What I hate about interviews is that there's always so much good stuff that gets cut for space reasons. For length reasons. For "please, Callie, this one better be brief" reasons. Which is difficult for me because I'm chatty. Difficult as well for writers because most of them are quite chatty too. Especially when talking about writing and their debut novel. I had the opportunity to interview Antoine Wilson a few weeks ago and the brevity version is now up at LAist.
Adding another level of complexity is the structure and mystery of Wilson's novel. While I asked many questions that pertained to his characters, the structure, the overall arc of the book, the ending - I realized in post-edit that I couldn't include any of these questions or responses because they would spoil the book for readers. A delicate balance. One I've tried to tread lightly, peaking interest, but not giving away too much.
Yet. Yet. There was so much good stuff left on the proverbial cutting room floor that I'll be including the less-brief bits here in the coming weeks. Especially after he's well into his book tour and the audience of readers has grown ever-wider, rendering the spoilers less spoilers and more interesting tidbits after the fact. Highlights will include: how much one should spend on an MFA, writerly wisdom from Frank Conroy, the difference between what we mean to do and what we actually do and more.
Giveaway: To kick-off Wilson's book tour, he'll be reading at Dutton's tonight, 7pm. I'll be giving away a copy of The Interloper to one lucky Counterbalance reader (and I now know there are more than three of you) who emails me today by 6pm. Your email, should you choose to be entered into the random drawing, should say:"I would like a copy of this darkly comic novel and your interview with Antoine Wilson has in no way spoiled the book for me." Emails can be sent to calliemiller AT yahoo DOT com. Please include your mailing address. Go on. You know you want to.
UPDATE: And the winner is...Becky Bame in Santa Clara, CA. Congratulations!
