Interview With Robert Eggleton
Today I have a great interview with talented writer Robert Eggleton, author of Rarity from the Hollow. Enjoy...
Why don’t you begin by sharing a little about yourself.
Thanks for the invitation. I was born in 1951, the oldest son of an impoverished family in West Virginia. We received government surplus food called commodities. My alcoholic and occasionally abusive father had PTSD from WWII. It was called shell shock back then. My mom did the best she could, but somebody had to support my family. I worked odd jobs until I got a minimum wage one in a drug store when I was twelve. I’ve made payments into America’s Social Security fund for the next fifty-two years.
In the 8th grade, I won the school’s short story contest: a redneck semi truck driver became so obsessed with the conflict between Jewish vs. Christian theology that he lost concentration on the road and caused a terrible accident. I decided that I wanted to be a writer and dreamed of getting rich. As it often does, life got in the way. Between school and work, I was too exhausted to write any more stories until recently.
I continued to work at various minimum wage jobs during high school and college. Work, antiwar activities and school kept me too busy to write stories, so I wrote poems on scraps of paper. One was published in the state’s 1972 West Virginia Student Poetry Anthology. Another was published in a local zine. I graduated in 1973 with a degree in social work and received an MSW from WVU in 1977.
After college, I focused on children’s advocacy. The Vietnam War and the draft had ended. My new political cause became children’s rights and welfare. I was involved in this emotionally charged work for the next forty years. It supplanted my need to write fiction. Instead, I wrote manuals, research, investigative, and statistical reports.
In 2003, I became a children’s psychotherapist at our local community mental health center. It was an intensive program for kids with very severe emotional disturbances. One day at work in 2006, during a group therapy session, I met the real-life role model for my fictional protagonist. Lacy Dawn had been severely abused, but was so resilient that it was inspiring to everybody who met her, staff and her peers alike.
I started writing fiction. Three short Lacy Dawn Adventures have been published in magazines. My debut novel, Rarity from the Hollow, was released in 2012 by Dog Horn Publishing, a small traditional press located in Leeds. In May 2015, I retired from my job as a children’s psychotherapist so that I could concentrate on writing fiction that introduces Lacy Dawn to the rest of the world.
Can you tell us about your book, Rarity from the Hollow?
Sure, but I don’t want to spoil anything for its readers. This novel, similar to the truck driver’s introspections that I mentioned before, is full of contrasts: harsh reality amplifies outrageous fantasy, bitterness blends into acceptance and empowerment, tragedy inspires comedy, and a biography of a victim becomes a science fiction story. It does not fit neatly into a genre, such as romance, horror or even speculative fiction.
This novel was written for an adult audience, but does not have graphic sex scenes, a lot of violence or any of the other similar content that one might assume to be attributable to an Adults Only classification. It is sweet but frank and honest with no holds barred. It addresses the complexities of real life for some people, but presents sensitive topics that might trigger emotional distress with comic relief. My intent was for readers to enjoy the experiences that I created with everyday words and colloquialism, but not to gloss over realism in the way that some YA titles accomplish.
In a nutshell, Rarity from the Hollow is about a little girl who learns to be the Savior of the Universe with the help of her family and friends. It’s up to readers to decide which scenes are dissociative as a result of Lacy Dawn’s traumas and which scenes are pure fantasy and science fiction.
Your book integrates serious social issues into its narrative. What led you to write a novel that included these issues?
The short answer to your question is tradition. Historically, fiction has fueled social activism, debate, and the adoption of evolving or devolving social policy. Frankly, while I've read nonstop for decades, when I started writing it, I was not aware of the big debate in the marketplace about whether fiction should or should not be pure escapism. I now belong to a writer’s group in cyberspace with members who debate this very issue. The focus seems to be on whether the inclusion of serious topics in fictional works would help or hurt sales.
