What’s Life Like as an Author? A Roundtable Discussion

Alexa Kocinski  shares a series of questions and answers with three different authors. 

____

The following interview is a series of questions I posed to three authors — Slade Grayson, Allan Mott, and Kevin Burke – when, one evening, I decided that we just haven’t had enough interviews with working writers. We’re all thankful for the anecdata we get from the likes of Joyce Carol Oates about writing from a tower made entirely of elephant ivory, but realistically, I believe that new writers can benefit from reading the personal stories of published authors who also happen to have day jobs. The two are so rarely mutually exclusive.

-Alexa Kocinski

(INTERVIEWER’S NOTE: In the course of editing this piece, I had to delete all of Kevin’s post-sentence double-spaces. There were 83. Permuted Press, your job is enormous.)

♦◊♦

Do you consider yourself a writer?

“Of course I do. Even before I had earned any money from doing it, it was always in the back of my mind that it was part of who I was, even if technically to the world I am “forklift operator” or whatever.”

-Kevin

“I do consider myself a writer. However, I tend to tell people that I’m a stay-at-home dad first, and a writer second (and a part-time retail clerk third). The “dad” part takes up a good chunk of my day because my son is so young. But another reason I don’t automatically say “writer” is because in many ways, it still feels like a hobby to me more than a profession. Which is not to say that I’m not serious about it, because I am, but I’m also not making much money from it… yet.”

-Slade

“My basic definition of a writer is simply someone who has been paid to write and by that metric I definitely pass.”

-Allan

How would you characterize wannabe writers?

“Wannabe writers typically think there’s some magic formula for getting words down on a page. They read how-to books (e.g. “How to Write a Novel”) and ask questions about technique and what my process is. [Interviewee’s Note: I asked these questions!] They talk about all these great ideas they have, but don’t have the time to write them. They say “if only” a lot. If only they had the time to write; if only they had a less stressful job; if only they had a new laptop to write with. The difference between a wannabe writer and a writer is that a writer will turn off the TV, put away the games, cancel the movie plans, and will sit down and write something.”

-Slade

“To me a wannabe writer is someone who is more concerned with being perceived as a writer than they are with actually writing something. They talk about it constantly, but they don’t do the actual work. I’m also dubious of people who feel compelled to pay for workshops, because they also seem to think they can take a shortcut to success. Genuine writers understand that it’s a craft more than anything else, and the only way to master a craft is to keep working at it.”

-Allan

What is your typical writing schedule? What does your weekday generally look like?

“I work as a copywriter, so writing actually takes up a major part of my professional life. I also have a position as a contributing editor to a website that requires about a post a day. Beyond that I’m constantly writing emails, tweets and personal things I may use someday—which I believe counts. Very few days go by where I don’t write something and I usually feel weird if one does.”

-Allan

“Until as recently as a month and a half ago, I didn’t have one. I would have these fleeting moments of glorious output that would come in spurts few and far between. I wrote my first novel in a matter of months. Then nothing for five years until inspiration struck again. I was waiting to be inspired, which is a big mistake. If you want something, you have to practice at it and keep struggling through it, even when it’s not coming easily. There aren’t many truly famous writers who are my age, even in my 30s. I think there are lessons we all have to learn before we can grow as a writer and for me, DON’T GIVE UP was one of them. I switched my work schedule so that I work on weekends and have FOUR days off during the week. This has helped me tremendously and I am now on a steady diet of at least 500 words a day during those days off. I feel like a new person. Actually, I feel like a writer.”

-Kevin

Shonda Rhimes recently said that a writer is a person who writes every day. Do you write every day? Do you believe this is a good criterion for what constitutes a writer?

“If, by writing every day, you mean that I sit down and physically puts words on a page, then no. I don’t (and can’t) do that every day. Too many other responsibilities that have to do with family and work. But I do think about what I’m working on, or think about future projects, or map out scenes in my head, or come up with bits of dialogue or ideas for future stories, and jot down notes for whatever my current project is. That I do every day. I would love to have the financial means to be able to write every day, but even if I won the lottery, there would still be days when that wouldn’t be possible. I doubt even Shonda Rhimes physically sits down and writes every single day.”

