Knee-Jerk action, Part One - More Interview.

There is Knee-Jerk action, the first of two parts today, this part more interview with TBWCYL, Inc. favorite and This Podcast Will Change Your Life podcastee Brandon Will where we talk of many things, though mostly of You Can Make Him Like You, marriage, writing about Victorian ghosts and The Hold Steady.

It’s a hard line you balance, writing about things that would turn some people off because of its raw nature. Or in this day in age, perhaps, it’s a typical scenario, which many people like to dismiss, saying things like, “Hornby’s been there, done that. I’d rather read an experimental post-Internet, post-postmodern revisionist story about Victorian ghosts fucking in a Winnebago.” You have a style you’ve been honing since Lucky Man: rapid chapters, exploring classical themes of friendship, coming-of-age, and relationships through a pop-culturally saturated world. But does being active in the Internet writing community ever fuck with your mind, or do you have a steadfast place of creativity?

"Dude, you totally need to represent me or be my marketing rep or something. That is an awesome descriptor/question/something, and I really appreciate it. And I do hope I'm honing, and I do hope it’s raw, almost real time. And if it’s typical, that's cool with me. I'm drawn to that and will write it and keep searching for interesting angles and more readers. Ultimately, though, your question is awesomely loaded, though I may be reading too much, or too little, into it. What I think you're saying is that to participate in the indie lit Internet world is to not necessarily see this kind of writing, these kinds of themes, done in this way, and maybe that’s not what's more popular there. So does that mess with me, my writing, and what I do or hope to do? Which is not just loaded, but a terrific question. And I will say yes and no. Yes, because a meta-Victorian ghost fucking riff is not something I'm all that interested in reading or writing, though there are exceptions. Jill Summers has something sort of in that vein that is terrific, but that also means that there are places I will not get published or that even I submit to, or will submit to again, which is kind of a drag, and limits my options, which can be frustrating. All that doesn't impact the writing process, though, I can focus on what I want to do. It’s the in-between, the submitting marketing; thinking, obsessing, convulsive desire to get stuff out of my head and house that can feel bogged down when I pause to wonder where it might go. And when that happens I remind myself to never pause. No pause, Brandon."