Did the GLBTQ titles increasingly being released, and the popularity of television shows such as Modern Family, influence the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that same-sex marriage was a Constitutional right? I don’t know and the answer wouldn’t make any difference to my products. I simply write what I know, what I’ve experienced in my own life, and hope that readers enjoy the comical slant that I place on complex issues.
I do believe that all artists have an opportunity to have a positive or negative impact on society. Artists aspire to achieve an audience. They need one as much as they need oxygen or food. There are many examples of fund-raising campaigns for various wonderful causes put together by popular artists. It was in remembrance of George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh that I have donated author proceeds to a child abuse prevention program in West Virginia.
Why did you decide to use the SF/Fantasy genre as the underpinning of the novel, as opposed to another genre?
I selected the SF/F backdrop for this story because it was the best fit by process of elimination. The novel also has elements of horror, mystery, romance, self-help, and thriller. It is not a good example of the historical or western genres, although the social issues that we talked about before have been present throughout history, including in the Wild West.
In today’s reality the systems in place to help maltreated children are woefully inadequate. I felt that the literary, biographical, nonfiction genres wouldn’t work because the story would have been so depressing that only the most determined would have finished it.
I felt that the story had to be hopeful. I wanted it to inspire survivors of child maltreatment toward competitiveness within our existing economic structures, instead of folks using past victimization as an excuse for inactivity. I didn’t think that anybody would bite on the theme of a knight on a white stallion galloping off a hillside to swoop victims into safety, like in the traditional romance genre. That almost never actually happens in real life, so that genre was too unrealistic as the primary. There was already enough horror in the story, so that genre was out too. What could be more horrific than child abuse?
The protagonist and her traumatized teammates needed fantastical elements to achieve empowerment. But, as in life, one cannot overcome barriers to the pursuit of happiness by simply imagining them away. That’s where the science fiction came into play. It provided a power source. I tied the science fiction to Capitalism because in today’s reality it will take significant financial investment by benefactors to significantly improve the welfare of children in the world. Our governments are unlikely to do so in the near future because of the politics.
What did you find most challenging about writing Rarity from the Hollow?
Writing comes easy for me, but the third scene in the story was especially challenging. It was a domestic violence scene that triggered my own psychological distress. Tears blurred my vision each time that I reworked it. The only other challenges were the typical ones that all writers of anything experience, such as proofreading what you intended to write instead of what’s actually on the page. After I submitted a story to a publisher in the early morning hours of July 4, 2014, I still found typos that I’d missed.
Your book is also, in part, a satire. Was that a conscious choice to offset the more stark aspects of the novel, or did it evolve as a natural process of writing?
I’ve always loved to read the puns, the double entendres, and satire in the works of others. I’m sure that had a big impact on what I write. Some of the satire in this novel evolved as a natural process, while other sections were inserted because I had found the narrative in need of a lighter tone to offset stark aspects. If I found a place during the drafts that I felt was too “heavy” for me to read as its writer, I figured that it would be way to much for the reader.
Do you having any writing inspirations or favourite authors?
I’m not sure that you have enough bandwidth for me to make a complete list of inspirations and favourites, so here’s a few. Ferlinghetti, the poet of the Beat Generation, showed me how to enjoy my anger about political and societal issues. Similarly, Vonnegut’s anger in Breakfast of Champions helped me stay strong as a children’s advocate and as a writer, and how to experiment with my writing style outside of commonly accepted structures and formats. The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Harry Potter series reinforced my faith in the potential of adolescent morality and the future of the world. Watership Down by R. Adams was such a sweet adventure that some of this element just is a necessary ingredient of even the scariest or saddest story. The versatility in cross-genre and the use of humour by Bradbury had to have been a subliminal inspiration, especially now that I think about it. Dean Koontz has been masterful. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by D. Adams and Another Roadside Attraction by Robbins pushed me into the wilder side of writing regardless of censorship, as did the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comics. And, Stephen King’s use of everyday horror convinced me that alarming scenes can be created by using almost anything as a prop.
