Ask the Author: Stephen Greco
Answered Questions (6)
Stephen Greco
Great question! I have been lucky enough to travel extensively as both a private tourist and a working cultural journalist, and in both cases I have tried to bring to my travels as much curiosity about other people and other ways of living as possible. In fact, during the ‘70s and ‘80s, for the occasion of my first visits to scores of cities and archeological sites in Europe, South America, and Asia, my partner and I studied for months before, using travel guides, historical documents, scholarly texts, and the like, in the hope that such preparations would help sharpen our observations and dissolve the mental impediments we might have to our taking in new discoveries. The resulting travel experiences have proved surprising and thrilling--all of which helps a writer create characters and settings that express ideas memorably and bring a reader more deeply into the story.
When I was a kid from a small town in upstate New York, we would drive thirty or so miles to the nearest big town for visits to the dentist, optometrist, and such, and on those drives over winding county roads I’d see, from my backseat window, house after house that had stood there for twenty or fifty or a hundred years or more, and I’d be drawn into contemplation about the lives that were lived in all of those rooms and yards, on all of those porches. It was a kind of contemplation that unlocked the mind, that I think helped prepare me for unexpected pleasures in coming years, like a simple barbecue dinner at a modest, outdoor roadside stand, on a dusty road outside of Cairo, in the ‘80s; afternoon tea with an elegant, aging operaphile in a cramped, memento-filled, Soviet-era apartment block parlor in St. Petersburg, in the ‘90s; and a kamayan feast with the young creatives of an artist collective in a repurposed auto garage in the Cubao district of Manila, in the ‘00s….
When I was a kid from a small town in upstate New York, we would drive thirty or so miles to the nearest big town for visits to the dentist, optometrist, and such, and on those drives over winding county roads I’d see, from my backseat window, house after house that had stood there for twenty or fifty or a hundred years or more, and I’d be drawn into contemplation about the lives that were lived in all of those rooms and yards, on all of those porches. It was a kind of contemplation that unlocked the mind, that I think helped prepare me for unexpected pleasures in coming years, like a simple barbecue dinner at a modest, outdoor roadside stand, on a dusty road outside of Cairo, in the ‘80s; afternoon tea with an elegant, aging operaphile in a cramped, memento-filled, Soviet-era apartment block parlor in St. Petersburg, in the ‘90s; and a kamayan feast with the young creatives of an artist collective in a repurposed auto garage in the Cubao district of Manila, in the ‘00s….
Stephen Greco
Well, not so much a plot as a jumping-off point: One winter day in the 1980s, when I was working at Interview magazine, I was walking through SoHo after a big snow storm, on my way to meet a friend for lunch, when a Buick-size chunk of ice fell from a sixth-story cornice and landed explosively right in front of me, in the space where I was about to take my next step. For a moment I was stunned; onlookers were stunned. But this was New York, and I was still standing, so we all just kinda kept going. The icy debris pile was so large that we had to walk around it. It was only after I was seated in the restaurant with my lunch companion, making light of having to wipe icy mush off my face and glasses, that I realized I'd perhaps narrowly missed being killed.
Stephen Greco
I wouldn't mind spending a few weeks in the 1930s Cornwall of Du Maurier's Rebecca.
Stephen Greco
Reading-- and thinking about the author's strategies and techniques in creating the book, even while I'm enjoying the artistic experience the book affords...
Stephen Greco
For the last several months I've been in the middle of Tolstoy's War and Peace, and Burgess's Earthly Powers, so I know I'll still be immersed in those for months to come-- even as I tear through a lot of shorter, newer things.
Stephen Greco
For a small episode of blockage, I usually just step away from my computer and remind myself not to panic. Usually, I'll call a friend and talk about the issue that I'm stuck on, and then something interesting emerges from the conversation, which drives me back to the computer to play around with the new ideas. Luckily, massive episodes of blockage have not been an issue. For years I've served on the staff of monthly and weekly publications, where you write on deadline and get used to producing the best you can by the time it's due.
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