-Slade

“I do, but I don’t think its essential to the definition. Like I said, I believe a writer is someone who has earned money for their writing. I know this may seem arbitrary to some, but I think there is ultimately no greater signifier of having reached a specific level of craft than creating something someone is willing to pay for.

“For me the true moment when I realized I really did deserve to call myself a writer was when I was reading over the manuscript to one of the regional ghost books (might have also been Missouri). I had felt no joy or satisfaction when I had finished it and there was no particular piece of writing in it that I felt proud of, but when I was proofreading it a few months later I had to concede that it was a professional level effort. It was a real book, even though I had invested very little of myself into it. This was a revelation to me, because it proved that I had reached a point where I could create passable work without trying. I’m not saying this was particular great for the people who bought or read the book, but I knew I was a writer when my worst was still good enough.”

-Allan

“I don’t know that I would make that the definition literally. Even with my newfound motivation, there are three work days a week where I’m just not going to open up Word. Are the really famous dudes like George R.R. Martin not writers because they’re off making talk show appearances? I’d say if we’re being literal, a writer is someone who writes when they “should” be. When I was blowing entire weekends on Netflix or WWE Network, I was not a writer.”

-Kevin

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

“For me the turning point came when a friend of mine performed a monologue I had written. It was one I had written a few years earlier for myself and I made just a few changes to make it better suited for her. Having performed it, I knew where all the laughs were (and had gotten enough to win a $100 prize at the time), so it was a bit of an epiphany when I realized I received the exact same feeling of elation when she got those same laughs. At the time my issues with stage fright were getting worse instead of better and the fact that I could get the same rush of pleasure watching someone else perform something I had written as I did doing it myself pushed me away from acting and towards writing full time.” -Allan

“Age 9: I read an issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN that left me floored. It had a cliffhanger ending that had me on pins and needles. I remember thinking that I couldn’t possibly wait the 30 days for the next issue to find out what was going to happen next. I remember thinking, “This is what I want to do. I want to make other people feel the way the writer of this comic is making me feel.” -Slade

“I remember clear as day having a story come to me as I was walking across campus in college. I ditched class and ran to the library to begin writing it down by hand. Then I changed my major from Criminal Justice to English. That part might have been a mistake as far as career opportunities go, but I never thought it was the wrong thing to do. I’m sure I would have made a lot more money if I had had a useful degree, but who’s to say where I would have ended up? I’d rather have a mindless warehouse job where I can think about the stories in my head than a better paying job that I secretly resent.” -Kevin

Do you think of writers as artists? In your mind, what’s the difference between a writer and an artist, if any?

“Writing is a craft and like all crafts it has the capability of becoming art if performed with a certain level of skill. And like all art, the definition of what reaches that level is entirely subjective. For some a perfect sentence isn’t enough; it also has to speak to certain truths of the human condition. I don’t agree with that. For me any sentence can be a work of art if it feels like a sudden unexpected epiphany—even if it’s in an ad for breakfast cereal.”

-Allan

Who are your biggest literary influences? Mind you, these do not need to be canonical writers or authors. If you have a favorite Vulture writer, that’s fine, or a comic book writer  — really anyone who writes anything ever.

“As a writer of zombie stories, obviously I owe a big shout out to George Romero for creating the genre. I throw in references to other famous zombie and non-zombie movie moments in The Last Mailman. (try to spot them!) When I’m intentionally writing comedy, I’m very into smart, snappy stuff that is beyond clever, like Arrested Development. I also love puns, word play, literal-minded humor and the self-aware, meta humor and satire like the old Police Squad stuff, the original Tick cartoon, Archer and The Venture Brothers. I’m of the opinion that if you loved and were influenced by something, disguise your rip-off as a twisted homage.”