What do you like to do when you're not writing?Is this a trick question? Nobody can always do what they like to do, but the activity that I like most is reading. Of course, there are other activities that I enjoy, such as watching WVU sports, gardening, home repairs, family events, and my son, he’s 41, always has something new and fun to show me, usually from the internet.
What’s next for you?
Hah! This is another trick question. I will continue to write fiction for eternity.
Author Bio:
Robert Eggleton has served as a children's advocate for over forty years. He is best known for his investigative reports about children’s programs, most of which were published by the West Virginia Supreme Court where he worked from 1982 through 1997. Today, he is a recently retired psychotherapist from the mental health center in Charleston, West Virginia. Rarity from the Hollow is his debut novel and its release followed publication of three short Lacy Dawn Adventures in magazines: Wingspan Quarterly, Beyond Centauri, and Atomjack Science Fiction. Author proceeds have been donated to a child abuse prevention program operated by Children’s Home Society of West Virginia: http://www.childhswv.org/
Find out more about Robert Eggleton and his books and these websites:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13603677-rarity-from-the-hollow
https://www.facebook.com/robert.eggleton2
https://twitter.com/roberteggleton2
Rarity from the Hollow
Lacy Dawn is a true daughter of Appalachia, and then some. She lives in a hollow with her worn-out mom, her Iraq War disabled dad, and her mutt Brownie, a dog who's very skilled at laying fiber optic cable. Lacy Dawn's android boyfriend has come to the hollow with a mission. His equipment includes infomercial videos of Earth's earliest proto-humans from millennia ago. He was sent by the Manager of the Mall on planet Shptiludrp (Shop 'till You Drop): he must recruit Lacy Dawn to save the Universe in exchange for the designation of Earth as a planet which is eligible for continued existence within a universal economic structure that exploits underdeveloped planets for their mineral content. Lacy Dawn’s magic enables her to save the universe, Earth, and, most importantly, her own family.
Link for excerpt of the 1st Chapter: http://www.wattpad.com/12596126-rarity-from-the-hollow-excerpt
Why don’t you begin by sharing a little about yourself.
Thanks for the invitation. I was born in 1951, the oldest son of an impoverished family in West Virginia. We received government surplus food called commodities. My alcoholic and occasionally abusive father had PTSD from WWII. It was called shell shock back then. My mom did the best she could, but somebody had to support my family. I worked odd jobs until I got a minimum wage one in a drug store when I was twelve. I’ve made payments into America’s Social Security fund for the next fifty-two years.
In the 8th grade, I won the school’s short story contest: a redneck semi truck driver became so obsessed with the conflict between Jewish vs. Christian theology that he lost concentration on the road and caused a terrible accident. I decided that I wanted to be a writer and dreamed of getting rich. As it often does, life got in the way. Between school and work, I was too exhausted to write any more stories until recently.
I continued to work at various minimum wage jobs during high school and college. Work, antiwar activities and school kept me too busy to write stories, so I wrote poems on scraps of paper. One was published in the state’s 1972 West Virginia Student Poetry Anthology. Another was published in a local zine. I graduated in 1973 with a degree in social work and received an MSW from WVU in 1977.
After college, I focused on children’s advocacy. The Vietnam War and the draft had ended. My new political cause became children’s rights and welfare. I was involved in this emotionally charged work for the next forty years. It supplanted my need to write fiction. Instead, I wrote manuals, research, investigative, and statistical reports.
In 2003, I became a children’s psychotherapist at our local community mental health center. It was an intensive program for kids with very severe emotional disturbances. One day at work in 2006, during a group therapy session, I met the real-life role model for my fictional protagonist. Lacy Dawn had been severely abused, but was so resilient that it was inspiring to everybody who met her, staff and her peers alike.
I started writing fiction. Three short Lacy Dawn Adventures have been published in magazines. My debut novel, Rarity from the Hollow, was released in 2012 by Dog Horn Publishing, a small traditional press located in Leeds. In May 2015, I retired from my job as a children’s psychotherapist so that I could concentrate on writing fiction that introduces Lacy Dawn to the rest of the world.
