Matt Rees's Blog - Posts Tagged "stephen"
Early Morning Conspiracies: The Writing Life interview with David Liss
David Liss is the author of classics of historical fiction from his Edgar Award-winning debut A Conspiracy of Paper, which was rooted in his academic studies, through the fabulous tale of the Portuguese Inquisition and the Amsterdam commodities exchange, The Coffee Trader, and on into his compelling portraits of real historical figures like Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr in The Whiskey Rebels. It has always seemed to me that his masterful use of the historical mystery allows him to get to the heart of political and social issues that remain with us today – anti-Semitism, the morality of finance and of punishment, and much more. That’s why I asked him to tell me about his Writing Life. It turns out a lot of it takes place while most writers are asleep…
How long did it take you to get published?
Even though it felt like a very long time while it was happening, the process actually went very quickly. I sent out a ton of query letters and received a ton of rejections. About the same time, however, an old friend of mine published her first novel, and she offered to show my manuscript to her agent – who then became my agent. After that things went very quickly. I started sending out my first letters in March of that year. I had a contract in August.
Would you recommend any books on writing?
When I teach creative writing, I often use On Writing by Stephen King, though part of the reason I use it is because -- while he says some very smart things about writing -- I disagree with about a quarter of the advice he gives. I think it is important to recognize that there is no one right way to do things, and that in the end the only real rule is that each writer should do what works for him or herself.
What’s a typical writing day?
I am an early riser, and I can only do my best work in the AM hours. These days I get up at 4, go to the gym, come back home and get the kids ready for school. I drop off my daughter and go to a coffee shop with my laptop and write until about noon. After that, I spend the day running errands and doing research.
The Whiskey Rebels is the only book I’ve ever written under deadline, and at once point I realized I had far more work to do than I had time to do it in. I started getting up at 3 every morning, working until the children woke up, getting them off, and then having another writing session. I ended up doing this for a year, and though it was a hard year, it was also a very productive time.
Plug your latest book. What’s it about? Why’s it so great?
The Devil’s Company will be published in July. It is essentially a novel about the 18th century origins of the modern corporation. In this case I am writing about the British East India Company at a moment when it has to change its entire corporate model. We tend to associated the East India Company with tea, but in the early 18th century it was best known for its textile imports. In the 1720s, Parliament finally caved to pressure from the native wool and silk-weaving industries, which were suffering from having to compete with cheaply made foreign imports.
Like several of my previous novels, this one deals with a pivotal moment in economic history, but I also like to emphasize that I don’t write dry, ponderous books. I see my first responsibility as entertaining the reader, and I always do my best to write a story that is engaging, exciting, suspenseful, often funny and filled with engaging characters. My second responsibility is to say something worth saying.
How much of what you do is:
a) formula dictated by the genre within which you write?
Some, but not much. I don’t write within the genre mystery format any longer because I found it too constricting. I consider what I write now to be more in the thriller camp, and the only real requirement of that genre is that the material be fast-paced, exciting, and suspenseful – which I think ought to be true of pretty much any traditional narrative.
b) formula you developed yourself and stuck with?
I primarily write historical fiction, but that is always my choice. My publisher may not like it, but they know I will always write what I wish to write. I probably could have made choices early in my career which would have made me a more commercial writer, but I feel very lucky that I can make a living doing what I love, and I get to write the books I want to write. Also, I am very open to branching out. I recently wrote a short story for an anthology about zombies, and I just finished my first comic book script for Marvel.
c) as close to complete originality as it’s possible to get each time?
Some of my books are entirely unlike any of my other books. The Devil’s Company will be my third novel with a continuing protagonist, Benjamin Weaver, but while the first two were very much like genre mysteries, this one is not. I do not reinvent the wheel each time, but never want to be guilty of writing the same book over and over again.
What’s your favorite sentence in all literature, and why?
I don’t really believe in exclusive favorites, but one thing that comes to mind is the final sentence of Paradise Lost:
The World was all before them, where to choose
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide:
They hand in hand with wandering steps and slow,
Through Eden took their solitary way.
I know it is a sign of mental illness, but I love Milton, and I think this is the most powerful conclusion to any long work in English letters.
Who’s the greatest stylist currently writing?
