The Next Best Book Club discussion

Hi Alan -

Can you talk more about writing the story Fort Apache? It's one of my favorites in VOLT. You already answered my question regarding who Walt is - but is there anything more you can tell us about the other characters(if there's anything to tell)?

Hi Alan and all,

I feel like I'm late to the party and there is so much amazing stuff going on here, I hate to skim over any of it.

I am a little more than halfway through Volt and have found the stories so far to be both incredible and also incredibly dark. Someone above said you need to ask the Coen Brothers to direct a film adaptation of "Peacekeeper." I was thinking something very similar while I was reading "The Staying Freight." In fact, all of the stories I have read in the collection so far have struck me as very cinematic, not only in references (Roy Rodgers, Fort Apache) and settings (Fort Apache also reminded me of Larry McMurtry The Last Picture Show), but in their pacing and the way they build tension. Do you see your writing as influenced by film? What are some of your favorite films or film makers?

Also, I wanted to say that when you claimed that you hope to make your readers feel in one of the earlier posts, I would say you've succeeded: at least for this reader. The stories are deeply emotionally affecting, and even in their softer moments, they carry a sense of darkness impending. I'm reading them right after Daniel Woodrell, and I think that's why my pace has been slow. I feel overwhelmed by them, which I mean as a great compliment.

Best wishes,

Laura

Alan, your family sounds amazing. You're a lucky man to have such close, supportive kin. And those family stories are definitely, for lack of a better word, intense. The fact that peace is fragile, and therefore precious, is an ever-present reminder in your fiction, and in life, really. Have you ever written any nonfiction? If not, why not? (Personally, I love both genres as a reader but vastly prefer fiction as a writer.)

Also, I totally agree with others above re: asking the Coen Brothers to direct a film adaptation of Peacekeeper. I would LOVE to see that.

Tara,

I'm so glad you dig "Fort Apache", as it hold a special place in my heart. What to say about that story?

First off, let me announce that this story is being made into a film. We've signed off on giving a young filmmaker and recent grad of NYU film school the rights to take a crack at it. He said he's filming it in black and white, a la Coppola's Rumble Fish and Haneke's White Ribbon (two of my favorites), which put a big smile on my face. He said he'd like to have it finished by the end of next summer to enter it the Sundance Film Fest. So...stay tuned.

The main point I was making with that story was something to do with the feeling of being "stuck", and also the futility of war. I see young Walt as feeling stuck in this place, in this life, and he buys into the destruction proposed by his older brother and Hep. With Hep and Lonnie I see two guys who've already become cynical about the world.

So...I snuck this idea in through a side door. I imagined Lonnie and Hep saw the hypocrisy of the place, were already angry and cynical, already looking for an excuse to be destructive, and so they burned down the lounge. I don't see them as having a fully formed philosophy (not as clearly formed as the author's philosophies), but a general sense that the world was messed up to the point they felt compelled into destruction. Conceptually, I thought of them as terrorists. The bowling ball stuff was delivered as senseless and destructive fun, but I intentionally worked in, where possible, imagery that might evoke war.

Ultimately, though, I believe story only succeeds at the human level, and I had to allow all this "meaning" to take a back seat to the truth of how Walt, moment by moment, was understand and misunderstand the world, how he felt and thought and imagined. That's all that mattered. When it comes down to choosing between having a reader FEEL the story or THINK about the story, I'll choose FEEL every time. It doesn't matter to me if the thematic stuff comes through. I matters only that a reader was connected to an empathetic experience that felt true and potent.

Thanks much for the question!!!! Best to you.

-AL

Laura and Dawn,

I have to go do a bunch of family stuff today (it's Saturday), but I promise to get to your questions about film and non-fiction first thing tomorrow (I've got some things to say on both).

Have a great day!!

-AL

Laura,

Am I influenced by film?

I'm heavily influenced by film. I think I'm supposed to apologize for that, but I don't. I've kept a movie log for the past sixteen years and, as of today, have watched 3191 films. There are a few filmmakers who've influenced my writing more than most books, and would slide onto the influences list right behind McCarthy.

Ingmar Bergman is a huge influence. His films are thrilling in the way they look (the stark beauty), but also because he is absolutely unsparing. His characters are profoundly real and raw and filled with genuine joy and genuine despair. There's a scene in his film Virgin Spring, where the actor Max Von Sydow is preparing himself to confront two men he knows murdered his daughter. He goes out to this young tree to get some branches for a ritual (preparing himself for battle), but is so overcome by grief and anger that he attacks the tree, takes the whole tree to the ground. I remember watching that scene and just trembling. I couldn't stop thinking about it. It's as much a real experience in my life as things that have actually happened to me. After watching the scene, I paused the movie, grabbed a sheet a paper, and immediately began to write the scene as if it were fiction.

