10 Questions with C Michael Forsyth
1. What was it like writing for the Weekly World News (the greatest newspaper ever in my humble opinion)?
It was a dream job. Basically, you got to your desk in the morning and churned out two or three short stories in the form of news articles. They could be in turn comic, tragic, thought-provoking, mystifying. Then, since the office was based in Florida, you headed to the beach! The staff was a motley crew from wildly diverse backgrounds, not all in traditional journalism, as you might imagine. Bob Lind, for example, was ‘60s folksinger/songwriter. One girl doing layout was a bartender the editor had befriended and trained for the job. The camaraderie was great. Every few minutes someone would stand up and make some random remark such as, “Hey, what if the pyramids are like icebergs, and 90 percent of them are actually beneath the sand?” Provoking a round of riffs, and resulting in a story idea jotted down for the next day. The 9-to-5 gig got me in the habit of thinking of creative writing as a job like any other. I also learned how to incorporate research into stories. To make our stories believable, all the supporting facts (except for the one preposterous claim) had to be correct.
2. Who has been your biggest influence as a writer?
Stephen King. My first book was a horror novel, and I tried to channel King. I admire the way he devotes time to creating characters you really care about and building a realistic setting, before all hell breaks loose.
3. How did you happen to work with Spike Lee when you were at NYU?
Yes, I had the privilege of working as a production assistant on his thesis film, “Joe’s Bedstuy Barbershop, We Cut Heads.” Spike, who worked in the equipment room to help make ends meet, gave me some good pointers when I was doing my own student films.
4. Who is your favorite writer?
My favorite living author is Tom Wolfe. I am impressed by how he manages to inject suspense into every scene. You literally can’t stop turning the pages of a book like “A Man in Full.” You HAVE to know how a character is going to get out of a jam, whether he is facing social humiliation or imminent prison rape.
5. In The Identity Thief your protagonist is someone with a fairly despicable occupation—someone who steals other people’s identities and then thieves them of money. What made you go with this type of character as your protagonist?
Well, I started with the plot idea, which I thought was rather clever, something that hadn’t been done before and ought to be. The premise, inherently, called for an anti-hero and I was intrigued by the challenge: how can you possibly make us root for this guy? I’ve always loved the film “The Third Man,” in which Orson Welles plays an irresistibly charming sociopath, and got the idea that the reader could be drawn to a character like that, if I could give him a certain sardonic humor. As I proceeded, I realized that A) He has to get his comeuppance in the story, get really pummeled at some point, to satisfy the reader’s sense of justice. B) I had to hold out for the reader the hope that somehow he will redeem himself. C) There needs to be another major character, counterbalancing him, who is the books moral center. That’s Traci, his pursuer.
6. What type of scenes do you most enjoy writing?
I like writing dramatic scenes that have a lot of conflict. I learned in screenwriting class in film school, that in every dialogue scene, there should be conflict between the characters. I try to identify the conflict in every scene and figure out ways to heighten it.
7. What was more enjoyable for you, to write The Identity Thief or to narrate the audiobook of the novel?
I actually enjoyed narrating it more. While I’m happy with how the book came out, it was painfully difficult to write. Principally because, as you suggest, it’s hard to make a novel work in which the main character is a louse. As I was writing it, I kept trying to imagine it being read by Orson Welles, in that playful, erudite tone of his. So having the chance to narrate the book in my best approximation of that voice was a joy.
8. How do you define success as a writer?
Ultimately you’d like to believe you’ve created something that will endure, that you’ve left behind something people would actually read 50 years from now. For now, the closest we can come to immortality is to leave behind our thoughts for others to encounter.
9. What was the wildest story you wrote about on The Weekly World News?
My favorite story, which is actually referenced in The Identity Thief, was about JFK being killed by the CIA to prevent him from revealing the truth about space aliens. I was so into it, I dug up Kennedy’s speeches to get a sense of his lingo and recreated a facsimile of the speech he was supposedly about to give in Dallas announcing to the world that “we are not alone.”
10. If Hollywood was making a film adaptation of The Identity Thief, and the director asked you to cast the role of X, who would you choose?
You know, I wrote the book with the idea that it would make a crackerjack movie, and yet I can’t say who would be a perfect lead out of the current crop of actors. John Cusack may be a bit old for the role now, but that’s the kind of persona I have in mind: The smartest guy in the room, humorous, shifty-eyed and rather guarded. Our star has to be able to pass as an Arab, too, which adds to the challenge in casting the role.