My vote is for David Mitchell.
Who’s the greatest plotter currently writing?
No one does the twists and turns better than Harlan Coben. Sometimes his choices verge on the totally implausible, but he provides such a great ride that I honestly don’t care.
How much research is involved in each of your books?
Depends on the book. If I am writing about 18th century Britain, I’ve already done most of the leg work, and those books only require specific research into the particular topic of the book. If it is set in a different time and/or place, then I have to learn an entirely new culture, and that is a fairly demanding and time-consuming process. I always like to do enough research to get me to the place where what I don’t know is no longer keeping me from writing the story I want to tell.
Where’d you get the idea for your main character?
Novels almost always begin for me with an idea for an opening scene. I think of something dynamic and exciting, and then I try to decide who the characters are who would inhabit this scene and the world in which it belongs.
What’s your experience with being translated?
Right now I have to say pretty good. I am writing this interview at an outdoor café in Piacenza, a town in northern Italy, where I am attending an arts festival. I became involved with this festival thanks to my Italian translator, one of the organizers. I’ve been translated into about 2 dozen languages, and I do better in some countries than others. Someday I would like to be translated into Icelandic, but so far, no luck. I have a theory that if I include a character from a particular country in a novel then the rights will be picked up there. The only one of my novels to be translated into Turkish, for example, is The Coffee Trader, which includes a very minor Turkish character. I plan to put an Icelandic character in my next novel in order to test this theory.
Do you live entirely off your writing? How many books did you write before could make a living at it?
I’ve been lucky enough to be able to live off my writing since my first book.
How many books did you write before you were published?
I attempted a novel right after I graduated from college, but it was really, really bad. A Conspiracy of Paper, my first novel, was the first book I tried to write when I gave it another shot ten years later.
What’s the strangest thing that happened to you on a book tour?
Once I flew into Milwaukee and as soon as I got to my hotel I went out for a run. It was a beautiful day, and I was running by the water, so I lost track of time for a while. When I decided I needed to return to my hotel in order to get ready for my reading, I realized suddenly that I did not remember how to get back to my hotel or what its name was.
What’s your weirdest idea for a book you’ll never get to publish?
I plan to publish all my weird ideas.
The most obscure band in Jerusalem
I bet you didn't know there was an underground scene in Jerusalem (at least not an underground music scene; you've probably heard of some other undergrounds that operate here). Here's a little bit of Middle East insider poop for you: what's the most obscure underground band in Jerusalem?
Answer: Dolly Weinstein.
A fivesome (formerly a sixsome, sometimes foursome) of folk rock and rock standards, featuring yours truly on bass.
Other writers are notable for playing in not very good rock bands -- Stephen King, Amy Tan, and Dave Barry, for example, in the Rock Bottom Remainders (too many people on stage, always makes me think of Live Aid and horrible things like that -- not very "underground" at all). But which of them can say they've played in a basement bar under a dreary 1970s tower block in the center of Jerusalem? Or that they'll be the opening act at a Woodstock tribute concert in a football stadium in Jerusalem on August 6?
So here's Dolly Weinstein in action. A 56-second clip on Youtube.
There it is. Fifty-six seconds of underground Jerusalem. That's about what it's worth.
Answer: Dolly Weinstein.
A fivesome (formerly a sixsome, sometimes foursome) of folk rock and rock standards, featuring yours truly on bass.
Other writers are notable for playing in not very good rock bands -- Stephen King, Amy Tan, and Dave Barry, for example, in the Rock Bottom Remainders (too many people on stage, always makes me think of Live Aid and horrible things like that -- not very "underground" at all). But which of them can say they've played in a basement bar under a dreary 1970s tower block in the center of Jerusalem? Or that they'll be the opening act at a Woodstock tribute concert in a football stadium in Jerusalem on August 6?
So here's Dolly Weinstein in action. A 56-second clip on Youtube.
There it is. Fifty-six seconds of underground Jerusalem. That's about what it's worth.
Ingenious book readings: Just don't mention books!
In his terrific book "On Writing" Stephen King notes that he once asked Amy Tan what she's NEVER asked about at public readings. "They never ask about the writing," Tan tells him. Which spurs King to write a book about exactly that.
