Ask the Author: David Joiner
Answered Questions (7)
David Joiner
Hi John! My apologies for the late reply. I don't check this space often, and Goodreads never notifies me that I have comments in it. I will certainly check out your new books. I enjoy photo essay books quite a bit, in fact. You're fortunate to live near Kamakura, which is a wonderful place indeed. I look forward to "seeing" more of you here on Goodreads!
David Joiner
There are several things that come to mind:
Being able to dream while I’m awake.
Having the privilege, day in and day out, to work (and play) with language.
Not having to share or relinquish control of the creative dreams that are my stories.
Having creative projects to re-immerse myself in every day.
Knowing that entire worlds exist inside my head and that I’m in a position, if I work hard enough, to let them out and make them real.
Being able to dream while I’m awake.
Having the privilege, day in and day out, to work (and play) with language.
Not having to share or relinquish control of the creative dreams that are my stories.
Having creative projects to re-immerse myself in every day.
Knowing that entire worlds exist inside my head and that I’m in a position, if I work hard enough, to let them out and make them real.
David Joiner
I sometimes bow down before it. I don’t mind terribly when it happens, either. But when I do allow myself to give into it – because I believe that ideas germinate even when I’m not actively writing – I limit myself to how long I’ll let it stop me from writing.
At other times I make myself go where I’ve got nothing else to do but write (i.e., a library or a café where I don’t expect to see anyone I know).
Sometimes I bring up a completely blank document and play with whatever idea first comes into my head. These attempts, which are basically free-writing exercises, end up bringing a newness to bear on whatever I’m stuck on. Sometimes I end up keeping the result, and sometimes I end up dragging it into the trash. But either way, it always puts me back on track.
Most times, however, I just grit my teeth and refuse to let myself be stopped by writer’s block. It’s no sin to write only a paragraph a day. Sometimes you’ll manage ten pages, but as long as you’re taking the book forward, that’s what really matters.
In the end, the issue is quality rather than quantity. Sometimes a little writer’s block can be helpful in figuring out a way to make your writing better.
At other times I make myself go where I’ve got nothing else to do but write (i.e., a library or a café where I don’t expect to see anyone I know).
Sometimes I bring up a completely blank document and play with whatever idea first comes into my head. These attempts, which are basically free-writing exercises, end up bringing a newness to bear on whatever I’m stuck on. Sometimes I end up keeping the result, and sometimes I end up dragging it into the trash. But either way, it always puts me back on track.
Most times, however, I just grit my teeth and refuse to let myself be stopped by writer’s block. It’s no sin to write only a paragraph a day. Sometimes you’ll manage ten pages, but as long as you’re taking the book forward, that’s what really matters.
In the end, the issue is quality rather than quantity. Sometimes a little writer’s block can be helpful in figuring out a way to make your writing better.
David Joiner
From a writer’s standpoint: persevere. Keep at it and don’t let rejection or a lack of support stand in the way of what you want to do. Also, be open to critical feedback on your writing. Let go of the ego and cultivate humility. Finally, read – books, both good and bad, are a writer’s best teachers.
From a “business” standpoint: the publishing landscape is simultaneously expanding and contracting in interesting ways – there are more ways to get published than ever before, and yet there are fewer brick-and-mortar bookstores to showcase writers’ work – so it’s important, too, to keep up on publishing news and trends. The more you keep your eyes open to these changes, the more opportunities you’re likely to find.
From a “business” standpoint: the publishing landscape is simultaneously expanding and contracting in interesting ways – there are more ways to get published than ever before, and yet there are fewer brick-and-mortar bookstores to showcase writers’ work – so it’s important, too, to keep up on publishing news and trends. The more you keep your eyes open to these changes, the more opportunities you’re likely to find.
David Joiner
Other than by drinking coffee and getting a good night’s sleep (which is rare), I suppose I get inspired to write by reading books that I really enjoy and admire, which is somewhat a matter of luck since, like anyone, I don’t always enjoy or admire the books I read.
The truth is, I rely on inspiration far less than on simple routine. If one wants to write, one needs to set aside time every day to get it done. Once the writing begins, and you have a chance to re-enter the fictive world you’ve started to create, it’s natural to find inspiration in what you’ve already written and what emerges from any new effort to develop the story you’ve set out to tell. But you have to do it every day. You have to establish a routine and stick to it, even at the expense of other things you would rather be doing – which might sometimes be anything but writing.
The truth is, I rely on inspiration far less than on simple routine. If one wants to write, one needs to set aside time every day to get it done. Once the writing begins, and you have a chance to re-enter the fictive world you’ve started to create, it’s natural to find inspiration in what you’ve already written and what emerges from any new effort to develop the story you’ve set out to tell. But you have to do it every day. You have to establish a routine and stick to it, even at the expense of other things you would rather be doing – which might sometimes be anything but writing.
David Joiner
Believe it or not, I don’t actually remember where the idea for Lotusland came from. I only remember that I wanted to write about Agent Orange and Vietnamese lacquer painting, and set half the book in the south of Vietnam and half in the north. I also wanted to write a novel set in contemporary Vietnam, as the great majority of “Vietnam novels” by US authors deal with the war.
David Joiner
I've recently started a new novel, the third in a series of novels set in Ishikawa prefecture, Japan, that involves characters who make their livings as BUSSHI, or sculptors of Buddhist images. I've long been interested in the life and work of the famous Japanese sculptor Enku, who lived in the 1600s and is from nearby Gifu prefecture, and I'm fortunate to have made friends with some busshi living in and around Kanazawa – good sources of information! My idea at this point is to try to turn one of my characters into a modern-day Enku, who lived a fascinating life as he wandered across much of Japan, acting as a kind of saint for many people and carving over 100,000 Buddhist figures.
For the time being I've set aside another novel I've been working on intermittently for many years, which is set in the Lower Mekong Basin of Vietnam and Cambodia in the early 1990s. More than half of this book takes place along the Mekong River, in a made-up town in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, and in Phnom Penh, Kratie, and Stung Treng, Cambodia.
An excerpt from the novel was published several years ago in the Ontario Review and can be read here (I’ve recently modified the excerpt slightly): http://repository.usfca.edu/ontariore...
For the time being I've set aside another novel I've been working on intermittently for many years, which is set in the Lower Mekong Basin of Vietnam and Cambodia in the early 1990s. More than half of this book takes place along the Mekong River, in a made-up town in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, and in Phnom Penh, Kratie, and Stung Treng, Cambodia.
An excerpt from the novel was published several years ago in the Ontario Review and can be read here (I’ve recently modified the excerpt slightly): http://repository.usfca.edu/ontariore...
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