It was a dream job. Basically, you got to your desk in the morning and churned out two or three short stories in the form of news articles. They could be in turn comic, tragic, thought-provoking, mystifying. Then, since the office was based in Florida, you headed to the beach! The staff was a motley crew from wildly diverse backgrounds, not all in traditional journalism, as you might imagine. Bob Lind, for example, was ‘60s folksinger/songwriter. One girl doing layout was a bartender the editor had befriended and trained for the job. The camaraderie was great. Every few minutes someone would stand up and make some random remark such as, “Hey, what if the pyramids are like icebergs, and 90 percent of them are actually beneath the sand?” Provoking a round of riffs, and resulting in a story idea jotted down for the next day. The 9-to-5 gig got me in the habit of thinking of creative writing as a job like any other. I also learned how to incorporate research into stories. To make our stories believable, all the supporting facts (except for the one preposterous claim) had to be correct.
2. Who has been your biggest influence as a writer?
Stephen King. My first book was a horror novel, and I tried to channel King. I admire the way he devotes time to creating characters you really care about and building a realistic setting, before all hell breaks loose.
3. How did you happen to work with Spike Lee when you were at NYU?
Yes, I had the privilege of working as a production assistant on his thesis film, “Joe’s Bedstuy Barbershop, We Cut Heads.” Spike, who worked in the equipment room to help make ends meet, gave me some good pointers when I was doing my own student films.
4. Who is your favorite writer?
My favorite living author is Tom Wolfe. I am impressed by how he manages to inject suspense into every scene. You literally can’t stop turning the pages of a book like “A Man in Full.” You HAVE to know how a character is going to get out of a jam, whether he is facing social humiliation or imminent prison rape.
5. In The Identity Thief your protagonist is someone with a fairly despicable occupation—someone who steals other people’s identities and then thieves them of money. What made you go with this type of character as your protagonist?
Well, I started with the plot idea, which I thought was rather clever, something that hadn’t been done before and ought to be. The premise, inherently, called for an anti-hero and I was intrigued by the challenge: how can you possibly make us root for this guy? I’ve always loved the film “The Third Man,” in which Orson Welles plays an irresistibly charming sociopath, and got the idea that the reader could be drawn to a character like that, if I could give him a certain sardonic humor. As I proceeded, I realized that A) He has to get his comeuppance in the story, get really pummeled at some point, to satisfy the reader’s sense of justice. B) I had to hold out for the reader the hope that somehow he will redeem himself. C) There needs to be another major character, counterbalancing him, who is the books moral center. That’s Traci, his pursuer.
6. What type of scenes do you most enjoy writing?
I like writing dramatic scenes that have a lot of conflict. I learned in screenwriting class in film school, that in every dialogue scene, there should be conflict between the characters. I try to identify the conflict in every scene and figure out ways to heighten it.
7. What was more enjoyable for you, to write The Identity Thief or to narrate the audiobook of the novel?
I actually enjoyed narrating it more. While I’m happy with how the book came out, it was painfully difficult to write. Principally because, as you suggest, it’s hard to make a novel work in which the main character is a louse. As I was writing it, I kept trying to imagine it being read by Orson Welles, in that playful, erudite tone of his. So having the chance to narrate the book in my best approximation of that voice was a joy.
8. How do you define success as a writer?
Ultimately you’d like to believe you’ve created something that will endure, that you’ve left behind something people would actually read 50 years from now. For now, the closest we can come to immortality is to leave behind our thoughts for others to encounter.
9. What was the wildest story you wrote about on The Weekly World News?
My favorite story, which is actually referenced in The Identity Thief, was about JFK being killed by the CIA to prevent him from revealing the truth about space aliens. I was so into it, I dug up Kennedy’s speeches to get a sense of his lingo and recreated a facsimile of the speech he was supposedly about to give in Dallas announcing to the world that “we are not alone.”
10. If Hollywood was making a film adaptation of The Identity Thief, and the director asked you to cast the role of X, who would you choose?
You know, I wrote the book with the idea that it would make a crackerjack movie, and yet I can’t say who would be a perfect lead out of the current crop of actors. John Cusack may be a bit old for the role now, but that’s the kind of persona I have in mind: The smartest guy in the room, humorous, shifty-eyed and rather guarded. Our star has to be able to pass as an Arab, too, which adds to the challenge in casting the role.
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