FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Why do you write? What motivates you to put pen to paper?
Ever since I was a small child, I've had the compulsive need to create.
What’s the hardest thing about writing?
Research, drafting, and revision are cakewalks and what makes writing, for me, fun. It’s the editing and publicity that battle for the “Biggest Pain in the Ass” award.
Why is that?
Writers revise, revise, revise, revise, revise before turning a book in. In their mind, the book's as good as it’s going to get once it reaches the point where it’s ready to see the light of day. Then the manuscript gets handed over to an editor, who quickly reminds the author that this is far from the case. It’s a demoralizing, but nonetheless vital, part of the process.
Gun to my head, what I find most frustrating and ludicrous is the notion that a writer—a person who spends countless, solitary, anti-social hours in front of a computer—can instantly transform into, and be comfortable as, a media presence. It is my conviction that the “glory” of being an author is “what it’s all about” is the tell-tale sign of a bad writer because the person’s priorities are misplaced: The individual is using words as a means to an end, to make him or herself known to the world, not vice versa.
How much research do you do?
Always an alarming amount, in retrospect. When I’m working on something, the last thing I’m paying attention to is quantity. It’s only after the dust settles that I take time to count how many pennies I've gathered along the way.
There are over 900 cited sources in my first book. While writing my second one, I found myself double-checking my research with a professional biologist twice daily on the phone. The evening after I completed the initial draft, thinking that I’d perhaps died, she called, asking if everything was alright since her phone hadn't rung in over 12 hours.
What's your thoughts on reviews?
You like Conrad; I don’t. It doesn't mean he is or isn't a good writer, just that he has you as a reader. This is the true test of literature: whether an author can attract—and, more importantly, retain—a readership.
The undeniable truth is books are entertainment, something James Joyce came to reconcile late in his career. It doesn't matter if you are writing for a popular, horror, or academic audience, you have to keep your readers’ attention.
Who are your favorite authors? Who attracts your attention?
I started writing after making the mistake of reading Orwell and Dostoevsky back-to-back but, admittedly, they don’t ignite the same fire under me as they did when I was younger. My current thumbs-up depends on the air temperature on any given day yet, as I’ve grown older, I’ve found the authors a person thinks are best aren't necessarily those the individual likes most. Quite often it’s the ones that demand rereading. At this point in my life, I catch myself combing back through Melville, Jeffers, Defoe, E. A. Robinson, and Huxley on a regular basis.
Who do you like then, or keep in high regard?
[William] Golding hits all the right philosophical and anthropological nerves, not unlike Daniel Quinn’s work. Calvino and [Donald] Barthelme are fun.
Book-wise, Palahniuk’s Survivor is good in the same way as—and, in my eyes, is a turn-of-the-century rendition of—Babbitt. Alice in Wonderland is a winner. It’s a toss-up between Philip Dick’s Ubik and A Maze of Death, though I’d probably go with the latter if I had to choose.
JR and A Frolic of His Own by William Gaddis leave me speechless. At one time, my love for Gaddis’ writing took me so far as to consider doing a biography of the comic genius. I even contacted [Gaddis scholar] Steven Moore to discuss the project, but was met by some preliminary legal hurdles that made it too impractical to pursue.
I love Catch-22, but can’t revisit it because it’s too well written: The book’s power lies in the reader not knowing where Heller is going, so in order to enjoy it again, you have to give yourself time to forget it. Yet the characters and scenarios leave such an indelible mark, that’s all but impossible.
What book do you wish you’d written and which one are you ashamed you haven’t read?
Earth Abides [by George Stewart] and VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy.
Any guilty pleasure reads?
The phrase makes me uneasy because it implies a work lacks value. Some books offer more than others, but only lazy readers are able to dismiss an entire novel with no questions asked. Even the poorest of writers inadvertently stumble across an idea or make an astute observation over the course of 200 pages.
The one book people would be surprised you enjoy.
Ayn Rand's happy accident, The Fountainhead.
Why "happy accident"?
The doorstop's good for reasons Rand didn't intend for it to be: Mother Capitalism tried sugarcoating her politics for once. As a result, she inadvertently crafted one of the greatest testaments to artistic integrity ever written. No surprise, lightning didn't strike twice.
What advice do you give aspiring writers?
I penned my first million words by the time I was 24. Last year alone, I tapped out 244,000. Yet at no point, not once, have I ever thought to myself, “I need to sit down and write today.”
Writers write—not because they want to—but because they have to.
If you uttered a sigh of empathetic exhaustion at this, don’t worry, you’ll be fine. You’ll figure everything out in due course through trial-and-error. If you want to identify with this but know, deep down, it’s not you, do something else. You won’t be able to bring yourself to make the sacrifices every writer must make. If you’re still unsure which lot you fall into, read Bukowski’s “air and light and time and space.”
What can readers look forward to next?
A bit of a wait. The sequel to Nature's Housekeeper is done, but before I let an editor have at it, I must see my way through what follows, which is threatening to make [The Edward] Snowden [Affair] look like a novella.
