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“Houdini” – short story
Nearly all of my fiction is not autobiographical. I just make stuff up. The story “Houdini” is an exception. The story is about a University of Alabama college student who comes home to Huntsville for a weekend visit only to discover his father’s car in the driveway with the trunk lid open. He learns that his father is packing his belongings to move in with his girlfriend. That event actually happened to me in the late ‘70s. After driving from Tuscaloosa to my parents’ home in Huntsville, I pulled into the driveway to find my dad loading up his car. At that moment my innocence burned off like a cheap cigar. What actually happens in the story from the moment the guy pulls into the driveway is complete fiction, but the emotions of what that guy feels certainly ring true.
Interviews 2023-24
The following interviews were given to promote my novel LESTER LIES DOWN. A big thanks to Kelly Schuknecht, Annalisa Crawford, and Roz Morris for taking the time to ask me intriguing questions about my writing life, my works, and my ideas on writing fiction.
Melissa Bank Tribute“slaying the cruelty of life”
I was shocked when I learned about Melissa Bank’s untimely death. As with the death of any friend, I found myself thinking about Melissa, our times together, what she meant to me, and how she impacted my life, especially my writing. I then did what many writers do in such circumstances: I wrote about Melissa. The piece ended up being a tribute to Melissa and her wonderful art.
“slaying the cruelty of life – Melissa Bank and the Art of Humor” The Smart Set, 12/12/2022
The Creative Life
There were many influences that pointed me into the creative lifestyle, but my most important influence was Ron Harris, my high school biology and English teacher.
A few weeks ago, I posted a blog discussing how I became a writer. I talked about my love for reading since childhood, which is certainly a must. During my 25 years of teaching fiction workshops, I had a few students who said they did not like to read. I always tried to be positive and supportive in the classroom, but I would tell these students there is little chance of becoming a good fiction writer if you do not have a passion to read, especially a passion to read fiction. If you want to write good romance stories, then you need to read lots of good romance stories. If you want to write good literary fiction, then you need to read lots of good literary fiction. I began reading novels in the late 70’s. A very good friend of mine, Sam Bucy, introduced me to the Travis McGee novels by John D. MacDonald. I read all 20 and loved them all. They are fun reads, good brain candy. Millions of people still love the adventures of Travis, me included. In a future post, I’ll discuss the never-ending allure of Travis McGee, Meyer, and the Busted Flush. And like I said in that earlier post, John Irving’s The World According to Garp is the novel that struck the match to the possibility of writing fiction. I think you can see the influence of Garp in most of my fiction. Nevertheless, what provided the fertile ground for me beginning a life’s journey of writing fiction was living a creative life. One doesn’t wake up one day and decide to become a fiction writer. What we are learning more and more is that a creative life should be sought by most everyone, no matter your station in life, your life’s focus. A creative life is a lifestyle. There were many influences that pointed me into the creative lifestyle, but my most important influence was Ron Harris, my high school biology and English teacher.
There are many definitions of what constitutes a creative life. One needs to be open to learning about yourself, the world, and especially one’s interest. That means being open to anything that will add to your knowledge of the world. Try to surround yourself with people who are also passionate about your interests, your art. One must understand that learning is a lifelong process, that one doesn’t suddenly become a professional and fold up the learning tent. You understand and embrace the idea that learning is never ending. In fact, a thirst for knowledge is at the core of living a contented and satisfied life. And as you want to learn from others, you also want to help share your knowledge. I’ve met a few writers who seem to believe that they have the secret formula to writing good fiction and have decided that they will not be helping you by providing you the insights into what they have learned about writing. And that’s a shame. And I think a creative life means that you have confidence in yourself, in your beliefs, who you are, and what you believe to be the purpose of your life. I’m sure other people have different ideas about the creative life, but most of the aspects I’ve mentioned are certainly part of the creative lifestyle. As mentioned earlier, a creative life is important for everyone, from a soldier to a tech worker, from a painter to a business owner. The creative life helps everyone live a meaningful, successful, and satisfied life.