Now controversial UK publishing guru Scott Pack goes one better. Public appearances by writers. With no readings. And no questions about...books.
The idea, as Scott explains here, is to get writers talking about their life and interests outside their books. Ultimately of course I think that'll take them back to their books. But it's a great way to refresh the rather tired world of literary events. For more on Scott's plan, look at his blog.
A great “What if”: Richard Jay Parker’s Writing Life
In his terrific “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft,” Stephen King notes that the best way to start a novel is with a compelling “what if.” Try this one: “Vacation Killer” sends out a chain email declaring that he’s kidnapped a woman and that if you don’t forward the email to 10 friends he’ll “slit the bitch’s throat.” That’s about as good a “what if” as anyone--Big Steve included--could come up with. It’s the premise for Richard Jay Parker’s debut novel, STOP ME, which is out this week. Born in the same South Wales town as yours truly, for a long time Richard worked as a tv comedy writer, then as a tv producer. Aware that tv was a sinkhole of depravity (with shrinking budgets), he decided it was preferable to write about scary ways of killing people. He moved from London to the beautiful southwest England town of Salisbury and came up with STOP ME.
How long did it take you to get published?
About a decade. I got a good agent with my first novel but it was an odd and warty book and editors were full of either admiration or revulsion for it. None of the positive feedback translated into offers so I was encouraged to write something else. It took a few attempts before I found I enjoyed constructing twisted, contemporary thrillers but then my agent declared she wasn’t comfortable with the genre. I had so many close calls with other agents and publishers after that it became something of a joke. Luckily, my current agent encouraged me to submit some work to the agency he had been poached to. He sold STOP ME in a couple of months.
Would you recommend any books on writing?
Yes. ‘Conversations With My Agent’ by Rob Long. It’s a very funny indictment of the whole writing process (I started by writing scripts for TV). I’ve never read any ‘How To’ books without keeping a grimace off my face though. I think I’ve only properly read ‘Screenplay’ by Syd Field but I’ve always been itching to make my own mistakes. If you’re just starting out then obviously you can learn the basics of submission but those books can’t really teach you the most important thing, which can only come from writing, finishing a project, submitting a project, starting a new project.
What’s a typical writing day?
I’m pretty disciplined – 8 til 5 – but that’s just so I can give myself plenty of circling time. Twitter and email siphons off a good chunk of my day and when I finally run out of excuses, I knuckle down. I write in concentrated bursts but I don’t ever have a word target. Sometimes it’s a page sometimes it’s ten.
Plug your latest book. What’s it about? Why’s it so great?
Everyone suspects there’s something sinister about email chain letters. STOP ME begins with an email chain letter from the Vacation Killer. It describes a girl and must be forwarded. If it ends up back in the killer’s inbox he won’t slit her throat. Of course, nobody takes it seriously to begin with until the jawbone of a prostitute is sent to the police. The missing prostitute fits the description in the email. But the real story of STOP ME is in the relationship between two men via a website.
John R Bookwalter claims to be the Vacation Killer and runs a website based around this alleged delusion. He’s never left the state of Louisiana and the Vacation Killer has killed around the globe. He’s dismissed by the police as a crank but claims to have Laura, the wife of Leo Sharpe. She disappeared in London and the Vacation Killer was suspected. However, her remains were never sent to the police and Leo wonders why – did the email get back to the Vacation Killer’s inbox?
But as everyone around Leo gives up on Laura ever being found Bookwalter is the only person talking about her in terms of her still being alive. A bizarre relationship ensues even though Bookwalter’s attempts at verisimilitude are patently the product of the information Leo feeds him. However, Bookwalter comes up with the most plausible theory of how she was kidnapped and Leo must decide whether he should accept Bookwalter’s invitation to fly to Louisiana to find out if there is any truth in what he’s saying. That’s what the title STOP ME refers to - more than the emails. It’s about being drawn submissively into something you know you shouldn’t.
The book examines the phenomena of Internet celebrity and the public’s ongoing fixation with serial murder. It’s populated by blue collar characters – ordinary people who participate in/are drawn into bizarre activities behind the façade of normality.
How much of what you do is:
a) formula dictated by the genre within which you write?
b) formula you developed yourself and stuck with?
c) as close to complete originality as it’s possible to get each time?
