Good Reads Missoula discussion

INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR RUSSELL ROWLAND
April, 2011


When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
I was something of a late bloomer compared to most of the writers I know. I started reading like a fiend in my twenties, and it was when I started reading Raymond Carver, in my late twenties, when I first had an inkling that this might be something I might want to do, and more importantly, something I might be able to do. I think Carver affected a lot of people that way because he made it seem so easy, and his subject matter was so accessible. He wrote about people we all knew. Of course, it didn't take long to realize that what he was doing was much harder than he made it look.


How long does it typically take you to write a book?
That depends on what you mean by 'writing a book.' I have usually written my first drafts pretty quickly, although that seems to be changing the longer I do this. But all of my novels have ended up going through a series of rewrites, sometimes over the course of many years. My first novel, IN OPEN SPACES, only took me about six months to write for the first draft. It was finally published eleven years later, after probably ten rewrites, all of which were completely necessary. My second novel took about five years in all, and I've been working on the one I just finished for about fifteen years. Luckily, I can work on more than one thing at once, so that helps.


What is your work schedule like when you're writing?
I work with a lot of people privately, consulting, and I teach workshops online, so I tend to focus on that part of my life in the mornings, so I'm not thinking about what I have to do in the afternoon. Afternoons and evenings are when I get most of my writing done.


Do you use any special media when writing - for example favorite pen, laptop etc.?
I write my first draft on the computer, and then I always do a second draft by longhand, so that I will slow down and think about what I'm doing more. I've noticed a huge shift in these second drafts. It somehow seems to bring me closer to the story, as if the physical act of writing has that affect on what I'm doing. And then, of course, I have to do a third draft to get it back into my computer, so that's always good, too. It keeps the momentum going.


What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?
I suppose it's that I love to write while I'm watching baseball. Ever since I started, that has been my most productive time, during the baseball season. And I'm not one of these people who needs absolute quiet to write, although that also seems to be changing as I get older. Lately I've been listening to jazz a lot while I work. Especially Bill Evans, who is a recent discovery. I used to play piano, and I have never heard someone express their artistry with such precision, at least in the jazz field.


Where do you get your information or ideas for your books? Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?
This comes in a variety of forms. Life experience, dreams, stories I hear from friends. My first novel opens with the drowning of a young man in the Little Missouri River, which happened to my great uncle when my grandfather was fourteen. He had to leave school to come back and work on the ranch, which he never talked about. But he was not someone who seemed to have a victimized bone in his body, and that was what inspired me to base that book on him. I wrote a whole novel based on a dream, and another one based on a story someone told me. I'm always looking for these little inspirations, and I'm often surprised where they come from. You never know what's going to spark your imagination.


What are you working on right now?
I just finished with two projects. I edited an anthology with Lynn Stegner called WEST OF 98: LIVING AND WRITING THE NEW AMERICAN WEST. I came up with this idea after attending a lot of book festivals where the notion of the 'western identity' was tossed around, and I started to wonder to myself what that means these days. I was talking to my girlfriend after a festival in Casper, Wyoming about maybe putting together a panel to explore this topic, and she said, "What about a book?" It turned out to be a terrific project, and Lynn was the perfect co-editor. She knows a lot of writers from all over the West, while my circle of friends was more limited to Montana and Wyoming. But of all the people we asked to contribute, we only had a handful that said no. We ended up getting essays from Larry McMurtry, Louise Erdrich, Rick Bass, Gretel Urlich, Bill Kittredge, and sixty others, talking about what it means to them to be from the West, and how they see the western identity changing.

I also just finished a novel called HIGH AND INSIDE, which is about a former pitcher for the Red Sox who moves to Bozeman to build a house with his own two hands. But the real reason he's left Massachusetts is because he's an alcoholic, and he created some serious havoc back home. He ends up doing the same thing in Bozeman, all because of his drinking, and he eventually realizes that he needs to go back and address some of his issues in Amherst, and take a look at his drinking, before he can move on with his life.


Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
There are a couple of things I find challenging. One is allowing myself to surrender to the emotional experiences of my characters. Mike Curtis, the fiction editor at The Atlantic Monthly, told me one time that all of my stories back away when they get to the emotional climax. He told me that about fifteen years ago, and I'm still working on improving that aspect of my writing. The other thing that challenges me is finding time to work on all the ideas I have. I have too many books in my head that haven't even been started yet.