-Kevin

“In order they are: Dr. Seuss, Roald Dahl, Gordon Korman, Sue Townsend, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Martin Amis and PG Wodehouse. There are many other writers I loved, but these are the specific writers who I found myself imitating when I started out, until I managed to stumble upon my own style — which has been informed by that imitation.”

-Allan

“My influences, in no particular order: Theodore Dreiser; Alexandre Dumas; Raymond Chandler; James M. Cain; Elmore Leonard; Harlan Ellison; David Goodis; Jim Thompson; Ed McBain; Alfred Bester; Neil Gaiman; Nelson DeMille; Dennis Lehane; John McNally; Charles Frazier; Susanna Clarke; Graham Greene; J.D. Salinger; David Foster Wallace; Richard Matheson, Robert E. Howard, Stendhal, Jack London, and Alan Moore.”

-Slade

Why do you think the title of writer is held sacred? Do you believe we value it higher than non-creative professions?

“I think writing is one of those professions that many people think they could do and don’t necessarily need special schooling or training for, other than the ability to read and spell, but deep down they know that they really can’t do it. There’s a vast difference between being able to string words together, and actually forming a coherent sentence. And a huge gap between being able to form a coherent sentence and getting an idea across to a nameless/faceless audience. I think all art is valued higher than non-creative professions because it takes a certain ability that can’t be taught. There’s a certain amount of talent that is innate.”

-Slade

“I don’t think we do. In my experience a lot of people regard writing as something they could do themselves if they just had the time. I’ve worked for at least one man whose correspondence and notes proved was barely literate, but who honestly felt he could do my job with ease if he set his mind to it. There are certain people who respect writers and what they do, but I think they’re a cultural minority. I think a lot of people look on at writers as lazy know-it-alls who get away with not having real jobs that actually require hard work, like the Internet commenter who once told me she downloaded pirated e-books because she couldn’t afford to read all of the books she wanted to. When I pointed out to her this was hardly fair to the authors who had spent all that time working on those books she happily stole, she responded by saying it was up to them to find an alternative way to make money. And that was coming from someone who LOVED TO READ. Imagine how people who are indifferent or flat out opposed to reading must feel.”

-Allan

Have you ever, at any point, “quit” writing or promised to quit for any reason at all? What happened? How long did you quit? Why did you go back?

“I’ve gone through long, unproductive periods, but I’ve never made a conscious decision to stop.”

-Allan

“I quit about once a year. Writing doesn’t come easy for me. What I write is never as good as what’s in my head. It’s a frustrating process. I always tell myself the next book or next project is my last, but then I always think of another project to start.”

-Slade

Have you become the kind of writer you’d always dreamed you’d be? Has that dream changed?

“I just wanted to be a working writer and I’ve done that. Everything else has been gravy.” -Allan

“Well, I always dreamed I’d be successful and wealthy and picking up chicks at autograph signings so the short answer is NO. More realistically, having a publisher come to me and make my silly zombie story into a real thing I can hold in my hand is more than I ever thought would happen.” -Kevin

“My dream, when I was much, much younger was to be an investigative journalist. The Hollywood kind rather than the real-life kind. The type portrayed in movies: hard drinking, womanizing, risking life and limb to get the story. As I grew older and realized the restrictions placed on that type of writing, I also realized that my heart was more in fiction. Making up stories and characters, instead of reporting the facts. For a time, I toyed with going into filmmaking, and writing and directing my own movies, but even then it’s too much of a collaborative process. Producers want to have input, as do the actors, and even after your story is committed to film, the editor has final say over how it’s told. Prose writing is the only form where the writer has complete God-like control over the story.”

-Slade

What do you believe are some of your limitations as a writer?

“I’m not very descriptive. I don’t know if it’s a limitation per se, but I tend to leave out a lot of details. Character is much more important to me than what kind of clothes someone is wearing. I leave most things to the reader’s imagination. Details are mostly boring. I will quickly skim through anything that’s not totally necessary. When I’m reading I like to cast actors in the parts for the movie in my head. So if someone is going on and on about long blonde hair and I had already pictured Ed Harris, it takes me right out of the world. I try not to distract or disservice my audience with information they don’t necessarily need.”