Only my first novel was a hundred percent me. I think after that I was trying to balance retaining subject matter and ideas that excited me with making them presentable to a readership. Luckily I found the thriller genre because it allows me to explore the sort of twisted, juicy, contemporary ideas that inspire me within an accessible framework.
After writing my first thriller my thinking was - would I be happy to be pigeonholed as a writer of this genre? That’s the reality for most writers and my answer was ‘yes.’ I think in today’s climate it’s a sensible approach for an author who wants to be energized by what he writes and earn a living at the same time.
This is my personal approach and obviously what works for me won’t be right for others. My instinct is to marry my predilections with pragmatism. I would love to have my first novel published but recognize why it probably wouldn’t make it past the committee of a publishing house. I’m also grateful that it wasn’t the first book I had published because I hadn’t really found my feet in terms of what sort of writer I was. This meant I would have probably struggled with the second book and my trajectory would have fizzled very quickly.
What’s your favorite sentence in all literature, and why?
A great question because it’s impossible to answer – are we talking hackles, hoot, goose bumps or chin stroke? I’d have to just take one at random:
‘My Name is Arthur Gordon Pym.’ First sentence from ‘The Narration Of Arthur Gordon Pym’ by Edgar Allan Poe. This story concerns a character with the same name as me suggesting cannibalism when adrift at sea. Lots are drawn and Richard Parker is eaten. The story was written in 1838 and in 1884 it happened for real. And the cabin boy who was eaten? Richard Parker.
It certainly had an effect on my travel arrangements.
What’s the best descriptive image in all literature?
Have gone for one that has always stuck with me - Bruce Robinson describing a fart as ‘a ghost of a sprout’ in ‘The Peculiar Memories Of Thomas Penman.’
Who’s the greatest stylist currently writing?
Of contemporary writers I’d say Chuck Palahniuk – on form - is pretty unique
Who’s the greatest plotter currently writing?
I’ve always loved the conceit of Hjortsberg’s ‘Falling Angel.’ I couldn’t outline my reason without giving away the ending to those who haven’t read it though. That must have been so much fun to write.
How much research is involved in each of your books?
I haven’t had a period of concentrated research for any of my books but that’s because I’ve so far written about subjects that I’m familiar with. My stories focus on ordinary people becoming embroiled in bizarre situations so I guess a lot of what I write is based on what my own personal reactions would be to those events. I’m also a big fan of Americana. My latest book involves Albanian gangsters, however, so that was one subject I needed to gather data for. It would be great to be able to spend more time immersing myself in more alien environments and getting a taste for an entirely new subject. Maybe in the future.
Where’d you get the idea for your main character?
There’s two main characters in STOP ME and I would say both of them are extensions of my own personality – my day-to-day personality and the side of me committed to dark mischief that only gets listened to when I’m at the keyboard.
Do you have a pain from childhood that compels you to write? If not, what does?
I can’t really think of anything in my childhood that compelled me to write. I had a stable and loving upbringing so who knows what ricocheted me towards the sort of dark subject matter that I’ve always got a kick out of. Maybe it’s still re-living that thrill of sneakily getting up to watch the forbidden late night horror movie – that addictive trespass on an entirely adult world. Ridiculous I know but my heart still sinks a little if I have to watch anything that doesn’t have an 18 certificate.
What’s the best idea for marketing a book you can do yourself?
Am just finding out with my debut but all the advice I receive from other writers concurs - utilize the internet but don’t forsake local publicity – radio and signings etc.
What’s your experience with being translated?
None in books yet although I’ve seen my TV material crop up on YouTube in all sorts of languages. Must re-examine my contracts…
Do you live entirely off your writing? How many books did you write before could make a living at it?
I’ve been lucky enough to have always been a professional writer and the past twenty years have been a mixture of exceptionally good years and stultifyingly bad years. I made the conscious choice to move from TV to novel writing ten years ago and it’s taken me until now to get my first into print. I hope to move forward with my next book but I have a realistic outlook on how things can transpire. I’ll always write though.
How many books did you write before you were published?
Eight. Four of which I would happily see in print. I won’t be reaching for old manuscripts now though. I still feel I have lots of new ideas to explore. I probably salvage bits of them without really knowing though.
