Jonathan's comments (member since Oct 07, 2008)

Jonathan's comments from the All About Lulu group.

Douglas wrote: "What is your pre-writing process? What inspires you and brings the basic idea of a story into your head, and then what steps (outlining etc.) do you take to craft it into a full fledged work? "

. . . ahoy, douglas, it varies from project to project, but more often than not i start with a character or a character dynamic . . . i've likened my outlines to scaffolds . . . they sort of grow along with the story . . . i usually have a good idea in what direction my story is taking me-- it's just that i arrive at beeter and more efficient ways to get there than my outline has allowed me . . .so then i rewrite the outline . . there is also a lot of reverse engineering as i discover the story . . . MOST of my writing process consists of "re-writing" although technically much of my "re-writing" involves composition . . . once i've got the basics of a scene written, i re-inhabit that scene day after day like a theater set, until i'm totally at home in it, and can fully grasp the nuances and tiny details . . . as for what inspires me-- the act of writing itself . . . i love it, man, just love it . . .it's even better than dreaming for me . . .

. . . well, that's good! . . . i wanted an ending that had that lingering atmosphere, rather than an ending that stopped you cold in your tracks . . . take away speculation and you take a way a lot from what is a collaborative relationship between reader and writer . . .

. . .just a funny little aside: my profile avatar with the rainbow and the unicorn (created by my friend and fellow fictionphile patrick gulke) was inspired by the fact that i did for awhile have a number of 'cyber-stalkers' leaving rainbows and unicorns daily on my comments page at myspace . . .unicorns of every variety and for every conceivable occasion: happy thursday! happy st. abernathy's day!

. . . totally . . . will engenders in lulu the same sense of belonging that lulu engenders in will . . . pushing will away is torture for her . . .

Chris wrote: "Hi, JE. I'm mixed on the ending, but I think it fits with the rest of the novel. You play with the reader's expectations with the opening sentence--referencing the whole David Copperfield crap an..."

. . . i like endings that FEEL resolved because the story has hit upon some truth, not endings that necessarily resolve every facet of the story . . . i guess i want my characters to live on, so in the case of lulu, i wanted to hint at some possibilities without revealing too much . . . it has been noted that the penultimate ending of lulu happens in the bedroom before the p.s., and this is true in terms of resolving the roles of lulu and will in relation to one another, but what next, you know? how will they deal with these new roles? what will it be like with future lovers? . . . i want the reader to wonder these things . . . if my ending is like a cul-de-sac, i'm not sure that they will . . . i began the novel from a reflective point of view for the same reason, so it felt natural to return to that pov, rather than end in the immediate environment of the bedroom . . .

Michele wrote: "SPOILERS -----------------

What made Lulu so troubled - that her dad was denying her existence, that she was in love with her brother or that the weight of his obsession was too much for her consc..."

. . . even before will and big bill, i hint that lulu was chemically strung on the manic side (which is why she responds like a manic to the prozac later on in the early 90s. . . on top of that, all of the above things you mentioned were also working on her roughly in equal measure, along with a healthy dose of adolesence angst, and powerlessness, further enhanced by a lot of drinking and dabbling in substances . . .

. . . there's been a lot of debate about the P.S. at the end of lulu . . . it agrees with most people (myself included), but some people can't stand it . . . i have my reasons for it, but i'd love to hear what you think . . .

Callikia wrote: "Okay, okay...I have a question. I'm getting ready to finish up my junior year of my undergrad degree and debating over starting grad school immediately or taking off a year...so I'm wondering this..."

. . .like will, i was a philosophy major . . .unlike will, i didn't graduate . . .i've had no formal education in writing . . .in fact, i've taught more workshops than i've attended . . . i learned by reading voraciously and by reflecting upon what i read . . . my old man read me dickens as a kid, and he gave me k.v. jr.'s breakfast of champions when i was nine . . .none of this is to say that i don't think graduate writing programs rule-- peer feedback can be an incredible resource-- although, be warned, it can also lead to the perils of narrative decision by proxy, sameness, safeness, etc . . . it's all relative . . .also, i think its important for graduate writing students to really embrace and experience things beyond academia while they're in training . . . for me, the stories were never in the classroom . . . on the other hand, i'll bet my learning curve in terms of narrative structure and so forth was slower than a lot of writers coming out of good graduate programs . . .at any rate, congrats!