-Kevin

“I’m not great at action and I have very little interest in location. Sometimes my sentence construction can be a bit too complicated for its own good.”

-Allan

“A lack of formal education and a late start.”

-Slade

What most frightens you about writing? What do you most embrace or look forward to?

“What most frightens me is that I may repeat myself. I read somewhere that Dashiell Hammett, after writing five novels and struggling to write a sixth, finally gave back the money to his publisher and said that he had said everything he had to say, and to go on would only be repeating himself. What I look forward to is those little bits of dialogue, or “sparks” (as I call them) on the page where I feel like I really tapped into something.”

-Slade

What criticism have you gotten as a writer that you agreed with?

“That’s always the deepest, darkest fear of everyone, not just writers. ‘What if I’m not good enough?’ The craziest thing is I have hardly had any criticism whatsoever. It’s been a great and validating feeling to have what I consider a “95% approval rating.” I haven’t agreed with any of my few critics because I have an abundance of people who tell me otherwise, so I must be doing things mostly right. Writers have to understand that it is quite literally impossible to please everyone. When you have one person praising your realistic dialogue and another saying it’s the worst, most amateurish dialogue they’ve ever read, you quickly learn that lesson. Yeah, bad reviews hurt personally because your book is like your child but you get over it and develop a thick skin. I had a reviewer on a website call my book the worst thing ever put to print. There’s not much anyone can say that can top that. You have to learn to ignore the haters and, really, the bad reviews make you appreciate your fans that much more.”

-Kevin

“That sometimes I write too passively, and I have a habit of using the same words or phrases over and over.”

-Slade

“I probably am way too into goth girls.”

-Allan

Where do your ideas come from? When do they come to you? How often? What’s the longest you’ve gone without an idea? Is there an ebb and flow — or is it pretty much a constant stream?

“Ideas come at all hours of the day and night, sometimes when I’m dreaming (or daydreaming). Usually, it’s a matter of asking myself, “What if?” Sometimes it’s sparked by something I see or read, or I read a story or watch a movie and think how I would have written the story differently, which veers off down a completely different path once I start working it through in my head. I can’t remember when I’ve gone more than a week without having an idea for story, or a character, or a scene, or a bit of dialogue. Alan Moore believes that ideas are like a river in the collective unconscious of all creative people, and that all you have to do is learn to dive for them. He said that the deeper you dive into the river, the more exotic the ideas you can dig up. I’m paraphrasing all of that, of course.”

-Slade

“I think writing creatively is a 24/7 job whether we want it to be or not. I’m always observing people and events and taking mental notes (I really never write anything down!). As far as the stream, so far I’ve written a novel every five years. I’ve only written when inspiration struck. Now that this might become a thing I can realistically do to make money, I’m going to try harder to force the inspiration.”

-Kevin

“I used to go to schools to read from my ghost books and as part of my readings I would take along a Barrel of Monkeys game I got at an office Christmas gift exchange. I would show the kids the game and tell them how I was working Campfire Ghost Stories II and had just finished a story and needed a new one. I looked around my desk, trying to find something to spark my imagination and saw the little red barrel sitting there and immediately thought “CRAZY ZOMBIE GHOST MONKEYS!” and I started writing a story called “A Barrel of Monkeys” that was about just that. Ideas are everywhere. Ideas are easy. It’s getting them on the page in a way that doesn’t suck that is the hard part.”

-Allan

So many people are writers now because we’ve largely democratized the tools with which to write and self-publish. How is this beneficial to you personally? Do you think you’d be a writer today without the internet?