What’s the strangest thing that happened to you on a book tour?
Will let you know. I’m touring airports in the UK this summer promoting British thrillers.
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/896...
Should be an eye-opener.
What’s your weirdest idea for a book you’ll never get to publish?
My second novel – my agent described it as ‘supernatural pornography.’ Would have sold it to me.
How long did it take you to get published?
About a decade. I got a good agent with my first novel but it was an odd and warty book and editors were full of either admiration or revulsion for it. None of the positive feedback translated into offers so I was encouraged to write something else. It took a few attempts before I found I enjoyed constructing twisted, contemporary thrillers but then my agent declared she wasn’t comfortable with the genre. I had so many close calls with other agents and publishers after that it became something of a joke. Luckily, my current agent encouraged me to submit some work to the agency he had been poached to. He sold STOP ME in a couple of months.
Would you recommend any books on writing?
Yes. ‘Conversations With My Agent’ by Rob Long. It’s a very funny indictment of the whole writing process (I started by writing scripts for TV). I’ve never read any ‘How To’ books without keeping a grimace off my face though. I think I’ve only properly read ‘Screenplay’ by Syd Field but I’ve always been itching to make my own mistakes. If you’re just starting out then obviously you can learn the basics of submission but those books can’t really teach you the most important thing, which can only come from writing, finishing a project, submitting a project, starting a new project.
What’s a typical writing day?
I’m pretty disciplined – 8 til 5 – but that’s just so I can give myself plenty of circling time. Twitter and email siphons off a good chunk of my day and when I finally run out of excuses, I knuckle down. I write in concentrated bursts but I don’t ever have a word target. Sometimes it’s a page sometimes it’s ten.
Plug your latest book. What’s it about? Why’s it so great?
Everyone suspects there’s something sinister about email chain letters. STOP ME begins with an email chain letter from the Vacation Killer. It describes a girl and must be forwarded. If it ends up back in the killer’s inbox he won’t slit her throat. Of course, nobody takes it seriously to begin with until the jawbone of a prostitute is sent to the police. The missing prostitute fits the description in the email. But the real story of STOP ME is in the relationship between two men via a website.
John R Bookwalter claims to be the Vacation Killer and runs a website based around this alleged delusion. He’s never left the state of Louisiana and the Vacation Killer has killed around the globe. He’s dismissed by the police as a crank but claims to have Laura, the wife of Leo Sharpe. She disappeared in London and the Vacation Killer was suspected. However, her remains were never sent to the police and Leo wonders why – did the email get back to the Vacation Killer’s inbox?
But as everyone around Leo gives up on Laura ever being found Bookwalter is the only person talking about her in terms of her still being alive. A bizarre relationship ensues even though Bookwalter’s attempts at verisimilitude are patently the product of the information Leo feeds him. However, Bookwalter comes up with the most plausible theory of how she was kidnapped and Leo must decide whether he should accept Bookwalter’s invitation to fly to Louisiana to find out if there is any truth in what he’s saying. That’s what the title STOP ME refers to - more than the emails. It’s about being drawn submissively into something you know you shouldn’t.
The book examines the phenomena of Internet celebrity and the public’s ongoing fixation with serial murder. It’s populated by blue collar characters – ordinary people who participate in/are drawn into bizarre activities behind the façade of normality.
How much of what you do is:
a) formula dictated by the genre within which you write?
b) formula you developed yourself and stuck with?
c) as close to complete originality as it’s possible to get each time?
Only my first novel was a hundred percent me. I think after that I was trying to balance retaining subject matter and ideas that excited me with making them presentable to a readership. Luckily I found the thriller genre because it allows me to explore the sort of twisted, juicy, contemporary ideas that inspire me within an accessible framework.
After writing my first thriller my thinking was - would I be happy to be pigeonholed as a writer of this genre? That’s the reality for most writers and my answer was ‘yes.’ I think in today’s climate it’s a sensible approach for an author who wants to be energized by what he writes and earn a living at the same time.
This is my personal approach and obviously what works for me won’t be right for others. My instinct is to marry my predilections with pragmatism. I would love to have my first novel published but recognize why it probably wouldn’t make it past the committee of a publishing house. I’m also grateful that it wasn’t the first book I had published because I hadn’t really found my feet in terms of what sort of writer I was. This meant I would have probably struggled with the second book and my trajectory would have fizzled very quickly.
