What genre would you
say your novels fall into, or do they defy classification?
Defy seems a bit harsh, but I can’t deny its accuracy. Let’s
just say I don’t have the marketing savvy to zero in on a genre and then follow
that formula. When asked, I generally describe my first novel, Boomerang,
as a Comic Novel of International Intrigue and Jazz. The
Baer Boys, which has just been released as an ebook, is a Character
Driven Novel With a Flawed But Likable Main Character (Male) which some readers
have likened to the works of Nick Hornby. But then again, another very well
read early reader told me it reminded her of Anne Tyler. I have read most of
Mr. Hornby’s novels, but only recently, long after The
Baer Boys had taken shape. And Dinner
at the Homesick Restaurant is the only Anne Tyler work I have read. That
was years ago.
What made you choose
that genre?
Here’s my marketing savvy again. I don’t choose genres, I
choose characters. From those characters I get stories.
How long does it take you to write a book?
Way, way too long. Boomerang
literally took fifteen years if you include the time I spent rewriting it
after it made it to the “agent stage” but failed to get a publisher under the
title “Close Enough for Government Work”. The
Baer Boys started out as a comic murder mystery with a theatre teacher as
the reluctant amateur sleuth. After reaching the short list for the first
annual YouWriteOn book of the year contest, but ultimately falling short, I
asked one of the finals judges what I could do better. He told me that I was
not a genre writer, my characters were too well developed and my overall style
or voice, if you will, was better suited to Novels with an upper case N. It
took me close to nine years of bouncing back and forth, resisting and then
following his advice, writing reams of stuff that never made it into the final
product, before I felt I had a book worth releasing.
What is your work
schedule like when you're writing?
Whenever I can. My day job has an extraordinarily erratic
schedule. Some days I’m in at four or five o’clock in the morning. Some days I
start at 3 PM or even 8 PM. Plus, I’m a husband and father, and those roles are
important to me. So I squeeze my writing into lunch breaks, those slivers of
time on days off when my domestic duties are complete, and a couple of times I
have scheduled a week of vacation simply so I can have Days to Write.
Where do you get your
ideas for your books?
Characters are the first thing that come to me and they are
conglomerations of people I know or have known, real and fictional characters I
have read about, and myself. There is at least a bit of me in every character
in both books, and they both have a pretty large cast.
When did you write
your first book and how old were you?
My first book was a collection of short stories that I wrote
when I was in seventh grade. So that would make me twelve years old. The
stories were all excruciatingly derivative of things like The Mad Scientists Club and The
Marvelous Inventions of Alvin Fernald with a bit of Twenty-One Balloons and The
Hobbit thrown into the mix.
What do you like to
do when you're not writing?
I love to read. Big surprise there. And although I’m not a
fan of the word “avid”, I think that describes my relationship with
photography. Cooking is fun. Gardening is something I enjoy but am not terribly
successful at. And both my wife and I love to travel, visit museums and go to
concerts. To completely decompress I play guitar.
What was one of the
most surprising things you learned in creating your books?
That I could do it. I didn’t start writing with any
intention to publish until I was in my late thirties. It began as a challenge,
something to stimulate the grey cells that would involve something I was
already passionate about.
How many books have
you written?
I’m guessing we don’t want to include the seventh grade
short story collection. So the answer is two. Boomerang
and The
Baer Boys.
Which is your
favourite and why?
That’s like asking who I love more, my son or my daughter.
As a child, what did
you want to do when you grew up?
Let’s see. Architect. Car designer. Rock and roll musician.
Late night talk show host. Actor. That one lasted all the way into college.
What are you working on now?
I am about 18,000 words into a book featuring the main
characters from Boomerang
and also making notes for a follow up to The
Baer Boys that would more prominently feature the character of Art
Baer, the father.
Bio
We will dispense with the third person nonsense one usually finds
in bios of this sort. Born in Michigan and transplanted to Arizona early in
life, I have been avoiding skin cancer and gila monsters for decades and still
am grateful not to be shovelling snow. By way of a day job I have been
littering up the retail industry for longer than either retail industry or
myself would care to admit. When not persuading innocents to part with their
hard earned funds in order to obtain a shiny object or two, I read, play
guitar, play with my dog Max, go on hikes with family and friends, and on
occasion I have been known to pretend to be moderately knowledgeable in the
subtleties of wine. When I retire from the day job I will be infesting whatever
local theatre company that will have me.
I would love for you to drop by and say hello at any or all
of these spots.
http://alanhutcheson.blogspot.com/ otherwise known as Sketches by Plumboz
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fmthend90now/ Where you can find a bit of my photography
Critique Service for Writers
Flash 500 Home Page: Flash Fiction, Humour Verse
and Novel Opening Chapter and Synopsis Competitions
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