Oh, and there's one other thing. I hate promoting myself. And this seems to have become more and more important in the publishing world. So I'm trying to work on that.


Do you have to travel much concerning your books?
Not that much. I am fortunate enough to be part of the Humanities Montana Speakers' Bureau, so I get to do readings through that, and I expect there will be some travel when the anthology comes out.


What was the hardest part of writing your books?
My first novel was loosely based on my mother's ancestors, and I really wanted it to be a story that was respectful of our family's history. But there were some nasty characters in the book, and there were some bruised feelings in the family. I felt bad about that. I still do.


Do you read reviews of your books? If so, do you pay any attention to them, or let them influence your writing?
I definitely read reviews, and I think they're valuable. I'm always looking for ways to improve as a writer, and sometimes a reviewer will provide a valuable insight that I may have missed.


Have you ever been surprised by a controversy among fans or reviewers - for example, you created a character without thinking too much about what people would think of him, and found some readers loved him and some hated him?
Not a lot of surprises there. Although there was one review that said my first book was only about men. That one surprised me, because I think the strongest characters in that book were the women.


Have you ever written anything that you thought would be controversial and found it wasn't?
No, I've never been particularly inspired to write anything controversial...yet!


What do you like to do when you're not writing?
Well I still love reading. And I watch a lot of movies. I was a music major in college, so I listen to a wide variety of music. And I'm a huge sports fan. I mentioned baseball before, but I love to watch football and basketball too. And I started playing golf when I was a young kid. I'm also a runner. But I'm generally a homebody. I love spending time with my girlfriend, especially cooking, more than anything.


What books have most influenced your life most?
I think it would be easier to say which authors have influenced me most. Those would be William Faulkner, who broke every single 'rule' of writing and somehow made it work more often than not. I'm also a huge fan of Willa Cather, who I believe was the first Western writer to turn away from the tendency to romanticize life on the prairie. I love Wallace Stegner, who picked up where Cather left off. And I think James Joyce wrote some of the most beautiful prose ever produced, especially in Dubliners. My most recent hero is Louise Erdrich, who seems to get better with every novel. I find her writing extremely spiritual.


What book are you reading now?
I'm reading two books...Housekeeping, by Marilynne Robinson, and Fool's Crow by James Welch, both books I've been meaning to read for a long time. Both as satsifying as I'd hoped.


If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
I haven't been fortunate enough to have that kind of relationship with another writer, but Mike Curtis has been a huge influence on my writing. I did an internship at The Atlantic when I was in grad school, and he read every story I wrote for years, giving me succint but insightful feedback on each of them, sometimes several drafts of each. He also made an effort to get my first novel published, sending it out to several editor friends. He wasn't able to get it published, but the fact that someone of his stature would think that much of my writing was a huge boost for my confidence.


Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?
I'm embarrassed to say that I can't think of any. I think this is more a matter of me not having had time to read any new writers for quite a few years. But I know I've been intrigued by some of the new novels and story collections coming out by Western writers lately. I just haven't gotten to them.


Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?
I guess I already answered that, but I'll say again that I consider William Faulkner the bravest of American novelists. I think he dove deeper into the darkness of the human soul than anyone ever had, or has since. Cormac McCarthy might be close, but Faulkner did it with so much more of a sense of compassion, I think.


Which question are you most sick of answering in interviews?
I can't think of any. Maybe I haven't been interviewed enough yet!


Do you have any advice for other writers?
Find the person with the most annoying voice that you've ever heard in your life. Give them all of your money and have them move in with you for a year. Instruct this person to stand next to you every time you sit down to write and yell in your ear, "You're a goddam genius," quickly followed by "Oh, wait, did I say genius? What I meant to say was that you have no idea what you're doing. What makes you ever think you could become a writer?" At the end of that year, if you still want to be a writer, you're probably suited for it.


Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
Thank you for not writing to me if you didn't like my books.


I am the fiction editor for this publication... www.newwest.net please submit!

For more information about Russell Rowland and his books, please visit his website at:
www.russellrowland.com