Can you tell us about your book, Rarity from the Hollow?
Sure, but I don’t want to spoil anything for its readers. This novel, similar to the truck driver’s introspections that I mentioned before, is full of contrasts: harsh reality amplifies outrageous fantasy, bitterness blends into acceptance and empowerment, tragedy inspires comedy, and a biography of a victim becomes a science fiction story. It does not fit neatly into a genre, such as romance, horror or even speculative fiction.
This novel was written for an adult audience, but does not have graphic sex scenes, a lot of violence or any of the other similar content that one might assume to be attributable to an Adults Only classification. It is sweet but frank and honest with no holds barred. It addresses the complexities of real life for some people, but presents sensitive topics that might trigger emotional distress with comic relief. My intent was for readers to enjoy the experiences that I created with everyday words and colloquialism, but not to gloss over realism in the way that some YA titles accomplish.
In a nutshell, Rarity from the Hollow is about a little girl who learns to be the Savior of the Universe with the help of her family and friends. It’s up to readers to decide which scenes are dissociative as a result of Lacy Dawn’s traumas and which scenes are pure fantasy and science fiction.
Your book integrates serious social issues into its narrative. What led you to write a novel that included these issues?
The short answer to your question is tradition. Historically, fiction has fueled social activism, debate, and the adoption of evolving or devolving social policy. Frankly, while I've read nonstop for decades, when I started writing it, I was not aware of the big debate in the marketplace about whether fiction should or should not be pure escapism. I now belong to a writer’s group in cyberspace with members who debate this very issue. The focus seems to be on whether the inclusion of serious topics in fictional works would help or hurt sales.
Did the GLBTQ titles increasingly being released, and the popularity of television shows such as Modern Family, influence the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that same-sex marriage was a Constitutional right? I don’t know and the answer wouldn’t make any difference to my products. I simply write what I know, what I’ve experienced in my own life, and hope that readers enjoy the comical slant that I place on complex issues.
I do believe that all artists have an opportunity to have a positive or negative impact on society. Artists aspire to achieve an audience. They need one as much as they need oxygen or food. There are many examples of fund-raising campaigns for various wonderful causes put together by popular artists. It was in remembrance of George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh that I have donated author proceeds to a child abuse prevention program in West Virginia.
Why did you decide to use the SF/Fantasy genre as the underpinning of the novel, as opposed to another genre?
I selected the SF/F backdrop for this story because it was the best fit by process of elimination. The novel also has elements of horror, mystery, romance, self-help, and thriller. It is not a good example of the historical or western genres, although the social issues that we talked about before have been present throughout history, including in the Wild West.
In today’s reality the systems in place to help maltreated children are woefully inadequate. I felt that the literary, biographical, nonfiction genres wouldn’t work because the story would have been so depressing that only the most determined would have finished it.
I felt that the story had to be hopeful. I wanted it to inspire survivors of child maltreatment toward competitiveness within our existing economic structures, instead of folks using past victimization as an excuse for inactivity. I didn’t think that anybody would bite on the theme of a knight on a white stallion galloping off a hillside to swoop victims into safety, like in the traditional romance genre. That almost never actually happens in real life, so that genre was too unrealistic as the primary. There was already enough horror in the story, so that genre was out too. What could be more horrific than child abuse?
The protagonist and her traumatized teammates needed fantastical elements to achieve empowerment. But, as in life, one cannot overcome barriers to the pursuit of happiness by simply imagining them away. That’s where the science fiction came into play. It provided a power source. I tied the science fiction to Capitalism because in today’s reality it will take significant financial investment by benefactors to significantly improve the welfare of children in the world. Our governments are unlikely to do so in the near future because of the politics.
What did you find most challenging about writing Rarity from the Hollow?
