R.E. "Dickie" Wentz is in the hot seat this week, discussing A Tropical Depression, a fresh story about a guy with women troubles. With trouble in mind, take a read: A Tropical Depression.
Jill Dearman: A Tropical Depression takes place in New Orleans. What's your connection to the city, and any thoughts on how the city is recovering post-Katrina?
Dickie Wentz: I moved to New Orleans with my family just before starting the second grade in 1968 and lived there until moving to New York in the spring of 1990. Living there shaped almost every part of my being, from how I cook to what I read to how I approach work. The biggest difference between New Orleans and every other city in the country is that the people there work to live as opposed to the other way around.
I view Katrina as an opportunity lost. The city government had a real chance to fix some major problems (school system, affordable public housing) with the reconstruction and they didn’t. I have hope that the new mayor, Mitch Landrieu can get things on track.
JD: Your day job is in Infomercials, how do you juggle that gig with your fiction writing?
DW: When I have infomercial copy to write I do that first thing in the morning. After 10 years the process (infomercials being a second cousin to technical writing) is second nature, so for me it is like I’m a pitcher warming up in the bullpen before the game starts. It gets my blood flowing. Oddly enough if I have a block with the creative writing, a quick stint writing copy frees things up. Don’t know why.
JD: What's your writing practice like? Are you consistent, erratic?
DW: Because I’ve written copy for so long, I am really disciplined. I usually write Monday through Friday unless I am pressed for a deadline then I squeeze in an odd weekend day, but I try not to. The mornings are for editing and copy writing, at least two hours of that. This was the hardest to get used to, the cutting, re-writing, and the understanding that the first words on the paper are most likely going to change. The afternoons are for more copy writing if I am on deadline or projects that I’ve gotten from my agent in the film/stage/TV world. I have also started a new book so I try and jam that in when I can. I generally put in at least four hours in the afternoon. Sometimes more when I am on a roll.
If I don’t have a pressing deadline and I don’t feel like writing that day, I don’t. I’d rather let things rest than force myself, but I have to be on the lookout for procrastination.
JD: You seem like you know how to work at a brisk pace, though, Southern boy! The book moves along at a nice clip, as well. ATD is a small, tight read weighing in at 159 pages. Do you consider the book a novel or novella, or dealer's choice? It seems that smaller books are more popular these days anyway...do you think that's because of the way everyone clicks away on the Internet all day?
DW: Hmmm great question. First off, ATD is definitely a novella. I didn’t start it out that way, originally it was just a short story, but then it just kept going. Once I got into chapters and I saw it was going to be longer than a short story, I decided to keep it around 60,000 words because I wasn’t sure how I would handle the format of longer fiction. I didn’t want to become disinterested or discouraged and not finish the story. I am shooting for 100,000 or better with the second book now that I know what I am in for.
Secondly, I think the length of all media has shortened in the last 30 years because we (people in the U.S.) have developed a sort of cultural attention deficit syndrome. I blame MTV.
JD: What writers have influenced you the most? Anyone you're reading now whom you recommend?
DW: I tell people that Walker Percy’s work made me love reading and John Updike’s got me to write. But Percy influences how I tell a story. I am incorporating more existential themes into my writing (even infomercials on occasion) and follow Percy’s lead of creating a character then putting that character into a situation and seeing how they deal with it. I re-read Percy at least once or twice a year; my favorites are The Second Coming and Love in The Ruins. I read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road recently. It was absolutely amazing. I’ve had to do a lot of research on the Great Depression for a job so The Grapes of Wrath is next. I recommend all of those.
Another writer’s block remedy for me is reading one of the Travis McGee books by John D. MacDonald. MacDonald is a great storyteller and makes me eager to jump back in to writing. He’s also great beach/airplane reading.
There’s also “Bang the Keys” (seriously). Writing as you know can be a hideous, miserable way to make a living so anything that can lift the veil of self loathing is a good thing.
JD: Thanks for the plug and for lighting a fire under your fellow writers. For more on the craft of writing, please take a look at my book, Bang the Keys, and check out my site, http://bangthekeys.com.
Until next week, I leave you with this question:
When the work is not coming easily do you push through or let it rest?