Ron Harris didn’t sit me down and teach me how to live a creative life. He was my 9th grade biology teacher in 1973 and one of my English teachers during my senior year at J.O. Johnson High School in Huntsville, Alabama. I also spent time with Ron in the late 70’s and early 80’s as a friend. What I learned from Ron was from observation. I had never met a person like Ron when I entered his biology classroom at the age of 14. He was very intelligent, very knowledgeable, very patient, and had a thirst for knowledge and a desire to help his students learn. He wasn’t there to just teach you, he wanted to help you learn. I found that fascinating. I remember taking class field trips on the mountain behind the school. Soon as the bell rung, we were out the door marching to the mountain so he could show us in person what was in the book, anything connected to the natural world. 9th graders are an unruly bunch, immature and not focused, but Ron never lost his temper, rather he pulled you in by showing you his amazement with the world. He would stop on the hike and explain about the moss, the lichens growing on trees and rocks, the different types of trees, the importance of death and decay to nature. I found the idea that a biology teacher could also teach English quite fascinating. How could that be? Didn’t make sense to my high school sensibility. Ron was also in charge of theatre productions for the school, including the Senior Escapes. In addition, he was also heavily involved in local theatre productions. I have a memory of walking into his office at Johnson as if I had walked into a foreign land. The office contained what you would think a biology, English, and theatre teacher’s office would contain, but for me at that age it was a creative wonderland. There were items from nature, interestingly shaped limbs, and I think the office contained an old hornets’ nest, maybe a stuffed animal or two, a few plants; from the theatre world there were props, costumes, and posters; and, of course, there were literary books, nature books, and theatre books. For my teenage mind, such a cornucopia of one man’s interests seemed strange and baffling.
Processing Ron’s creative life didn’t produce an eureka moment for me. While I was in high school, I never tried to write poetry or fiction. I didn’t suddenly want to be in theatre or be an actor (though I did participate in our Senior Escapes as a dentist based on the dentist from the movie Marathon Man). Nor did I wake up one day with a desire to become a biology teacher. The first few years after high school, Sam Bucy and I would visit Ron’s apartment every now and then. The dynamic of our relationship changed from teacher/student to friend. Sometimes other people would be there, sometimes just the three of us, and we would talk about Johnson High, current events, maybe watch Saturday Night Live, listen to music. I have seen Ron sporadically through the 49 years when we first met in that biology class, but the time of my life from 9th grade in 1973 until the first few years of attending college in the late 70’s and early 80’s was the time when Ron most impacted my life. Of course, those years of one’s life are extremely important in forming who you are and what you want to be. There is little doubt in my mind that what I learned from Ron Harris was what I observed: a creative life. I saw a man who was open to the world, who had a thirst for knowledge, who wanted to learn for the sake of learning, who held a child’s enthusiasm for life, who wanted to help you learn, help you see the joy in learning about the world. I remember sitting in Ron’s kitchen with Sam and asking Ron,” Why don’t you move to New York City? What are doing here? You are so creative, so talented, you should be in the New York theatre world.” He said, “James, I don’t want to go up there and fight in that world. I’m very happy where I am.” At that moment, I didn’t understand his perspective, but I soon learned the wisdom of his words. I taught English for 30 years and have been writing fiction for 37 years; most of those decisions can be traced back to what I observed in the creative lifestyle of Ron Harris.
The South I
I titled this blog post South I because I’m sure I will write about the South many times, lots of ground to cover. The first question that comes to mind about the South is, “Why is all my fiction set in the South?” The obvious answer is that I’m from the South, so I know the South. I was born in southeast Alabama, spent my elementary school years in central Alabama, middle school and high school years in north central Alabama, undergrad years in west central Alabama, and graduate school years in east central Alabama. Growing up, all my relatives lived in Alabama, my grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins. The South flows in my veins. I have a fairly good understanding of the Southern culture.
