Trevor JohnsonWhat does it mean to be a "writer"? So many imagines flash before me, from stacks of dusty books, roll top desks, and quill pens to black turtle necks and soul patches of the beats. In contrast, today's writer is very different from the writer's of past generations, the publishing world itself is extremely different then it was even 15 or 20 years ago. Everything is so open, rapid, and vitally diverse in nature that it draws a wide range of writer and reader. Today's writer could still use a quill or bang on a bongo, but more likely they carry a laptop (or a notebook because paper was created specifically for the writer), and sneaked off for a quite minute or two after the children are asleep or boss is not looking. Yet, it is in those small moments of solitude that this generation's legacy is being crafted.
One man beginning to contribute his own chapter to this legacy is Trevor Johnson. Trevor is currently living in Texas with his wife and daughter, and while obtaining his BA in English he is also working full-time. He writes whenever he can (at lunch, on breaks, or on the couch in the middle of night), but he has managed to publish two great short stories,
Break and
Visage, and recently talked about what we might expect from him in the near future.
Orange Alert (OA): Who are some of your biggest literary influences?
Trevor Johnson (TJ): When I started writing consistently three years ago, I was really into Bukowski. The previous year (I was living in Nashville then) a girl I was seeing had his novel Women and I read it. I thought it was great, though at the time I didn’t consciously appreciate the simple, straightforward manner he used. I spent my twenties in scenes right out of a Bukowski story, and when I moved back to Texas to finish school I began reading everything he had written. Then I started writing my own stuff.
Lately I’ve been reading a lot of Hemingway, who also wrote in a terse, economic style. The Old Man and the Sea is very well written. I just read Camus’ The Stranger, and was impressed by his clarity and similar economy of words. Other writers whose concepts or style has made an impression on me are Ayn Rand, John Kennedy Toole, Kurt Vonnegut, John Irving, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Franz Kafka, and some others. I also like Chuck Palahniuk and Stephen King; I get lots of ideas from them.
I work at a postal facility as a data conversion operator, and I’m able to listen to music or whatever while I work. I usually listen to audio books though. I must have listened to over a hundred last year. I’ll give any book a chance, a s long as it’s not romance or heavy sci-fi, and I get ideas from these also. I keep a little notepad on my console and jot everything down when the supervisors aren’t looking. I have dozens of these little notebooks filled with story ideas, concepts, scenes, character sketches, whatever. It’s a good job for me, as a writer.
OA: How has the internet (blogs, lit mags, publishers, etc.) affected you as a writer?
TJ: For me, the internet serves as an all-you-can-read buffet of short fiction. I have a Sidekick smart phone, and the web browser is amazing. It’s like a tiny laptop and loads full web pages; it does everything but play videos. I keep folders of bookmarked pages for blogs, literary magazines, and literary news sites. Whenever I have a little free time during the day I read fiction or google things related to stories I’m working on. I also have a blog, but with limited time I only post once or twice a week.
On my phone, I have thirty-five bookmarked lit mags in a folder, though I haven’t gotten a chance to check them all out; there are several sites that I read extensively. This folder didn’t exist before I published Visage, and when I’m ready to submit something new I’ll have plenty of places to choose from.
OA: What was the inspiration behind the story
Visage? In it you use quite a bit of religious imagery, will that be a continuing theme in you future work?
TJ: I wrote Visage after reading about a grilled cheese sandwich that had an image of the Virgin Mary toasted into the bread. It sold for $28,000 on Ebay. It’s ridiculous. Now a guy has a fish stick with a visage of Christ seared into it, and he’s looking to cash in. People will see what they want to see. Who’s to say it’s not Jesus but actually Willie Nelson? How much would an image of Willie fetch?
The theme I wanted to explore in Visage was this spiritual emphasis put on something totally coincidental. There are other examples of these coincidences, like a brain tumor that mysteriously disappears. To me, this is just something that science hasn’t unraveled yet, and the term “miracle” is used as a placeholder until we can discover the reasons through advances in science. It’s worth noting that everyone has a breaking point, which has been developed by every experience that shaped them through childhood, adolescence, etc. When a person reaches their breaking point, religion can be a powerful method of coping with whatever they are dealing with. It’s very understandable.
