Interviews and guest posts from the writers and artists of Versal 11. John Vanderslice teaches writing at the University of Central Arkansas. His short fiction has appeared in dozens of journals, including Seattle Review, Southern Humanities Review, Laurel Review, Red Booth, Sou’wester, and Crazyhorse. “The Dealer’s Brother” is a chapter from his forthcoming novel, Days on Fire. You can check out further work on John's website, where he discusses all matters Van Gogh and historical fiction related, or you can follow him on Twitter @JohnvanderJohn
Tell us about your writing process. Make
sure to lie about at least two things.
You mean
daily process or larger process? I’ve
always been a morning person, so I write in the morning, fueled by way too much
coffee and the knowledge that before too long the world wakes up and I’ve got
parental obligations to tend to. If the
coffee doesn’t work, I find that holding my palm over a match “fires” my
creativity. I’ve always been a writer
who drafts first in longhand and then enters the draft into the computer. That’s how I wrote “The Dealer’s
Brother.” It’s how I still write short
stories. Basically, I prefer that
sequence. I like the no pressure feeling
of writing with pen on paper. Sometimes
I even use crayon. You feel crayon on
paper in a tactile way that you don’t feel pen or paper. Plus, I’m pretty sure research has shown
that crayon opens up the right brain.
However, I should say that the last three novels I’ve written—including
my post-apocolyptic/mixed species quadruped nightmare—have been straight from
the imagination to the keyboard.
What's the longest you've ever gone
without sleeping? Why (if you can share...)? If you mean voluntarily, my answer would be pretty dull. I’ve never been good at pulling
all-nighters. On the other hand, I’ve
suffered bouts of insomnia off and on in my life and once, a long time ago, I
think I may have been up something like sixty hours straight. The last time I spent a sleepless night I got
in a car accident the next day after falling asleep at the wheel. Trying not to let that happen again.
What's one well-known and one
little-known lit mag currently doing amazing work? As for well-known mags, I really like One Story. I’ve subscribed to it for years. They make some really interesting, eclectic
choices, regularly publishing stories in drastically different genres and
almost always of noticeably high quality.
I also like that they publish utter newcomers, very established people, and
everyone in between.
As for little
known mags, I have to give a shout out to Angel
on the Freeway, a poetry magazine started just last year by one of our grad
students: John Mitchel. This thing is
John’s baby. There’s some really
startling stuff in there: razor sharp imagery and naked honesty.
What can you tell us about Holland other
than tulips, clogs, red lights, and drugs? Funny you should ask! One of
the best experiences of my life was spending six weeks in Maastricht in the
spring and early summer of 2001. (It was
the genesis of my interest in Van Gogh.) I adore the city and felt deeply
comfortable there. I really liked how close it was to other
countries—if you wanted to, you could take a bike ride to Belgium or German
y—and I enjoyed strolling the banks of the river Maas: crossing the bridge;
doing some window shopping; buying frites or a postcard or a waffle; coming
back across. I remember there was a
fantastic, and very cheap, gelato stand at the center of the old part of town. We bought a lot of gelato at that stand. My wife and I were there with our young
children and we feel like we got an especially unique view of Maastricht
life. We hunted out the parks and the
playgrounds; we happened once into a fundraising event for a local school. Places where nary an American could be
found.
If your piece in Versal could be paired
with any art work, what would it be?
I guess I
would have to say something by Toulouse-Lautrec, perhaps At the Moulin Rouge. Not
that that painting literally reflects any of the developments in my story, but
it suggests a social environment that I am trying to resurrect in my story: the
underbelly of late nineteenth century Paris, the center of the art world, a
place where too many painters and would-be painters were trying to compete for
the attention of too few dealers and forced to find comfort where they could
get it, whether that be at the Moulin Rouge or an overcrowded party or the arms
of a mistress.
What dirty secret would you like to tell
us?
I watched a lot
of bad tv as a kid. I’m talking stuff
like McHale’s Navy.
Most unbelievable place you've ever been
to? Why? I’d have to
say that no place has affected me quite as much, at least on first glance, as
the Camargue in Provence. It’s not just
that it’s beautiful—beautiful in way that you won’t find in the United
States—but that it’s so purely rural.
This isn’t upscale, movie star Nice; this is farmland dotted by very old
houses, and it’s almost magically peaceful.
Do you have a philosophy of writing? Can
you condense it into 30 words? You
should work as hard as hell, and never make excuses for why you can’t, and
never stop trying to make your next book better than your last.
What's your playlist look like these
days? Well, I listen to a lot of Pandora, and as a
result I have bought a bunch of CDs in the last couple of years: mostly old
favorites that I want to reconnect with: Neil Young, John Hartford, Bob
Marley. On my iPod I mainly listen to
podcasts while I run every day. There’s
an awesome language-learning one I love called Coffee Break French. It’s
produced in Scotland. (Since I started
researching Van Gogh, I’ve been trying to learn French.) I also listen to NPR’s Selected Shorts and This
American Life. And a lot of audio
books.
What book is so unbelievably
mind-blowing that it makes you want to stop writing? A couple come to mind. One
writer who regularly blows my mind is John Barth. I think his collection On With the Story might be my favorite collection of all time and
his single best book. The story “Stories
of Our Lives” might be my favorite ever story.
The narrator’s vantage point in that story is both unstoppably broad and
fiercely specific. Obviously ironic,
but also perfectly sincere, even sentimental.
There’s a moment in the story in which a character picks up a wadded
piece of paper thrown by another character.
I remember gasping when I realized that the piece of paper he just
picked up was a page torn from the very short story collection—in fact, the
very short story—in which he was presented as a character! Only Barth can get away with stuff like that,
but it leaves me speechless when he pulls it off.
Another book
I was so impressed by was Michael Chaban’s Kavalier
and Clay. His imagination is second
to none, and the man is never afraid of words. Some people I know detest him for that
reason. My reaction? Get over it.
We’re writers. Words is what we
are about. If you don’t think so, maybe
you need to find another profession. (I
actually think they are just jealous.)
On The Newlywed Game, contestants were
asked what vegetable they think they are. What's your totem vegetable?
First thing
that came to mind is red bell pepper.
(Is that a vegetable?) It’s sweet
at first taste and when eaten raw, but it’s not overly sweet. Most important, it’s a versatile
ingredient—good as an addition to almost anything. It also picks up a supple, surprisingly
complex flavor when you cook it. The
“real” red bell pepper takes some time to get to know.
Why did you send work to Versal? Be
honest.
Because you
guys are based in Amsterdam, and the protagonist of my story is one of the most
famous Dutchman of all time, it seemed like a natural fit.
Tell us what you're working on right
now.
I recently
finished the second draft of a novel that I started in January in a class I
teach called Novel Writing Workshop. I
ask the students to produce the first draft of a novel in one semester, and I
agree to do the same thing. To put
myself through what I make them do.
Anyway, as a result I’ve written a novel about a man who, having lost
his own daughter when someone kidnapped, raped, and killed her, decides to get
his revenge on the world by kidnapping and killing someone else’s
daughter. He kind of chooses a girl at
random, and it turns out to be the daughter of a local Episcopal priest, a
woman whose life is already complicated enough.