Ask the Author: Paul W. Cohen
Answered Questions (10)
Paul W. Cohen
"Actually, we did find him," she said, "right after you fell and broke your leg. I covered you with leaves so he wouldn't find you and ran through the woods screaming for help."
Paul W. Cohen
I try to write as a routine rather than an inspiration. The inspiration generally comes once I've been sitting for at least an hour at the desk. It's hard to come by in the early stages of a novel. In the latter stages, or in revision, inspiration is easier to come by. Sometimes all I want to do is sit down and work. Sometimes it's the last thing I want to do. That's why I need a routine.
Paul W. Cohen
Stay the course. Don't depend on your art for money. Write what excites you. Stay alert for helpers.
Paul W. Cohen
I'd go back to the world of A.B. Guthrie's novel THE BIG SKY, which captivated me in high school. It's set in the early-mid 19th century in the Rocky Mountain region, a time when Native Americans still ruled this territory and liberty and beauty were synonymous. Before barbed wire the shackle of consumerism. What would I do? Wander.
Paul W. Cohen
The Evening Road, by Laird Hunt; A Farewell to Arms by Hemingway (again); LaRose by Louise Erdrich; Contenders by Erika Krouse; Lord Jim by Josheph Conrad (again); A Small Revolution by Jimin Han
Paul W. Cohen
In my twenties I lived outside in Wyoming, worked crappy jobs like lawn boy and ranch grunt, and climbed all the peaks in the Tetons. I also lived and worked in Utah and Paris, France. After many years, I realized a similar, frightening presence united all these places in my memory. The presence was not defined, but the feeling it expressed was. So I wrote the novel to define that presence. Its name is Benny, and the book is called, The Sleeping Indian.
Paul W. Cohen
I am currently working on energizing and tightening the plot connections in my new novel. Plot, on a basic level, is math, and math was never my best subject, much less tricky math like Algebra. So I'm reading good thrillers and trying to learn from them, and going into my book and soldering connections.
Paul W. Cohen
The best thing is the feeling of wholeness I get when standing up from a good session. All my anxious striving is temporarily quieted, and I feel like I've accomplished something that's worth everything.
Paul W. Cohen
I give myself an assignment to write as badly as possible. The worse, the better. Kind of like the Bad Hemingway contest, only with longer sentences.
Paul W. Cohen
Nathan and Sophie in William Styron's novel SOPHIE'S CHOICE, because their love for one another is irresistible at the same time that it is infused with, and doomed by, epic forces that transcend oceans and generations. Plus, Styron's use of historical references and scenes in that book emboldened me to integrate the heroic and tragic story of the 19th century Plains Indian Wars into THE GLAMSHACK.
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