What’s your favorite sentence in all literature, and why?
A great question because it’s impossible to answer – are we talking hackles, hoot, goose bumps or chin stroke? I’d have to just take one at random:
‘My Name is Arthur Gordon Pym.’ First sentence from ‘The Narration Of Arthur Gordon Pym’ by Edgar Allan Poe. This story concerns a character with the same name as me suggesting cannibalism when adrift at sea. Lots are drawn and Richard Parker is eaten. The story was written in 1838 and in 1884 it happened for real. And the cabin boy who was eaten? Richard Parker.
It certainly had an effect on my travel arrangements.
What’s the best descriptive image in all literature?
Have gone for one that has always stuck with me - Bruce Robinson describing a fart as ‘a ghost of a sprout’ in ‘The Peculiar Memories Of Thomas Penman.’
Who’s the greatest stylist currently writing?
Of contemporary writers I’d say Chuck Palahniuk – on form - is pretty unique
Who’s the greatest plotter currently writing?
I’ve always loved the conceit of Hjortsberg’s ‘Falling Angel.’ I couldn’t outline my reason without giving away the ending to those who haven’t read it though. That must have been so much fun to write.
How much research is involved in each of your books?
I haven’t had a period of concentrated research for any of my books but that’s because I’ve so far written about subjects that I’m familiar with. My stories focus on ordinary people becoming embroiled in bizarre situations so I guess a lot of what I write is based on what my own personal reactions would be to those events. I’m also a big fan of Americana. My latest book involves Albanian gangsters, however, so that was one subject I needed to gather data for. It would be great to be able to spend more time immersing myself in more alien environments and getting a taste for an entirely new subject. Maybe in the future.
Where’d you get the idea for your main character?
There’s two main characters in STOP ME and I would say both of them are extensions of my own personality – my day-to-day personality and the side of me committed to dark mischief that only gets listened to when I’m at the keyboard.
Do you have a pain from childhood that compels you to write? If not, what does?
I can’t really think of anything in my childhood that compelled me to write. I had a stable and loving upbringing so who knows what ricocheted me towards the sort of dark subject matter that I’ve always got a kick out of. Maybe it’s still re-living that thrill of sneakily getting up to watch the forbidden late night horror movie – that addictive trespass on an entirely adult world. Ridiculous I know but my heart still sinks a little if I have to watch anything that doesn’t have an 18 certificate.
What’s the best idea for marketing a book you can do yourself?
Am just finding out with my debut but all the advice I receive from other writers concurs - utilize the internet but don’t forsake local publicity – radio and signings etc.
What’s your experience with being translated?
None in books yet although I’ve seen my TV material crop up on YouTube in all sorts of languages. Must re-examine my contracts…
Do you live entirely off your writing? How many books did you write before could make a living at it?
I’ve been lucky enough to have always been a professional writer and the past twenty years have been a mixture of exceptionally good years and stultifyingly bad years. I made the conscious choice to move from TV to novel writing ten years ago and it’s taken me until now to get my first into print. I hope to move forward with my next book but I have a realistic outlook on how things can transpire. I’ll always write though.
How many books did you write before you were published?
Eight. Four of which I would happily see in print. I won’t be reaching for old manuscripts now though. I still feel I have lots of new ideas to explore. I probably salvage bits of them without really knowing though.
What’s the strangest thing that happened to you on a book tour?
Will let you know. I’m touring airports in the UK this summer promoting British thrillers.
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/896...
Should be an eye-opener.
What’s your weirdest idea for a book you’ll never get to publish?
My second novel – my agent described it as ‘supernatural pornography.’ Would have sold it to me.
