you did with your ebook
novella Feeding the Squirrels?
Attention spans are decreasing daily it seems. The internet has a lot to do with that. It used to be that publishing a novella was
much more difficult than publishing a novel because publishers did not really
get to charge much less for a novella in order to turn a profit. So readers might feel ripped off by paying
just as much for considerably less word count.
But we live in a new day, a largely electronic one, and people seem to
have less free time than ever even though days continue to be the same 24 hours
long. This has provided an opening for
greater receptivity to short stories and novellas. None of this is why I wrote Feeding the
Squirrels or why it was published in e-format.
That is simply how things worked themselves out. I had no idea I was writing a novella at the
time. I was working on a literary
experiment, a series of short stories that each featured the same lead
character, and eventually I figured out a way to link them and form a whole. It is a novella that like life itself,
happened while I was busy making other plans.
Is there an aspect of
being a published author that you enjoy more than anything else?
I love reading what somebody else (perhaps a reviewer I
submitted to, maybe someone who picked my book up and gave it a chance) thought
about the result of my hours of toil - most especially when they are enthusiastic
about it. Every so often someone says
something that causes me to look at my writing in a new manner and it brings
forth a smile from deep within.
A writer's life has its ups,
downs and sideways. How can they best deal with those times?
Do you think social
media and overall web marketing are the most powerful tools in promoting a
book?
The most powerful tool in promoting a book continues to be writing
a really good one that leads to positive word of mouth that catches on like
wildfire. The author has little control
over this process after the writing a really good book part. Social media and web marketing offer some of
that control, so authors would be foolish not to partake. Unless of course they have already managed to
garner positive word of mouth that caught on like wildfire and led to plenty of
people buying and reading their books, in which case they can get involved with
social media as much or as little as they want. But just about everybody is embracing facebook/twitter/instagram/whatever these days, including those who seemed to think social media was just a passing fad not so long ago. If you can't prove them wrong, join in the fun. There's room enough for everybody.
You've published over 50
short stories in journals and magazines. How do you know when a story is a
short story or when it warrants a whole novel?
Do you think that short
stories are a good way for writers to hone their craft?
I always have a pretty good idea in advance how long a story is
going to be, and that of course determines whether it will be called a novel or
a short story. Today I cannot imagine
being a writer who does not work in both formats. I took on the challenge of novel writing
before tackling short stories. Prior to enrolling
in a short story writing course in college I believed that I only had BIG
stories inside of me. A short story
seemed nearly impossible. Confining
myself to just a few pages was a daunting task, but I gave it a shot since a
grade depended on it, and I got the hang of it.
The best part of writing a tale is finishing it, and this can be done
much more quickly and often with a short story than a novel. It is not like I consider short story writing
as practice for writing novels however.
They are very different from each other – and very much the same. I advise young writers to try anything and
everything, and then stick with what they love best.
How can an aspiring
author get better at writing, whether the intention is to write a short story
or to write entire novels? This
is another question that I addressed at my blog A Line A Day in the posting,
Advice to Aspiring Authors. Truth
be told, there is only one way to get any good at writing. Read a lot, write a lot, repeat steps 1 – 2
over and over and over again.
How can authors better
prepare themselves prior to publication?
Read a lot, write a lot, repeat steps 1 – 2 over and over and
over again. Also check out some of the
advice that is out there for writers. There
is certainly no shortage of it. Much is
even free. A lot of it is repetitive and
obvious. But every so often you will
discover a nugget that had not occurred to you that may end up being quite
helpful. Then go back to reading a lot
and writing a lot.
What are some of the
things you wished you had known before you published your first book?
I knew EVERYTHING there was to know, which is to say I knew not
only that I wanted to be a writer, but that I had to be a writer because a
writer is what I am. Only thing left was
to prove it by writing. In order to work
up the courage to lay my soul on the page for random people to pick over, I
needed to believe I had something valuable to say and that there were others
who would agree. I understood some other essential things to be
true and have learned a great deal more over the years, but what I knew from
day one is what truly mattered. I had to
write.
What are your thoughts
on critique groups and beta readers?
I have used both over the years to varying degrees of
satisfaction. It is of great value to
let other pairs of eyes read what you have written. Find some who are unbiased, select one of two
who may be partial but are also honest.
But again, it is your story, you are the one with final say on how it
ends up being told. Best of luck with
telling it well, and with it catching on like wildfire.
What do you have coming
up next for readers?
I recently completed my second full length novel – Matters of
Convenience. Snippets from it can befound at the Pinterest board I created and an excerpt posted at my blog A Line A Day during composition of the first
draft is located HERE. Next up will be recording myself reading an excerpt from it. Yet to be determined is by which method I
will bring Matters of Convenience to the light of day. Perhaps I will land a deal with one of the
Big 5 Publishers or a smaller independent publisher. Maybe I will join a cooperative of
independent authors working together as a mini publishing house. Or once again I may opt to go it alone and
simultaneously wear the hats of author, art director, copy editor, publicist,
marketing department, mailroom guy, etc. etc.
Going it alone will not be particularly lonely since enlisting the aid
of many people will be necessary to help me spread the word. We shall see.
I also recently completed the first installment in a planned children's book series. If I end up going the DIY route
for them, it will be in collaboration with my extremely talented wife Erin Rogers Pickering who will serve as the illustrator. No matter how things work themselves out, I
am eager to get more of my work out there and I am preparing for all that will
entail. And I am looking forward to
hearing what readers have to say.
Kindle edition of Patches of Grey will be available for free 10/24 - 10/25.
If you wish to take a shot at winning a copy of the print edition, enter the contest at Goodreads:
So there is no shortage of opportunities to obtain a copy of Patches of Grey for free in October of 2014.
But if you are one those who has already bought or is planning to spend a little hard earned money to purchase it, you have my deep gratitude. Happy Reading!
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