Let's Have a Conversation ...
if I ask nicely, will you talk to me?
In November, I’ll hit the three-year anniversary of this newsletter. I’ve posted articles about writing and what goes well and what doesn’t, talked about books I read that I liked, shared details about books and stories I wrote, touched on travel experiences and recipes.
A year and a half ago I started adding author interviews to the menu. It was a natural extension of the ‘books-I-like’ theme. Once a quarter, I’m having a conversation with a writer whose work I get excited about, hoping you might find them interesting too, and will give their stories a try. When I get bowled over by a book, I itch to tell people, hey you have to read this, it’s really cool.
Sharing my enthusiasm is only one of the motivations behind the interviews. Frankly, I do them to satisfy my curiosity. Who are these writers, what can they tell me about themselves and their inspiration. I’m like the starry-eyed fan who managed to snag a press pass, and is over the moon to be allowed backstage!
I know this feeling intimately because I’ve been there before. Many years ago I did a stint as a freelance writer for a magazine. They focused on music and movies but also covered cultural events that might appeal to the 16-30 age group that was their core audience.
At first, I wrote theater and art show reviews, short snippets, then moved on to longer pieces. I traveled a lot at the time, both for work (the full-time job that paid the bills) and pleasure, and looked for topics that I could pitch to the magazine. Eventually, they asked me to do a regular monthly column: artists portraits—one page interview, and one page black & white photograph taken by their rock concert guy, a super talented dude. I had complete freedom in the choice of subject. I was also responsible for finding the subject.
That gave me pause. I’m an introvert. Drop me in a cocktail party and I’ll find a spot by a window where I can look at the view. Mix-and-mingle, networking, talking to strangers … ah, the horror! On the other hand, I’m good one-on-one. Unless I’m bored stiff, I enjoy listening to people. I pondered the magazine’s offer for a week before accepting the assignment. The deadline for article delivery was non-negotiable, and I had to coordinate with the photographer.
The first cold call was tough. I had drama school and stage experience, so I went for a young actor I’d seen in a recent production of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. He was a newcomer and an impressive talent. I called the theater and rattled off my mag credentials. The interview was a ton of fun. I had a notepad, a small voice-activated recorder, and a few questions that we quickly veered away from. We chatted for well over an hour. Without planning it, I’d found a format and tone I was comfortable with: a couple of questions to prove I had done my homework, followed by a casual conversation.
Some interviewees took time to unfreeze. I remember meeting a jazz saxophonist I was in awe of. We were in a bar, after the last set. The place was crowded, noisy, and all he wanted to do was enjoy his cold beer. My starting questions received standard answers. Banalities. The interview wasn’t going anywhere. I changed tack, and recalled a friend of my father’s who was a jazz drummer and dropped piles of records at our home. How he played drums with the silverware while my mother rescued the wine glasses. The reluctant sax player laughed and we kept chatting until late. I was beat and bleary-eyed but I wrote the article that night, before I could forget. Needless to say, the recorder was useless.
Not all interviews turned out that well. I went to the workshop of a furniture maker who worked with reclaimed wood. Great pieces, dramatic, but the man was a monosyllabic grouch. To this day, I don’t know why he agreed to see me. The experience must have been as painful for him as it was for me. On the positive side, I learned that if you can squeeze 700 words out of a solid piece of oak, there isn’t much that will stump you.
If you wonder why I’m telling you all this, it’s because I conduct the writers’ conversations on this platform the same way I did interviews years ago. I ask the authors if they’ll agree to talk to me, and I’m nervous about asking. Still a fangirl … I prepare by reading what my guests wrote. The first question riffs around what I like in their writing: style/theme/characters/setting. The answer leads to the next topic of conversation, and we ping-pong like that for a while. The only question common to all interviews is the last one: what can we expect next?
Just like my artists’ portraits of yore, I don’t know when I start where the conversation will lead. And that’s the fun of it.
Here are the writers I talked to so far, with a link to the conversations:
I’m grateful to all of them for agreeing to play the game.
In two short weeks, James D.F. Hannah will be over for a visit … Mark your calendars!
Recent Publications
A guest post at Writers Who Kill, where I wonder “Where do you Write?” Curiosity again… what does a writer’s workspace say about them? You can read it here.
A moody and genre-bending crime story was published by Trash Cat Lit, in their anniversary issue: Mirror on the Wall. Head on over … And Mathew Gostelow reads it, that’s a treat! (Mat’s Substack is here)
Love this approach to interviewing. Thank you for sharing.
A delight and an honour to be interviewed here on your stack!