Interview
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What did you first read? How did you begin to write? Who were the first to read what you wrote?
There were these cheap little books at CVS Pharmacy that were abridged classics I read when I was under 10. Helter Skelter was one of the first books I owned at about 10. Every Sunday I got a stack of books out of the downtown Worcester Public Library and read them all week. I started to write at about nine or ten years old. I started with perverted stories with Smurfs as the characters. I shared them with classmates and they always wanted more. Later, as a teenager, I wrote stories involving the members of Duran Duran and stories about famous people meeting–like Andy Warhol and Oscar Wilde.
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What is your creative process like? What happens before sitting down to write?
Usually a story is almost finished in my head before I start writing. But, as I write there are always interesting twists and the characters sometimes go off-road driving from the course I’ve set. The excitement comes from the writing itself. Until I sit down, all I do is listen to the characters. Once I start typing, they have to start living the truth, so playtime is over.
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What type of reading inspires you to write?
Newspaper stories are the best inspiration. The odder the better. Just ten minutes a day of searching for gems is all it takes. Stories like: a 45-year-old man who hid his dead mother’s body in order to collect her $550 Social Security check or two women in a Wal-Mart parking lot getting in a fight with aluminum baseball bats. When I read these kinds of stories I think, “Wow, there really is not enough time in the day (or in my lifetime) to get to the core of every story I would like to write.”
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What do you think are the basic ingredients of a story?
Ingredients that you can’t cook a story without? Now, wouldn’t that be revealing my secrets?
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Are you equally good at telling stories orally?
I suck at telling stories out loud!
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What discipline do you impose on yourself regarding schedules, goals, etc.?
I want to finish everything before I die, so I have a moving target every day.
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What are you working on now?
I’m working on a short story.
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What do you recommend I do with all those things I wrote years ago but have never been able to bring myself to show anyone?
Dump them and start fresh. You know you have more to say now more than ever, so start now and keep writing so this never happens again, soldier! Show people the new writing and keep up the momentum.
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