I know and love Southern food. My mom and Mee-maw (my maternal grandmother) were excellent Southern cooks. I was raised on fried chicken, chuck roasts, meatloaf, cream corn, green beans, fried cornbread, ladyfinger peas, fried okra, squash casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, sliced tomatoes, scalloped potatoes, fried eggplant, eggplant casserole, green onions, chicken and dumplings, hamburgers and hotdogs, grits, country sausage, homemade biscuits, fried catfish, fried porkchops, coleslaw, macaroni and cheese, pinto beans, fried potatoes, garden salad, chicken fried steak, grilled steak, baked potatoes, red beans and rice, black-eyed peas, butterbeans, barbeque chicken, and deviled eggs.
Family is very important for Southerners. I grew up feeling loved and supported by everyone in my family, siblings, parents, grandparents, just all the way down the line. I know all cultures value family; it’s a central part of the human condition, how we hold our societies together. I just know that most Southerners place a huge emphasis on family, the family structure. In the same light, Southerners possess a strong belief in being Southern. The old line that you should write what you know is true. I write stories set in the South because I have a good understanding of the South, which doesn’t mean that all Southerners will agree with my depiction of the South. I’m sure there will be times when the reader will think that a scene, some dialog, characterizations, or actions will ring true, that I got it right, but other times the reader will think I missed by a mile, that there is no way that person would say that, would do that. The details are off, the tone isn’t close to being Southern. I would argue that is the beauty of fiction, of literature, that if it’s any good then there will be different valid interpretations.
I do know that I would find setting a story in New York or Seattle or Sidney or Paris very difficult to pull off, to make it ring true. I would have to spend time there, talk to people who live there or are from there, read about the area in order to make the story ring true. Such an effort can be done, and done well, but the task would involve lots of work, lots of learning. A similar question is can a man write from a woman’s perspective and vice versa? Can a white man write from a Black woman’s point of view? Can a cisgender person write convincingly from a gay person’s point of view? Yes, of course, but to do it well, to make it ring true would require lots of work, lots of learning, a full openness to different perspectives. There are lots of different ideas to explore concerning the difficulty of this writer’s task, so I’ll save this discussion for another day. However, to bring the discussion back to why I set my stories in the South, it’s because I’m from the South, I know the South. Perhaps more importantly, if a writer can make the characters and story ring true, then the writer can make the characters and story ring universal. Any reader from anywhere in the world will be able to connect with the character and the story. For example, in Franz Kafka’s short novel The Metamorphosis, the main character, Gregor Samsa, can be interpreted as waking up as a cockroach, a beetle, a gigantic insect, or a “dung beetle” as his charwoman describes him. So how did Kafka make Gregor ring true if he is described as not even human? In fact, in a letter to his publisher Kafka prohibited images of Gregor, stating “the insect is not to be drawn.” The art, the beauty of The Metamorphosis is that Kafka can make the story ring true. We connect with Gregor’s sense of isolation, alienation, sacrifice, and the burden of responsibility. Gregor being described as an insect solidifies his sense of otherness. Kafka makes the reader connect with Gregor as a human being in order to make the story ring true. Doubling down on how Gregor sees himself actually helps the reader see Gregor in this light. Kafka makes the reader connect with Gregor’s sense of humanity.
How Did I Become a Writer?
