Ask the Author: Nate Ragolia
Answered Questions (6)
Nate Ragolia
"Live forever, with just one sip," the traveling stranger says, while his first customer drinks deeply. "Or die in pain, with just two."
Nate Ragolia
It's a tossup between the various lands and dimension of A Wrinkle in Time, and the futuristic London of Brave New World. In either case, being a writer and an observer would be incredible. I'd try everything from a semi-tourist position... assuming I could easily come back.
Nate Ragolia
Weird answer, but Cecilia Tallis and Robbie Turner from Ian McEwan's Atonement always resonated with me. They have, ultimately, a timeless love that is both the fulcrum of the whole book and its most bitter barb. It's an unconditional love that is sweet, deep, and sad, but never twee. If you haven't read Atonement, you should.
Nate Ragolia
This question has multiple answers, but I'll try to be concise.
First, the idea for the poem. That was born from NaNoWriMo, of all things. My girlfriend, Jenny, was doing a remix of The Sun Also Rises for fun, and so I chose to dive back into T.S. Eliot. Originally, the concept was mostly tongue-in-cheek, but as I revisited "The Waste Land" I saw the poem in a new way. From that point, I began connecting the threads from its past to our present.
Second, the concept of the end notes. This one came through collaboration with my publisher. We discussed how to connect the poem to something larger, and a combined love of Nabokov and David Foster Wallace led to the pseudo-academic, semi-complex structure that connects the narrative to the verse.
Third, the stories. These came out of me. They are my stories, and stories of people I know (and knew). But they're also OUR shared stories, I think. The Kid is any of us at anytime, heartbroken and seeking refuge. Cheyenne is any of us, trying to prove to the world that we're valid and amazing. Doug is any of us, lost in a space of technological isolation. Paul is any of us, afraid to take a risk on a dream because of what failure (or success) might do to change us. And Nick is any of us, waking up at the end of his 20s, seeing where he's ended up and trying to rediscover passion for himself and his place.
This was an idea with many sources, within me and without me.
First, the idea for the poem. That was born from NaNoWriMo, of all things. My girlfriend, Jenny, was doing a remix of The Sun Also Rises for fun, and so I chose to dive back into T.S. Eliot. Originally, the concept was mostly tongue-in-cheek, but as I revisited "The Waste Land" I saw the poem in a new way. From that point, I began connecting the threads from its past to our present.
Second, the concept of the end notes. This one came through collaboration with my publisher. We discussed how to connect the poem to something larger, and a combined love of Nabokov and David Foster Wallace led to the pseudo-academic, semi-complex structure that connects the narrative to the verse.
Third, the stories. These came out of me. They are my stories, and stories of people I know (and knew). But they're also OUR shared stories, I think. The Kid is any of us at anytime, heartbroken and seeking refuge. Cheyenne is any of us, trying to prove to the world that we're valid and amazing. Doug is any of us, lost in a space of technological isolation. Paul is any of us, afraid to take a risk on a dream because of what failure (or success) might do to change us. And Nick is any of us, waking up at the end of his 20s, seeing where he's ended up and trying to rediscover passion for himself and his place.
This was an idea with many sources, within me and without me.
Nate Ragolia
I have two bits of advice that may seem contradictory, but I promise they are not. First and foremost, write. Do it whenever you can. Let yourself chase an idea, record an overheard conversation, or get lost in a daydream. Then go write. Even if it's bad, it's better than the blank page. Second, cut yourself some slack. When I was 22 and fresh out of college, I submitted and wrote and submitted and wrote, and every rejection felt like a failure. The truth is, you might not know enough to write your best work yet. That doesn't mean that you're failing... it only means that you're still growing. And really, I'm still growing now. I think every year, you become more YOURSELF than you've ever been, and that'll mean your writing is better, more honest, and more pure.
Nate Ragolia
I kind of just do it. Writing is often spoken about as an interaction of writer and muse, but the truth is, you can only do your best work when you are working. You may waste many pages, but when you hit the stride, the words flow beautifully and may surprise you. My routine is coffee, take a walk and get clear, and then find a spot (often the couch at home) to fall into the page. There's a project online where writers can post their routines too. It's called #Routineology. You should check it out.
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