An Interview with John Kessel

[marshallpayne1]

Comments

[birdhousefrog]

Well, I would certainly have to agree with John (Dr. Kessel) about Clarion and about what it tries to do and about how hard it is for some of us to figure it out. It can take years. That second paragraph about being individual but still reaching an audience pretty much matches what I've struggled with over the years since Clarion as well. I can remember being confused about it at Clarion, about how the paragraphs I wrote came together to make a story that was properly rounded, not a bunch of vignettes. I worked on my best Clarion story for more than 10 years, with various gaps for other work or other life events. I just couldn't figure out that final jump.

Some folks are natural storytellers. I'm not. At least, not to a wider audience than to myself.

Oz

[marshallpayne1]

I'm glad you brought this up, Oz. I was thinking that next week, after everyone is past Thanksgiving weekend, I might make a blog post about this so writers here could share their experiences. I had trouble with this too. My first story was a real story because I had a story I wanted to tell, but after that I got "ideas." SF ideas! And that led to a series of bewildered protags wandering about the fictional landscape looking at my "ideas." Took me awhile to overcome that. So I think John really hit on something important with his answer.

[jongibbs]

Nice interview. I've a feeling he won't have too much problem finding a home for those two stories :)

[marshallpayne1]

Thanks for reading, Jon!

[birdhousefrog]

Actually, there's a rumor that magazines fold after accepting one of his stories! Happened to two of 'em. Maybe editors are superstitious.

[jongibbs]

Oh hello :) You moderated a panel I watched at PhilCon on Saturday morning. It was about writing groups. My friend Gary Frank, from the Garden State Horror Writers was on the panel too.

[asakiyume]

Wow, this has really, really, REALLY made me want to read Pride and Prometheus. Curse my long To-Be-Read list! I might have to move this right up to the top. How cool!

And what an interesting person John seems to be! I loved this interview; it was just great. Thanks very much, Marshall.

[marshallpayne1]

Thanks, Francesca! Glad you enjoyed it.

Yes, I really enjoyed John's "Pride and Prometheus." I've read Austen's Pride and Prejudice twice and was instantly struck with how well he blended her style into something of his own. It really leaps off the page. It's in this collection, along with several other of John's fine stories, for those who are interested.

http://www.amazon.com/Baum-Plan-Financial-Independence-Stories/dp/193152050X

[asakiyume]

A purchase isn't the offing at this point (empty wallet...) but I've already put in an order through interlibrary loan to get it from a nearby library. I can't wait. I think it's fascinating what he says about the two works (Frankenstein and Pride and Prejudice).

[marshallpayne1]

Coolness! :D

[marshallpayne1]

Yes, John has this clever way of opening up the discussion, doesn't he? Great stuff!

This was probably the hardest thing for me to learn as a writer, how to take the stories in my head and put them into a structure that others could follow and identify with.

Me too. Short stories are especially tricky as the writer has so little space to do so much.

Thanks for your thoughts, Jaime!

[asakiyume]

how to take the stories in my head and put them into a structure that others could follow and identify with. --me three on that :-)

[justin_pilon]

Learning what makes a story different from a collection of paragraphs, scenes, vigorous but not-meaningful action. You can write, even sell, a lot of fiction without grasping what makes a good story.

This segment particualrly stuck out to me as well. And it's popped back into my head over the last few days. Thanks for the interview, Marshall!

[isaiah13]

Hard to picture Austen and Shelley on the bookshelf together. :-) Great interview, Marshall!

[marshallpayne1]

Thanks for reading, Kurt!