I was a reader from a young age, just loved stories. Like lots of other people back in the 60’s and 70’s, the schools I attended used the SRA Reading Laboratory. You read a story, answered questions, then checked your answers. As you improved you moved up in color levels. I think I made it up to Aqua, maybe Blue? I even loved when the teachers would read to the class. I also have memories of listening to stories on albums. As I grew older my interests focused on sports, so lots of what I read were sports related. I read Sports Illustrated religiously. I remember reading books about Jerry Kramer, Bart Starr, Joe Namath, Bear Bryant, and Hank Aaron. I didn’t start reading novels until the late 70’s and early 80’s. Writing fiction never crossed my mind, ever, until I read John Irving’s novel The World According to Garp in the early 80’s. That book changed my life. I found that book so creative, so inventive, so incredibly funny. Suddenly, I realized that you could write with this type of creativity with this type of humor about these types of subjects. To paraphrase Dickinson’s quote about recognizing poetry, that book made me feel as if the top of my head were taken off. The seed had been planted. The problem I faced was that my writing skills were terrible. I had a business degree and was working in the defense contractor industry. I knew even at that stage being able to write fiction others would want to read would involve a very long journey. In 1985 at the age of 26 while living in San Diego and working for General Dynamics, my wife and I made an insane decision: we would move back across the country to attend Auburn University. She would study horticulture and I would study English. I gave myself what I thought was a very reasonable goal of publishing my first book of fiction by the time I was 40. I would learn that idea was delusional and naive. I’ll save my experiences at Auburn for another day, but the long road to becoming a writer began in 1985 at Auburn University.
Why Write a Blog?
That’s a damn good question. First, let me say that I don’t know how often I’ll post a piece. Whenever I feel like I have time to write and have something to say. I could post a few within a week or two. And I’m sure there will be times where weeks or months pass without a post. Now, why am I doing this? Who cares what I have to say? I would venture to guess not many. This is certainly not something I always wanted to do. The quick answer is writing a blog is a way to help draw people into reading my work. You can reach people on a personal level, so that they will want to follow what’s going on in your writing world, become interested in your perspectives. In short, they will want to buy your books. Fine. Sure. Okay, it’s a business, and the business is selling books. Thanks for reading this, see you next post. However, there must be more motivation for me to sit down and write ideas than the purpose of doing something to help sell copies of my books. Yes, Col. Parker would laugh and say, “You’re a naive fool.”
I’ll fall back on the idea I always told my students, “You write to learn what you think.” Yes, one needs to learn basic writing skills to convey one’s thoughts effectively and clearly on paper (or screen). Yet, when you take ideas from your head and convey them in the written form you use a different mental process than the process of just thinking about the ideas. Processing ideas into language so that other human beings can understand your thoughts makes you think longer and deeper about your ideas, which in turn gives you a better understanding about your thoughts. For many fiction writers, including me, we don’t know what the story is about until we write the story. We write a creative draft or a blind draft. I know many writers who plot out the story and have an ending before they begin the story. That works for them. Many of these writers say, “How can I write a story if I don’t know where it’s going?” Fair enough. Good for you. Similarly, most people should create an outline before they write an essay so that they will not waste their time fumbling around trying to organize their thoughts on paper. I remember a master class taught by the writer Julianna Baggott that touched on this very point. She stated she had to plot out a story or novel before she sat down to write it, but she admitted that she was also open to digressions and sudden subplots, opportunities for new avenues in the story. One way to look at it is that you are building a road to follow for the story, but you are not paving it yet. It’s always under construction.
This mental process is connected to the pull of curiosity, the desire to learn what you and others think. Part of the enjoyment of teaching Freshman Comp for 30 years and Fiction Workshop for 25 years was reading the thoughts of other human beings. I’ll admit that evaluating hundreds of pages of essays and stories in a sitting would wear me down. Nevertheless, I always found the written thoughts of other human beings very interesting. True, some of these thoughts were much more interesting than others. And I’m sure that the written thoughts were much more interesting the first five years of teaching than the written thoughts of students from the last five years of my teaching career. Are you still with me? Are you asking, “Where are you going with this?” The point, I think, is that writing these thoughts will be interesting for me, that I’ll clarify some ideas for myself. I’ll learn some things. Hopefully. Maybe a couple of people will find these thoughts interesting, thus will want to buy my books and read my fiction. Good. Maybe a few sales will convince a publisher to publish my next novel. Even better. This reminds me of a question a workshop student asked me a few years ago, “Why would someone want to read a story I’ve written?” That’s not the question you should ask yourself. It’s just not answerable. Art is too subjective for such an idea. Some people will find what you write interesting and intriguing, but others will find it boring and dreadful. The question one should ask is why are you sitting down to write the story? If you don’t find it interesting, then no one else will.