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Jason Howell

Goodreads Author

Born

in The United States

Website

http://www.howlarium.com

Twitter

SeeThomasHowl

Genre

Fiction

Member Since

December 2014

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Sometime-writer whose work has appeared in The Sun, The Mental Illness Happy Hour, and several BART station dumpsters. Each week I send a question about life, work, doubt, or expectations to a range of writers and readers at Howlarium.com . ...more

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Hi Jason: Where did the idea for your story, Dirty Box of Pandora, come from? Was there some image that got the creative juices flowing? Or did you start with a theme/idea?

Jason Howell I was reading a lot of threads in relationship forums online at the time -- people discussing problems with their marriages, infidelity issues, sexual…moreI was reading a lot of threads in relationship forums online at the time -- people discussing problems with their marriages, infidelity issues, sexual issues, emotional affairs, grievances, and so on. It's actually extremely emotionally charged, naked writing -- folks reaching out to strangers anonymously in desperate states of confusion about the most intimate parts of their lives.

But the thing is, these people aren't natural writers (for the most part), so you wind up being moved by these stories made of ad hoc spelling, bent syntax, and all around non-eloquence, which I thought was pretty interesting.

So I wanted to take the discussion thread form and see if it could work for short fiction; but I also wanted to take the sort of sloppy everyday language I was seeing and exaggerate it -- see how jagged I could get it and still have the character's voice be emotive and transparent to something.

The opening line came out:

"Please excuse. Never before will I whine like this."

And the Yakov character just kind of grew from there.

Killer question Shelley. Hope that was some kind of an answer.(less)

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More a comment than a question: you recently raised the subject of literary vs commercial fiction. This is something I think about a lot. Might this short post be of interest? http://rosinalippi.com/weblog/literary-illusions/

Jason Howell More and more I've come to think of literary stuff as being out of sync with the rest of fiction in two ways:

1. Its proximity to poetry

and

2. its insis…moreMore and more I've come to think of literary stuff as being out of sync with the rest of fiction in two ways:

1. Its proximity to poetry

and

2. its insistence on not being interchangeable with other forms of storytelling, that is, it's careful to do in prose what can't be done better in movies, games, whathaveyou. The whole idea that the text isn't only a delivery system for a story, but a "thing in the world" with it's own formal integrity. The way a poem might be.

I guess I could combine 1 and 2 (heh, woops).

But then you notice that, in a way, this could be said about any book that hangs together well enough, in any genre. Which might be why I don't really consider "literary" a genre, more just what we call books that have these qualities turned way up on the dial.

So yeah, this stuff interests me too.

When it comes to literary stuff being alienating to most readers... I sort of see reading as being alienating on its own. Reading selects for people who're willing to do a certain amount of work to get their art/entertainment, since the difference between a reader and a listener or viewer is that readers don't just have to pay attention or interpret what they're paying attention to, they have to *perform.* So that eliminates a lot of people right off.

First you have to be literate, then you have to bring your own worldview and sensitivities to bear on the text, so the more developed you are as a person, the richer the reading experience. (Assuming the book is decent.)

I think what we call literary just takes all this and turns it way up, asks the reader to do even more, and what it asks is probably not going to be something the reader is prepared to deal with, which means the reader is going to have to stretch. So yeah, that's not everybody's bag. Too much like real life. Most people read to escape all that.

I guess where it does become just another genre is when the writers of it celebrate sophistication or learnedness for its own sake, and then inflict all that on the reader, dismissing any reader-who-doesn't-stick as being too dim or *too short to ride this ride.* You know, all that egotistical shit.

We could just replace "genre" with "for its own sake." Literary for literary's sake. Romance for romance's sake. Erotica for... and so on. Some readers & writers enjoy that kind of thing.

So maybe Amis was succumbing to some of that in his ideas there.

But then you have the Vonneguts, the John Greens, Margaret Atwoods, RR Martins, who are shelved in certain sections of the bookstore, but, in spirit, don't box themselves in that way (I don't know who that person would be in Historical. Maybe yourself? My GF, a good reader, is a fan of all your books).

I dunno. What do you think?

And thanks for reaching out, by the way. It's rare I'm asked to comment, so I went a little ham. Price of being known for my questions more than my answers, maybe. :)
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Jason Howell’s books

Average rating: 4.86 · 14 ratings · 10 reviews · 2 distinct works

	Dirty Box of Pandora it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 9 ratings — published 2015	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Cookie for Timmy 4.60 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2015	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Jason Howell's Blog

Smart vs. Accessible

Have you ever worried about your work not being "literary" or "smart" enough? What about "marketable" or "accessible" enough?

Are these necessary concerns or do you find them stifling? When concepts like "literary prowess" or "market appeal" start closing in, how do you work around or through them?
________________________________________

Eugenio Negro:
Yeah oddly enough I have gone through this cycle Read more of this blog post »

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Published on September 02, 2015 07:28 • Tags: brainstorming, cornelia-funke, jonathan-safran-foer, literary-fiction, mainstream-fiction, marketability, smart-writing, zadie-smith

Jason is Currently Reading

Jason Howell is currently reading

The Sellout

by Paul Beatty

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Jul 17, 2016 08:22AM

Jason Howell is currently reading

The King in the Tree: Three Novellas

by Steven Millhauser

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Jul 17, 2016 08:22AM

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Jason’s Recent Updates

Jason Howell is now friends with Shanitra Gardner
Jun 08, 2025 05:32AM · like
Debra answered Jason Howell's question: Hi Debra... I'm asking this question of several writers (some friends, some strangers).... Does small-talk come easily for you? If so, do you think the ability to fill silence in conversation informs your writing at all? If not, do you think being averse to small-talk has anything to do with your taking to the page? I love small talk. I'm an extrovert though, and could never understand introverts. They may be another species? Just kidding. Kind of. We will never understand each other though, and it's a barrier that is difficult to overcome.
Nov 18, 2024 01:40PM · 1 like · like

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Jason’s Quotes

“Some people—and I am one of them—hate happy ends. We feel cheated. Harm is the norm. Doom should not jam. The avalanche stopping in its tracks a few feet above the cowering village behaves not only unnaturally but unethically.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, Pnin

tags: severity

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“Writers, by nature, are going to be slightly more delusional than others because we're dreamers, we imagine the unlikely, that's how we create... Rather than hoping my delusion becomes a reality, I'd prefer to keep on being deluded, to dream bigger and to imagine greater. My greater worry would be becoming less delusional .”
― Rowena Wiseman

tags: delusion, inspirational, writing, writing-life

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