Ever since I was a small child, I've had the compulsive need to create.
What’s the hardest thing about writing?
Research, drafting, and revision are cakewalks and what makes writing, for me, fun. It’s the editing and publicity that battle for the “Biggest Pain in the Ass” award.
Why is that?
Writers revise, revise, revise, revise, revise before turning a book in. In their mind, the book's as good as it’s going to get once it reaches the point where it’s ready to see the light of day. Then the manuscript gets handed over to an editor, who quickly reminds the author that this is far from the case. It’s a demoralizing, but nonetheless vital, part of the process.
Gun to my head, what I find most frustrating and ludicrous is the notion that a writer—a person who spends countless, solitary, anti-social hours in front of a computer—can instantly transform into, and be comfortable as, a media presence. It is my conviction that the “glory” of being an author is “what it’s all about” is the tell-tale sign of a bad writer because the person’s priorities are misplaced: The individual is using words as a means to an end, to make him or herself known to the world, not vice versa.
How much research do you do?
Always an alarming amount, in retrospect. When I’m working on something, the last thing I’m paying attention to is quantity. It’s only after the dust settles that I take time to count how many pennies I've gathered along the way.
There are over 900 cited sources in my first book. While writing my second one, I found myself double-checking my research with a professional biologist twice daily on the phone. The evening after I completed the initial draft, thinking that I’d perhaps died, she called, asking if everything was alright since her phone hadn't rung in over 12 hours.
What's your thoughts on reviews?
You like Conrad; I don’t. It doesn't mean he is or isn't a good writer, just that he has you as a reader. This is the true test of literature: whether an author can attract—and, more importantly, retain—a readership.
The undeniable truth is books are entertainment, something James Joyce came to reconcile late in his career. It doesn't matter if you are writing for a popular, horror, or academic audience, you have to keep your readers’ attention.
Who are your favorite authors? Who attracts your attention?
I started writing after making the mistake of reading Orwell and Dostoevsky back-to-back but, admittedly, they don’t ignite the same fire under me as they did when I was younger. My current thumbs-up depends on the air temperature on any given day yet, as I’ve grown older, I’ve found the authors a person thinks are best aren't necessarily those the individual likes most. Quite often it’s the ones that demand rereading. At this point in my life, I catch myself combing back through Melville, Jeffers, Defoe, E. A. Robinson, and Huxley on a regular basis.
Who do you like then, or keep in high regard?
[William] Golding hits all the right philosophical and anthropological nerves, not unlike Daniel Quinn’s work. Calvino and [Donald] Barthelme are fun.
Book-wise, Palahniuk’s Survivor is good in the same way as—and, in my eyes, is a turn-of-the-century rendition of—Babbitt. Alice in Wonderland is a winner. It’s a toss-up between Philip Dick’s Ubik and A Maze of Death, though I’d probably go with the latter if I had to choose.
JR and A Frolic of His Own by William Gaddis leave me speechless. At one time, my love for Gaddis’ writing took me so far as to consider doing a biography of the comic genius. I even contacted [Gaddis scholar] Steven Moore to discuss the project, but was met by some preliminary legal hurdles that made it too impractical to pursue.
I love Catch-22, but can’t revisit it because it’s too well written: The book’s power lies in the reader not knowing where Heller is going, so in order to enjoy it again, you have to give yourself time to forget it. Yet the characters and scenarios leave such an indelible mark, that’s all but impossible.
What book do you wish you’d written and which one are you ashamed you haven’t read?
Earth Abides [by George Stewart] and VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy.
Any guilty pleasure reads?
The phrase makes me uneasy because it implies a work lacks value. Some books offer more than others, but only lazy readers are able to dismiss an entire novel with no questions asked. Even the poorest of writers inadvertently stumble across an idea or make an astute observation over the course of 200 pages.
The one book people would be surprised you enjoy.
Ayn Rand's happy accident, The Fountainhead.
Why "happy accident"?
The doorstop's good for reasons Rand didn't intend for it to be: Mother Capitalism tried sugarcoating her politics for once. As a result, she inadvertently crafted one of the greatest testaments to artistic integrity ever written. No surprise, lightning didn't strike twice.
What advice do you give aspiring writers?
I penned my first million words by the time I was 24. Last year alone, I tapped out 244,000. Yet at no point, not once, have I ever thought to myself, “I need to sit down and write today.”
Writers write—not because they want to—but because they have to.
If you uttered a sigh of empathetic exhaustion at this, don’t worry, you’ll be fine. You’ll figure everything out in due course through trial-and-error. If you want to identify with this but know, deep down, it’s not you, do something else. You won’t be able to bring yourself to make the sacrifices every writer must make. If you’re still unsure which lot you fall into, read Bukowski’s “air and light and time and space.”
What can readers look forward to next?
A bit of a wait. The sequel to Nature's Housekeeper is done, but before I let an editor have at it, I must see my way through what follows, which is threatening to make [The Edward] Snowden [Affair] look like a novella.
Interview and transcription by Daniel Ellinghouse