I'm just back from a lengthy book tour, and I'm weary of doing just that. The book is called Small Town, and it's a multiple-viewpoint novel of post-9/11 New York. It's what is called either a stand-alone or a one-off, depending which side of the pond one's on. I think it's my best book, and so do most critics, except for the handful who think the sexual aspect is excessive.
Influences? Hard to say. I read very widely. I've never found the question of influences terribly interesting. Who cares, really? Regarding my writing peers, I read less than I used to, and I've learned to keep my enthusiasms and lack thereof to myself.
The other arts… I go to films, though not all that many. I go to concerts often, and I go to museums and galleries to look at paintings. The only reason I do any of this is because I want to. It may contribute something to my work, though I can't think what. I do get the occasional good idea at a concert, when my mind wanders away from the music.
Can I look back on early unpublished work with affection? With affection, certainly, but without a great urge to see it back in print---or to see it at all, really. For all that, I've allowed Subterranean Press to bring out Cinderella Sims, originally published 40-plus years ago as $20 Lust. And I may do the same with another pseudonymous book called The Trouble with Eden. Greed, you know, is a powerful motivator.
On the vexed issue of violence: how should a writer should approach this today? Well, I think he should tie it up and beat the shit out of it. No, really, what vexed issue are we talking about? One writes to please oneself. If you worry over what readers will or won't like, you're apt to please no one. And, if you worry about the impact your books will have on readers, you're an idiot. They won't have any impact. They're books, and that's all they are. As for bearing my potential reader in mind when writing: The worst disservice I could do a reader is to make an effort to give him what he wants.
Which comes first: plot or characters? I've never really understood this question. Isn't it like asking which side of a banknote is more valuable?
My relationship with my publisher and editor? I'm uncommonly happy with my editors and publishers on both sides of the Atlantic. This may well place me in a minority, but a very happy minority, I assure you.
My next book… I'm on it now. and Morrow/HarperCollins plan to publish it in the US in the spring of 2004. As to what it'll be, I don't really know that yet. And I've learned to say as much even when I think I know what I'm going to write next, because all too often it changes at the last minute.
