How much of "Zanesville" was written or conceived of before September 11, and how much of it was a response to political decisions made since then? Did these various threads emerge as you wrote the novel, or were you conscious of wanting to express certain themes and points of view when you began work on it?
KS: Thanks Ginny. I appreciate the line of your questions. Here's my response regarding the impact of 9/11:
The main thematic elements and the general plot structure of the story were clearly established by the summer of 2001, but the resulting manuscript was overlong, technically dense, willfully avant-garde and more or less unpublishable. I was at the point of abandoning the book altogether or breaking through in some new way when 9/11 hit. Whether it was the effect of the attacks -- or more importantly, the media presentation of them -- I was inspired to make the world of the book more extreme while simultaneously making the story simpler and more accessible. It was the combination of these opposing strategies that ultimately led to publication: pulling out the stops in one sphere, while drastically streamlining in another.
In this, I was fortunate to have a draft read by Paul Witcover, a writer I admire who was working as a Time Warner editor at the time. His comments gave me confidence while challenging me to mature and become more disciplined.
Now when I look back, 9/11 seems less directly influential than Paul's criticism, some of the books I was reading at the time, the beginnings of my marriage breakdown -- or my conscious decision to seek to entertain rather than to merely impress. But there is no question that the change in cultural mood brought about by the “War on Terror” and its aftermath has made "Zanesville" seem more relevant and connected to the world. Then again, maybe this is what happens whenever we move both deeper into a story and out of our own heads.
AC: A lot of what you said in your last answer supports the advice you give in your essay: I see now how much you drew on your experience with "Zanesville" in that piece. In your essay, you advise writers to be aware of publishing demands (for instance, write a novel that can be summarized in 3 sentences or less) and to also be unreasonable. Both excellent pieces of advice, but there's also some friction there: being unreasonable does not necessarily lead to writing something publishable. How have you balanced these two concerns, pushing yourself, being true to an artistic vision, however strange or disturbing, and writing something that can be published?
Along the same lines, I understand that you had refused to make certain changes re Dooley Duck that would have sealed a movie deal. Obviously this shows integrity on your part, and it led me to wonder, again, how we judge as artists when it's OK to compromise and when it is not. What standards have you developed for making these kinds of judgments?
KS: The friction that you infer in my advice is completely valid and I think stems from two sources. The first is my sincere desire to offer actionable guidance to younger writers of the kind I didn’t receive or couldn’t accept because of the way it was presented or because of the presenter. (I come from a family of ministers and teachers.) This concern is also informed by my many years of business experience and my conviction that art is not above matters such as professionalism, pragmatism, delivery, ethics, and the like.
On the other hand, and I am a big one for the other hand, I would argue that all great works of art are great because of their flaws, not in spite of them. If forced to choose, I would always support the wild, deviant, and visionary work over the quiet, accomplished, and methodical. The world does not need competent writers. It needs ambitious writers. My greatest anger and frustration with the publishing industry is with the enshrinement of mediocrity and middlebrow credentialism. So, I am torn, and both my work and my personal life reflect this conflict. The price for me has been one I would not wish others to pay. Happily, I feel I was finally able to resolve this conflict in a way that makes "Zanesville" and the larger mythology it fits into both more radical and more readable than where I started or thought I had finished. Time and readers will tell if I am right.