Five smokes and a new novel: Klaus Modick’s Writing Life
When my second novel A GRAVE IN GAZA was being translated into German, I received an email from my translator. He had a number of penetrating questions about certain phrases I'd used in the book. He also happened to be the only translator who asked me a question about any of my books (and my work is translated in 22 languages so far.) Perhaps it’s not for nothing that Germany is the country where that particular book seems to have had the greatest resonance. It’s also not for nothing that the translator was one of Germany’s most significant literary voices in his own right. I later met Klaus Modick last year in Hamburg, not far from his North German home in Oldenburg. Within 15 minutes, he had smoked five cigarettes and between us we’d come up with the plot for another of my Palestinian detective novels--with a Berlin angle. It's fair to say, we clicked. In return for his plot brainstorming, Klaus asked only that I name a good character “Klaus” and that, as it’ll be a murder mystery, he shouldn’t die too violently. This year in Leipzig Klaus and I chatted over dinner about the German literary landscape. I found it astonishing to hear how rare it is for a German writer to be translated into English. So I’m delighted to give you the insights of this fabulous, sensitive writer, who’s currently summering in that least Germanic of American cities, Los Angeles.
How long did it take you to get published?
My first books were academic literary criticism and thus do not really count. My first novella “Moos” (1984) was rejected by a couple of publishers, but after some months of straying and drifting over editors’ desks it was eventually accepted and became a so called critics’ success, i.e. praises but sales to cry for.
Would you recommend any books on writing?
I don’t think the circulating How-to-write-books-books are helpful. There’s no advice to talent or inspiration. But I did enjoy Stephen King’s “On Writing”, because it is very honest and unpretentious. And I also enjoyed Thomas Mann’s “Novel of a Novel” about the making of his novel “Doktor Faustus”. You can learn from it that ingenuity cannot be learned.
What’s a typical writing day?
Get up at about 8 o’clock, jog through the park, have breakfast, sit on desk, wait for inspiration which is like a cat (doesn’t come when called but only if it wants to), start editing and re-writing yesterday’s shift and use that as a springboard for today’s. Sometimes it works. Have lunch. Have a nap. Afternoons are for research, for reading and correspondances, also for daydreaming about all the great works I haven’t started yet and perhaps never will.
Plug your latest book. What’s it about? Why’s it so great?
It’s a novel about a German-jewish historian who escapes from the Nazis in 1935, emigrates to the USA, struggles through the miseries of exile, makes finally a career at a New England college - but eventually falls victim to the McCarthy witchhunt in the early 50’s. It’s a book about America, seen through the eyes and experiences of a German there. It’s called “Die Schatten der Ideen” (The Shadows of Ideas). If at all and why it’s great should be decided by the reader - the least I can say about it it’s pretty voluminous.
How much of what you do is:
a) formula dictated by the genre within which you write?
Very little to nothing
b) formula you developed yourself and stuck with?
Pretty much all
c) as close to complete originality as it’s possible to get each time?
I’m trying hard ...
What’s your favorite sentence in all literature, and why?
“This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.” It’s the first sentence of William Goldman’s “The Princess Bride”. It is still my favorite book in all the world and I’m quite jealous about not having written it myself.
What’s the best descriptive image in all literature?
If one picks “the best” one wrongs at least one hundred others. One candidate among the hundreds could be the golden dollar nailed to the mast of the “Pequod” in Melville’s “Moby Dick”.
How much research is involved in each of your books?
Depends on the subject. For “Schatten der Ideen” it took me about a whole year to get my facts together in order to get the fiction. But I have also written books which needed nearly no research.
Where’d you get the idea for your main character?
I ask myself who I could be if I would not be the one I am.
Do you have a pain from childhood that compels you to write? If not, what does?
Not specifically. But I do think that everybody who writes misses something in life (same for readers). R. L. Stevenson once said that writing means to an adult what playing means to the child. That means that not only pain and suffering compel us to write but also pleasures and fun, not only the lack of something but also affluence. (W. Somerset Maugham thought so, too.)
What’s the best idea for marketing a book you can do yourself?
Give it to a reader who will recommend it to another reader who will recommend it to the next and ever so on. Worldwide.
What’s your experience with being translated?
It’s flattering. And it’s interesting, because one realizes that the book one wrote is more than this one and very book. It has siblings now.
Do you live entirely off your writing? How many books did you write before could make a living at it?
I live entirely from writing, or to be more precise from the royalties. That includes not only my own books, but also translations and writing for the media. But my own books are the core of it all.
What’s the strangest thing that happened to you on a book tour?
Being introduced to the audience as someone else.
What’s your weirdest idea for a book you’ll never get to publish?
Writing the truth.
