Ask the Author: Ross Howell Jr.
Answered Questions (12)
Ross Howell Jr.
An orange-colored man with horrifically-styled hair and the best words ran for president of the United States. He won.
Ross Howell Jr.
Thomas Hardy's Wessex, the setting for "Far from the Madding Crowd," "The Return of the Native," "Tess of the d'Urbervilles," and "Jude the Obscure." I'd want to tend sheep, build haystacks, milk cows, gaze at a night sky brimming with fireflies and stars, as I did as a boy in the mountains of Virginia. And maybe there Hardy would whisper some secret to me about his mastery of landscape and character.
Ross Howell Jr.
Two books on my summer reading list are Lincoln in the Bardo: A Novel by George Saunders and Lost Battalions: The Great War and the Crisis of American Nationalism by Richard Slotkin.
Ross Howell Jr.
My father moved us all over the country, from the east coast to the west coast. When I was six years old, my mother decided she'd had enough and left him, moving us to her family's farm in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia. When I was nine years old, my father died. He was working at a hotel in Macon, Georgia. I've never know how he ended up there, or how he hit upon the different places we lived before I came to Virginia. Examining the mystery of those places, looking for some thread, might make for a novel.
Ross Howell Jr.
For many years I've been a Thomas Hardy fan, so I'd have to say that my favorite fictional couple are Gabriel Oak and Bathsheba Everdene in "Far From the Madding Crowd." I grew up on a farm in the mountains of Virginia, where we raised cattle, sheep, and pigs, so the setting of the novel in rural southwestern England was a world I recognized. Full disclosure: Alan Bates and Julie Christie playing the parts of the couple in the movie version of the tale raised my estimation of the characters even higher. I was in love with Christie, of course, as were many young men of my generation.
Ross Howell Jr.
When I'm working on a novel, the most inspiring thing when I sit down to write is to go back over what I've written the previous day, editing and rewriting. Somehow that makes it easier for me to start in on what's new. For short stories, often I start with a character in mind. I place the character in a scene, to see what might happen.
Ross Howell Jr.
Looking back, I'm grateful for the instruction I received in the forms of the short story and novel. Usually we were studying literary fiction forms, which makes perfect sense, because that way I was introduced to the great literature of the world. But students who aspire to writing would benefit, I believe, by also studying genre. What is your genre? That's one of the first questions a writer will be asked by an agent, publisher, or bookstore. In my case, it's historical fiction. Are there special demands in writing a thriller? A mystery? Science fiction? Had I been better prepared for organizing, managing, and filtering research, I believe I could have produced my first historical novel much more efficiently. I think we writers resist the idea of learning about genre, because we don't like the idea of being pigeonholed.
Ross Howell Jr.
That question I'd qualify just a little, and ask it this way: What the best thing about being a published writer? Once your work is available to readers, a dialogue opens up. People see things that may never have occurred to you as the writer. They find meaning in all sorts of beautiful ways, in spaces you'd nearly forgotten. They see aspects of character you've missed. The hard part about writing is that it's such lonely work. Once your work is out in the market, it's not so lonely an endeavor anymore.
Ross Howell Jr.
What helps me most is editing something I've written. That seems to get me in rhythm for something new. On days when I'm really struggling, I'll write something down, anything. The next day I go back to edit. Now, the best edit may be the delete key, but I'm going through my little process to get rolling.
Ross Howell Jr.
Five years ago I helped rescue a mixed-breed pit bull named Sam. No one would adopt him, so he's been a member of our family ever since. When I took him for walks, sometimes people would cross to the other side of the street to avoid him. I understand why. He was big and gaunt. He was badly scarred. His coat was thin. Now that he's healthy and fit, people sometimes come up to pet him, and comment how handsome he is. He's as gentle a creature as I've ever been around. My dog Sam's the inspiration for the pit bull in the novel. Lucky is the perfect metaphor for the society the narrator Charlie Mears faces and for what he longs for as a person.
Ross Howell Jr.
Currently I'm doing the research for an historical novel that will feature Charlie Mears, the narrator and protagonist of my first book, Forsaken. Charlie was the right age to be drafted into World War I, so I'll be taking him through that experience, and continuing his love story with the orphan girl, Harriet.
Ross Howell Jr.
The 1912 execution of the black girl Virginia Christian came up when I doing research about outlaws in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia where I grew up. As I learned more about "Virgie's" story, I knew I had to try to write a book about it.
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