When you were
12 years old, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be
the newsreader on TV. That guy really seemed to have his shit together.
What's your
daily writing regiment?
I roll out of
bed about 7:15am. I iron my wife's clothes for the day (she's a school
teacher), because yes, I am just that sensitive. Then I go into my
study and start writing. I stop when the words do, or when I start
to feel faint from hunger, both of which usually happen around 11
o'clock. Sometimes I write in the afternoon, but more often I do all
my creative stuff for the day before noon.
Do you outline
before or during your writing? While Syrup has a more evolving storyline,
Jennifer Government seems more structured. How are your story-telling
techniques evolving?
I start with an
initial idea, usually about a couple of characters and what they might
want to do, and go from there. I very rarely know what's going to
happen more than a couple of chapters in advance. That helps the story
from becoming too predictable, and, more importantly, keeps me guessing.
I can't think of anything more boring than planning out an entire
novel, then having to write it. As much as possible, I try to avoid
ending up pushing characters around like chess pieces, trying to get
them to hit particular plot points. I much prefer they take the lead.
It's funny that
Jennifer Government seems more structured. That's only because I rewrote
it so hard; those story threads didn't come together so neatly in
the first draft, I promise you that. This is the downside of not doing
outlines.
What has made
Syrup and Jennifer Government keepers as opposed to the other novels
that were shelved?
Mainly that they
were not crap. That's a big reason. Crap novels, onto the bonfire.
Good novels, I call my agent.
How did it
feel to finish Jennifer Government and yet have no publisher want
to publish it?
My SYRUP publisher
(Penguin Putnam) didn't want it; other publishers were much more receptive.
But yeah, it was pretty shocking. When I first got published, I felt
so pathetically grateful to everyone that helped me there that I swore
I would always stick by them, even if I became hugely famous and popular.
They were all so very nice. But they had to make a business decision,
and they made it. Tough for me, because I seriously thought my career
was over. And I'm very attached to my career. But it was a rough time
for Penguin Putnam financially. If I'd been in their shoes I might
have cut me, too.
Has Jennifer
Government been a success? By what standards? Do you think it will
help sell your next book?
Any novel that
allows me to keep doing this for a full-time job is a success to me.
Getting good reviews is nice, too. In terms of sales, yes, Jennifer
Government has done great. I get a stack of fan e-mail, which is just
brilliant.
I have a feeling
that the sales of novels tend to reflect the quality of the one before
them. If you like this one, you buy the next one; if you don't, you
won't. So very possibly Jennifer Government was just a reaction to
Syrup. But hopefully not. Hopefully my next one will get out there
and do even better.
Has NationStates
been a success? What the future plans for it? Did this evolve as a
game or a marketing ploy?
Oh yeah, very
much so. I created it as a game to hopefully attract 1,000 people,
and so far somewhere it's had around 400,000 players. I'm not exactly
sure what to do with it, since it has become such a big deal all by
itself -- many, many more people have played the game than read the
book -- but I'd like to do something.
The idea for NationStates.net
-- that you get to see what a country based on your idea of perfect
politics would look like, and play with it -- was one I'd had for
a while. And it tied in to the concept behind Jennifer
Government. But I probably wouldn't have ever coded it unless I could
justify that time and expense as a way to promote my novels.
Who do you
see as your peers, whether in story-telling or as a novelist? Any
authors that you model yourself after?
It really depends
on the novel. Two writers I adore, though, are Neal Stephenson and
Chuck Palahniuk.
Has being a
young author been an asset or a detriment to establishing your career?
I think it's an
asset on the promotional side. The media is definitely more interested
in talking to young authors. But as for the actual writing, I think
I'll be creating better novels with another ten or fifteen years'
experience. I sure hope so, anyway. If I'm not, I haven't been paying
attention.
Now that making
shit up is your profession, what do you do for fun?
The thing is,
though, making shit up is fun. I have that rare and amazing thing:
a fun job. But these days, when I'm not writing, I'm trying to maintain
NationStates.net. That thing is a real time sucker.
What's so bad
about being Australian?
There seem to
be an awful lot of us, wriggling our way into the bastions of American
culture. It started with Aussie actors, then came directors, now we're
all over the place. You can't take five steps in the US entertainment
industry without tripping over an Australian. So I apologize for being
yet another one.
Max.