Kerry wrote: "*****SPOILERS*****
Ok Johnny, as you say above, "it is never known for certain whose baby lulu is carrying" but as the author did you make a decision for yourself whose baby it is? You don't have..."

Callikia wrote: "Okay, okay...I have a question. I'm getting ready to finish up my junior year of my undergrad degree and debating over starting grad school immediately or taking off a year...so I'm wondering this..."

.. . hi kerry, indeed, i did make that decision (my lips are sealed!), along with a lot of other decisions beyond the scope of the narrative-- such as where will and lulu end up in their 30s (again, my lips are sealed) . . . i find that i need to know everything about a character in order to comfortable inhabit them . . .

. . . hi kerry, indeed, i did make that decision (my lips are sealed!), along with a lot of other decisions beyond the scope of the narrative-- such as where will and lulu end up in their 30s (again, my lips are sealed) . . . i find that i need to know everything about a character in order to comfortable inhabit them . . .

. . .okay, so i guess this'll be the random question thread . . . if somebody has a specific topic, go ahead and start a discussion thread . . .

. . . i've only driven through west texas, but i love the southwestern landscape, and i grew up star gazing in the mojave desert, so i can appreciate the starry sky part . . . i dig austin . . .

. . . island living is not for everybody, but i love it . . . i'm only a half hour ferry ride from landing smack dab in the middle of downtown seattle, and yet there are 140 wooded acres right out my back door, cut through with trails (some of which i made myself) . . . i even have a little office out in the woods, where i sometimes work in the summers . . .it's about fifty yards from a coyote den, and yet i never actually see the stealthy little fuckers . . . i just hear them cackling to beat the band and howling . . . the other nice thing is that i have roots in this town, having lived here for half my childood, so a stroll through town for me is like barney fife walking through
mayberry . . . and they all buy my book! i've probably sold more copies of lulu on this island than i have in say, philedelphia . . .

. . .ahoy, dennis, i decided to write west of here for the very reason that it was ambitious . . . i'd just finished a debut "voice" novel which had been well received, and i felt i owed it to my readers to evolve, rather than play it safe . . .i never want one of my books to overshadow another, thus, i plan on continuing to push myself to new places . . . the most difficult part of writing WOH was juggling dozens of limited points of view, and creating a web of connectivity sufficient to allow me to move fluidly between these points of view, some of which are a hundred and fifty years apart, and some of which are essentially in another dimension altogether, half of them male, half of them female, some of them indian, some of them white, some of them black, one of which belongs to colonel sanders, and another to an indian prophet, and another to a dying mule, and another to gass-huffing teenager, and another to a arctic explorer, and another to a chinese frontier doctor, and another to an amateur cryptozoologist, etc, etc, . . .

. . .the next difficult thing was achieving a convergence with all of these potentially divergent arcs . . .particulary difficult in light of the fact that they were seperated in many cases by a hundred-odd years . . .

. . .the third difficult thing was to try and make what could easily read like an experiment, read like a jack london novel on steroids. . .

. . . i could go on all day about how i wrestled with this fucker, but i'm grateful for it, i learned so much, i feel like i developed whole new sets of tools in writing west of here, and i'm now excited to take these tools into new frontiers . . .

. . .i'm on bainbridge island-- a ferry ride from seattle . . .

hey chason, yeah, i gotta' drive thirty miles to get decent care for my bunnies . . .believe it or not, most vets consider them "exotics" and won't treat them . . .i found one vet closer and they were terrible . . .thanks for the offer--what a great resource!

