There's a terrific interview with my brother Tod over at The Writers Inner Journey. Here's an excerpt:
"That I am able to ruminate on these rather dark issues for great lengths of time is somewhat disturbing in that I think the difference between what is clinically considered insane and what is clinically considered a writer isn’t that different—we both have voices in our head for prolonged periods of time and, occasionally, have intense conversations with them—but I think the only time I’ve been frightened by an idea was when I didn’t think I knew how to write it or wasn’t confident in my ability to do the story justice."
Tod’s ruminations are good and true. I’ve often thought I’m a little schizo because I’m often inside the heads of several characters when I am writing. But nothing about a novelist is concealed for long. After around 70 novels, I figure that every wart and kink and oddity and darkness I possess is on display in my work. And my few virtues (if there are any), too.
I thought Tod gave a terrific interview and that the interviewer, Meredith, asked fantastic questions. A point that Tod made that has stayed with me is that he doesn’t do whatever James Patterson is doing. It’s nice to know that literature as opposed to simple story telling (Patterson) is very much alive, that insights into how we live and love and feel are being written by serious writers.
I am so thankful you posted the excerpt from your brother’s interview. I can completely identify with Tod’s comments. I wrote about my struggle to write in my recent blog post titled: “Writer’s Laryngitis” (http://takeme2cruisecontrol.blogspot.com/)Sometimes, I find the pressure to write according to my level of satisfaction to be a very brutal process. Thank you so much…your blog inspires me.