How could I capture such fury, such pain, such beauty, in the written word? On a regular basis I challenge myself to take a great scene from a film and write it out as fiction. It's a part of my process now. In this manner, I've transcribed Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Michaelangelo Antonioni, Michael Mann, Paul Thomas Anderson, both Kurosawas, to name a few of my favorites.

The life of a writer, at least the way I live, is the fervid and ongoing search for new influences. I'm constantly chasing the dragon of the likewise high I got from seeing Max Von Sydow throttle a little tree. Film is a huge part of my ongoing development as a writer and storyteller.

Thanks for the question!!! Hope all is well.

-AL

Dawn,

Have I ever written non-fiction?

I've been asked this often, and have had the opportunity to write a few non-fiction pieces in the past year or so. I much prefer fiction, of taking the content of my life and putting those feelings and insights into someone who is not me, and into an order that is a story. Fiction gives me a way to investigate myself that feels safe. If I was just writing about myself, I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to find as much beyond what I already know. Non-fiction scares me a little. I'm even squirming a little bit just writing about non-fiction (ha). It feels like I'm talking about people behind their back (even if that person is only me).

That said, there was something liberating in writing a couple of the pieces, in that I got to study my own life in the context of understanding something else. For example, a friend of mine made a great movie, Bravo: Common Men, Uncommon Valor, where 15 men recounted their time in the battle of Khe Sahn during the Vietnam war. I found out that these men had never talked about the war. 45 years of silence. I found that silence really interesting, and was inspired to think about why people repress their own stories, and in thinking about that discovered something about myself. I'll post a link to the essay.

So...I've been approached about writing about my family history, about my experiences growing up in Hazel Crest, and tentatively have planned writing a journalistic piece where I'll be embedded with professional ghost hunters while they investigate an old defunct asylum (yikes!). BUT...fiction is my love, my passion, so I've no grand plan to write book-length non-fiction.

Never say never, though....

Thanks much for the question. Be well!!

-AL

PS: Here's the link to the essay I wrote (as mentioned above):

http://bravotheproject.com/tag/volt/

Alan shared this short story he wrote via Twitter this morning, so I wanted to share it with you.

http://www.fivechapters.com/2011/the-...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

As we wrap up our discussion with Alan, are there any last minute questions you want to ask?

Alan, I wanted to thank you so much for hanging here this month. It was so cool to see what sort of questions everyone had for you, and to see the reactions towards your book. So incredibly happy to a part of it all.

And hey, how cool was it that we got to meet face to face at the Brooklyn Book Fest? You rock, sir!

It was an honor, and a lot of fun, to hang with you all on TNBBC! Thanks for having me Lori, and thanks to everyone who dropped by for the discussion. Cheers to a wonderful holiday season!

Lori--it was great to meet you in Brooklyn, and I hope our paths cross again soon. You do a wonderful service to the world of words. Thanks for all your passion and hard work.

On that note, if any of you see me reading somewhere close to your neighborhood, please come on by and say hey.

May the VOLT always strike for the good! Best to you!!

-AL

Thank you, Alan. I loved reading this discussion!

Thanks especially for your eloquent answer to the question about violence in your work. You've given me a lot to mull over and ponder.

If you're ever looking for some good history reading, I highly recommend Karl Jacoby's Shadows at Dawn: A Borderlands Massacre and the Violence of History. It's a really profound and layered history of the 1871 Camp Grant massacre. In the conclusion, Jacoby addresses why on earth someone should study the Camp Grant massacre and other horrific events in history. He says, "Until we recognize our shared capacity for inhumanity, how can we ever hope to tell stories of our mutual humanity?" That line has stuck with me ever since.

I finished reading the stories in VOLT the other night and wow: there are still VOLT images burned into my brain several days later. I love how the title guides the descriptors (Anthony Doerr and) I want to use to describe VOLT: "electrifying" (AD), sizzling, searing, and so on and so on.

Thank you again! If you ever find your way to Haines, Alaska, I'll be sure to say hello!

Cheers,
Janine

Thanks for the fabulous discussion Alan, Lori, and everyone. Sorry to pop in and so infrequently. I absolutely loved the book and I'm honored to have been a little part of the conversation. Now I'm off to read The Founding. Thanks for linking, Lori.

Sorry to pop in and out so infrequently*