I have to note here that I’m an agnostic, basically because I haven’t witnessed anything that sways me one way or the other. The idea of a benign god watching over us is romantic and comforting, and the devoutly religious person does the world a lot of good. But morally, it’s all common sense in the end, except that religion is a sort of support group with tithes or donations and personal time necessary for inclusion. Sleeping in on Sunday is nice too.
As far as future “Jesus fiction,” as I refer to it with friends, I have two definite projects that will deal with Jesus and religious issues.
OA: Do you listening to music while you write? If yes, who are a few of your favorite artists? Who do you listen to when you are not writing?
TJ: Most of the time, I don’t listen to music when I write. I write when I get a chance, and because it’s not as often as I’d like, I write in longhand in a notebook. Sometimes I use a laptop to create outlines or notes over a story, and I’ll open up I-tunes. I like to listen to ambient or mostly instrumental music with low-key vocals. I like Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works, Mogwai, Khonnor, and some others I can’t remember right now. A couple of friends have recently told me about two primarily instrumental bands: Explosions in the Sky, and Air. I haven’t had time to check either out yet.
When I’m not writing, I listen to Bright Eyes, Minus the Bear, Elliott Smith, The Decemberists, Yo La Tengo, Dredg, Deftones, and some others. Since I’ve been reading fiction daily and writing whenever I can, I don’t have time to look for new music. I’ve bookmarked this blog on my phone, and I think I’ll find music I’m into listed here.
OA: How has having a family affected your writing in style, content, and/or frequency?
TJ: Between my wife, my daughter, and trying to finish school, I don’t find much time to write. When I first started writing regularly, I would write for two or three hours in the dead of the night, every night. Now I write for two or three hours every week, sporadically, with fifteen minutes here, a half hour there. The best part about writing longhand in a notebook is that I can keep it nearby and pick it up from time to time; but the writing suffers, and there are times when I’ll write a few sentences and throw the notebook across the room. Consistency is important, and though I don’t write everyday, I’ll occasionally write everyday for a short span of time and get a little accomplished. Eventually I’ll finish a story and the rewriting is much easier.
I write for myself first, so content and style aren’t affected by anyone or anything. My wife was raised as a Christian, and we don’t necessarily see eye-to-eye, but she knows I’m not setting out to intentionally hurt anyone. Sometimes I’m only trying to make a subtle point, or to deal with an issue I have by writing about it. I respect the beliefs of others, and if anything I’m just trying to get people to think for themselves. I do not chase down Jehovah Witnesses in the street and knock them from their bikes.
OA: What is next for Trevor Johnson?
TJ: I just shelved a novella I’m thirty pages into so that I could write a story set during the Civil War and send it out, and then I planned to get back to the novella. I’ve set a goal of one hundred pages for the novella, and I want to have something in the submission process while I’m working on such a big project. The short story is still untitled, and it’s about a runaway slave fighting for the Union. The novella, Jesus de Cristo, is farcical, with Jesus playing a major character.
Bonus Question:
OA: Coffee? If yes, what is your favorite kind of coffee, and what is your favorite coffee place?
TJ: I’m not huge on coffee. I only like it when it’s really cold out. I like white mocha with extra an espresso shot from Starbucks. If I need energy, I drink energy drinks like Rockstar and Monster. With a family and school and an erratic job (sometimes we work up to fifty hours a week—rain, sleet, or snow), I usually need energy drinks throughout the day.
For information on Trevor Johnson you can visit his
blog.
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Listening:
OA: What is your typical starting point for a new piece and how long does it take you to complete that piece? On-stage or at home?
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OA: I’ve read that you create a piece a day, typically how long does it take you to complete a piece, and what is your basic starting point for a new piece? .jpg)
Bonus Question:
OA: Who are some of your biggest influences?