. . . i've been somewhat distant since spring because of my workload, travel, etc, so now that i've finished west of here (or at least set it aside), and i've got the time for a life again, i thought i'd play a little catch-up, here . . . this promises to be a big sprawling, potentially dull preamble to nothing, where it ought to be a dazzling picaresque, full of unicorns and jello shots, but writing-wise, i feel a bit used up at the moment . . . already consumed and occupied by the commercial fate of lulu these past six months, i've also been wrestling west of here to the mat every morning, noon, and night, which has been at turns exhilarating and grueling . . .i've never worked half as hard on a book, either on a sentence level, or an orginizational level, than i have on this one . . . but i believe hard writing makes easy reading, so let's hope i'm in good shape . . . my new bitchin' avatar, by the way, was made by my gentle friend and fellow fictionphile patrick . . .on good days--say when i'm camping at fort flaggler, and i've just finished a ten mile hike, and i've got a couple beers in me, and some burgers on the grill--i feel exactly like that avatar looks . . . that's about half the time, actually . . . you gotta' love the literary life, baby . . .i'm broke as fuck, but man, have i got freedom . . .prepping my taxes today, i gathered all my campground receipts for this year, and there were thirty-one of them, for a total of fifty-six days camping this year (and i was touring better than half the summer, so i didn't even camp during high season). . .i spent freaking two months camping this year! and i'm not even homeless (yet)! . . . . . . so, i've got that going for me . . . and the old dorkapallooza ('76 dodge sportsman with orange swivel chairs and lush shag) just keeps rolling along . . . that thing has changed my life . . .
. . .so, the bunnies are well . . .mcbunnyland has been winterized for the year . . . foot foot is still a bit of an outcast (she being the only non-sibling relation), but they accept her when you get down to it. . . though i care for them tirelessly, i haven't been able to spend as much QT with my little lovelies in recent months, but that's gonna' change tomorrow . . .the cuddle shop is open tomorrow! . . .
. . . the dogs are well, too . . .sparky looks like oscar the grouch at this point, and in is badly in need of grooming . . .dave humps EVERYTHING . . . he's been mounting lauren, lately . . .lucky bastard . . .little snapper is now well over fifteen years old, and is still in great shape . . .he's slowing down a little, but he's still more than capable of hiking ten miles, as he did out on marrowstone island a couple weeks back . . . i told you this would be a dull post-- shouldn't you be doing something? making a sandwich or something?
. . . what else . . . been reading lots and lots, since i've got more free time . . . about half the stuff i'm reading is dead white dudes (messrs. stegner, elkin, berryman, yates), and half contemporary women (miraim gershow, maria semple, lydia millet) . . . it's funny, but i'm a little restless not having a book to work on . . . i've already got about twenty pages of notes on my next book, which will be called the revised fundamentals of caregiving . . . i wrote a story by the same title, which is somewhat related, and another story called my good side, which is also loosely related to the novel i'm conceiving . . . i've got a good handle on the themes, characters, and arc, but i'm still trying to decide how to approach it; whether to return to a first person voice novel (from which west of here was a big departure), or to use multiple fluid limited POVs, or else to use multiple first person narratives . . . that's what i'm ruminating on in recent days as i'm walking through the woods, or staring at the ceiling . . . christ, are you still reading this? really, shouldn't you be watching divine design with candace olson? or knitting a hat, or something? . . .
. . . the news on lulu is good, she was the only indie title to make hudson's best of '08 list, which means even more amazing coverage in four hundred airport stores her in america . . . the foreign rights sold at auction in both germany and italy, and sold well in brazil and switzerland . . .the euro is on my side, but lordy, the calendar is not! . . . debut writers, let me demystify something for you: it takes literally FOREVER to get paid . . .whole valleys have been carved to dust and detritus in the time it has taken me to see a royalty statement (the first one earned me out, but not much else, and the next one is not due until fucking april, but i'll tell you one thing, when i cash that fucker i'm going to fiji or some shit, and sit my ass in chair) . . . on the film front, crossroads is still out to directors for the film, and i'm really excited about some of the people who are interested, although, alas, i can't say who, because, well, i might screw something up . . .i also optioned an earlier novel, welcome avenue, to actor/producer joseph cross, who is determined to make it his next project! . . .he just produced a film called son of mourning which comes out next year . . .
. . . so, that's about it for now . . . hope everybody is having a great fall, and best to you and yours come turkey day!

*****SPOILER WARNING*****

. . .it is never known for certain whose baby lulu is carrying . . .troy, of course, assumes it is his, while william is totally convinced that he was there at the moment of conception-- though william never tells troy (or anyone else) this, letting troy bear the burden of guilt alone (something william is not proud of) . . .lulu cannot be sure, but dreads either possibility . . .

. . . if anyone has any specific lulu or writing related questions, please do not hesitate to ask . . . i'll check in here at least every other day, and welcome the discourse . . .cheers, je

. . .yeah, i totally grew up around gyms-- in fact, my old man was a competitve bodybuilder and owned a gym called the strength and physique lab . . . i spent time gold's and world gym as a kid in l.a., as well, so i'm quite familiar with the training regimens, etc . . . one of the main reasons i chose bodybuilding was because it's such an apt metaphor for the sort of narrowly focused self-improvement that can have monsterous results . . .