Writing comes easy for me, but the third scene in the story was especially challenging. It was a domestic violence scene that triggered my own psychological distress. Tears blurred my vision each time that I reworked it. The only other challenges were the typical ones that all writers of anything experience, such as proofreading what you intended to write instead of what’s actually on the page. After I submitted a story to a publisher in the early morning hours of July 4, 2014, I still found typos that I’d missed.
Your book is also, in part, a satire. Was that a conscious choice to offset the more stark aspects of the novel, or did it evolve as a natural process of writing?
I’ve always loved to read the puns, the double entendres, and satire in the works of others. I’m sure that had a big impact on what I write. Some of the satire in this novel evolved as a natural process, while other sections were inserted because I had found the narrative in need of a lighter tone to offset stark aspects. If I found a place during the drafts that I felt was too “heavy” for me to read as its writer, I figured that it would be way to much for the reader.
Do you having any writing inspirations or favourite authors?
I’m not sure that you have enough bandwidth for me to make a complete list of inspirations and favourites, so here’s a few. Ferlinghetti, the poet of the Beat Generation, showed me how to enjoy my anger about political and societal issues. Similarly, Vonnegut’s anger in Breakfast of Champions helped me stay strong as a children’s advocate and as a writer, and how to experiment with my writing style outside of commonly accepted structures and formats. The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Harry Potter series reinforced my faith in the potential of adolescent morality and the future of the world. Watership Down by R. Adams was such a sweet adventure that some of this element just is a necessary ingredient of even the scariest or saddest story. The versatility in cross-genre and the use of humour by Bradbury had to have been a subliminal inspiration, especially now that I think about it. Dean Koontz has been masterful. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by D. Adams and Another Roadside Attraction by Robbins pushed me into the wilder side of writing regardless of censorship, as did the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comics. And, Stephen King’s use of everyday horror convinced me that alarming scenes can be created by using almost anything as a prop.
What do you like to do when you're not writing?Is this a trick question? Nobody can always do what they like to do, but the activity that I like most is reading. Of course, there are other activities that I enjoy, such as watching WVU sports, gardening, home repairs, family events, and my son, he’s 41, always has something new and fun to show me, usually from the internet.
What’s next for you?
Hah! This is another trick question. I will continue to write fiction for eternity.
Author Bio:
Robert Eggleton has served as a children's advocate for over forty years. He is best known for his investigative reports about children’s programs, most of which were published by the West Virginia Supreme Court where he worked from 1982 through 1997. Today, he is a recently retired psychotherapist from the mental health center in Charleston, West Virginia. Rarity from the Hollow is his debut novel and its release followed publication of three short Lacy Dawn Adventures in magazines: Wingspan Quarterly, Beyond Centauri, and Atomjack Science Fiction. Author proceeds have been donated to a child abuse prevention program operated by Children’s Home Society of West Virginia: http://www.childhswv.org/
Find out more about Robert Eggleton and his books and these websites:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13603677-rarity-from-the-hollow
https://www.facebook.com/robert.eggleton2
https://twitter.com/roberteggleton2
Rarity from the Hollow
Lacy Dawn is a true daughter of Appalachia, and then some. She lives in a hollow with her worn-out mom, her Iraq War disabled dad, and her mutt Brownie, a dog who's very skilled at laying fiber optic cable. Lacy Dawn's android boyfriend has come to the hollow with a mission. His equipment includes infomercial videos of Earth's earliest proto-humans from millennia ago. He was sent by the Manager of the Mall on planet Shptiludrp (Shop 'till You Drop): he must recruit Lacy Dawn to save the Universe in exchange for the designation of Earth as a planet which is eligible for continued existence within a universal economic structure that exploits underdeveloped planets for their mineral content. Lacy Dawn’s magic enables her to save the universe, Earth, and, most importantly, her own family.
Link for excerpt of the 1st Chapter: http://www.wattpad.com/12596126-rarity-from-the-hollow-excerpt
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