“I tell people completely seriously that Amazon Kindle changed my life. I wrote a novel in 2005 that I didn’t even know what to do with. The Big Publishing Machine was a beast that I did not know how to tame and would not even venture to try. I didn’t know how to get an agent, I didn’t know if I was any good, I didn’t know how to be a professional writer. In 2010, my brother and I started watching zombie movies on a monthly schedule and I started dreaming about them a lot. I combined two of those dreams into what became The Last Mailman: Neither Rain, Nor Sleet, Nor Zombies, a story I wrote for fun to share with my brother. Then I got a Kindle and started filling it up with delightfully inexpensive content. Quickly I realized that you get what you pay for. Typos, misspellings, and whatnot. My antennae went up and I thought, “These works do not seem very professionally produced.” Thirty seconds of research later, I realized, “You mean anyone can publish anything for free and they give you most of the money? Excuse me, what? I have a book!” So my brother drew me a “cover,” I published Mailman and expected to make a couple of bucks. Instead, it started flying. I was making actual useful money from writing for the first time in my life. Then Permuted Press, my current publisher, came to me with an offer I couldn’t refuse. So how has it benefited me personally? I owe it everything!”

-Kevin

“The good thing about the internet is that it’s made the submission process so much easier. And cheaper. No more spending money on printing and postage to submit a book or story to a publisher who may ultimately reject it. I primarily only submit to those who accept e-submissions. The others? I won’t waste the money. There are also many more places for a writer to get their work seen. Self-publishing is a good thing when it’s done well. It’s the bad stuff that tends to overshadow the other.

“Rod Lott, editor-in-chief of Bookgasm [http://www.bookgasm.com/], told me the other day that he detests 99.5% of all self-publishing. I understand why he feels that way. Running a book review site, he sees the absolute worst of the worst, but I think there’s a great number of self-published books out there in which the author invested in a professional editor and quality cover art, and had beta readers give feedback. But again, it’s the nut job who writes a three hundred page rant in all caps, slaps a hand-drawn cover together, and publishes it through CreateSpace that makes people think all self-published books are like that.”

-Slade

Do you feel that writers should be monetarily compensated for any work that’s published not on a personal blog? Why do you think the industry is getting away with not paying writers for content? What do you think needs to happen to change this?

“I don’t think anything is going to change so long as there are people (like me) willing to do it for a smile and a pat on the head. The industry gets away with it because there are thousands of us out there who are desperate to be read at any cost and because so many people out there don’t regard writing as real work. It’s just something that happens.”

-Allan

“There’s a certain amount of free writing you do when you’re starting out in order to gain exposure and rack up publishing credits. I think when it comes to online publications or small press, it’s completely understandable, as they generally don’t have funds to compensate writers. I recently removed a book from my Amazon author page because although it’s an anthology that contains one of my short stories, I’ve never been paid any royalties, despite signing a contract with them that stipulated I would get a percentage of sales. Why should I help sell the book if I’m not getting paid for it?

“I liken it to acting: You start off doing stuff for free (like acting in student films) in order to build your portfolio. But there’s a certain point where you have to make the jump to “professional” rather than “beginner.” Professional actors expect to get paid. So should professional writers.”

-Slade

If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, what regrets would you have about writing? For instance, is there some kind of writing (format or medium) that you always wanted to master but never did?

“I’ve always wanted to write a play and see it performed. I think it is the purest form of storytelling – a story told all through dialogue and a minimum of physical action. I still have hope of writing one. I’ve got some ideas.”

-Slade

“My worry about dying in the context of writing is more about how much time I’ve wasted being unmotivated. Also, it’s probably bad that I don’t write much down. If I died tomorrow, no ghost writer would be able to finish my stuff.”

-Kevin

“I’ve reached the point where I don’t feel like I have to prove myself as a writer. I’ve managed to put some stuff I’m proud of into the ether and that’s enough for me.”

-Allan

___

Kevin Burke lives in Albany, NY where he practices being a wacky neighbor by entering his parents’ house without knocking and stealing their food.  When not distracted by the internet, he is hard at work on a Last Mailman sequel.

Find his book on Amazon.com

–