Q and A – an old, informal interview conducted by freelancer Robin MacDonald via email; never published.
A short (26 question) interview with Gene Stewart
Question
When did you first discover you were going to be a writer? How old were you and what is your earliest memory about it?
Answer
Age eight, “The Big Fish”, a fictional account of my friends Craig Weaver, Scott Coons, Alan Ryden, and Marvin Hudson, all with me on a fishing trip, the kind my family often took then. Wrote it on the sofa in the living room one summer morning, wanting to capture it because it seemed “good” somehow. I’d recently moved, between the end of second grade and the start of third grade, from Munster, having attended the Mountain House School in Cresson, to Ebensburg, Cambria county’s seat. The friends I wrote about were all Cresson kids I’d known, so a touch of nostalgia must have colored the story. Scott Coons remained my best friend through junior high, with us shuttling back and forth for weekend visits and during the summer for longer stays. Marvin was a nut, always acting wildly silly, and so was treasured, especially when swimming; his hyperactive Creature from the Black Lagoon slayed us every time. My first meeting with Craig, the first day of first grade I think, was when he walked up to me, timid at age six, and punched me in the stomach. “Now hit me back and we can be friends,” he said. So I did. The crux of “The Big Fish” was that Craig, ever the devil, said the word, “Damn”, in the story, much to the chagrin of the rest of us. Yes, crossing lines, flaunting convention, and being a tad profane colored even my very first remembered written fiction. I can only blame it all on Craig Weaver.
Question
What’s your favorite written work?
Answer
Probably Bleak House by Charles Dickens. A genius at the top of his form, at the height of his powers, ad libs 50 main characters and an astounding structure for serial publication. Inimitable.
Question
What is your favorite written work of your own? What is it about? Why is it so meaningful to you?
Answer
Often it’s the one I’ve just finished or the one I’m working on, but I do have a fondness for the first novel that just jelled. Dead to Rights is about mind control, the nature of reality, and doing the best with what limited means we have. It means a lot because so many of the scenes work on different levels. My subconscious was humming for that one.
Question
Are your characters often based on real people?
Answer
I do portraits very rarely. Usually the characters come to me via my subconscious and I meet and understand them along with the reader.
Question
Who in your own life inspired you most?
Answer
My family, I suppose. I’m not much for hero worship or unbridled admiration.
Question
Was there a particular teacher or mentor who encouraged or helped you to be a writer? Do you remember something specific they said or did? A moment when it clicked?
Answer
David “Chase” Sanborn, my sixth grade teacher, discovered I wrote and marched me one day after school uptown to the offices of the Mountaineer Herald, Ebensburg Pennsylvania’s newspaper. He asked if they could use some filler, and so I began publishing at age 11. Mostly poems and a few short essays, but it was a start, and showed me it could be real. Also, it was the first and only practical reaction anyone had shown to finding out that I wrote.
Question
What is your favorite genre to write? To read?
Answer
This changes over time, and I phase through most genres in both reading and writing. I suppose mystery/suspense holds a central place, and forms a good platform for any genre, if one is to be read.
Question
Can you sum up mankind and/or its history in one word or phrase?
Answer
Human nature versus better intentions.
Question
How about its future?
Answer
Some of us tried.
Question
Who’s your favorite writer, both living and of all time?
Answer
Charles Dickens is my favorite of all time. Also like Anthony Burgess. Living? Maybe me, maybe Thomas Pynchon. Or Harlan Ellison. Or Ray Bradbury. Too many come to mind.
Question
Favorite painter?
Answer
I like that Picasso mastered all known forms, then created several new ones. As Beethoven did, as Miles Davis did, in music, and as Dickens did in writing. But probably Monet, or Cezanne, who painted more as I do, or Salvadore Dali, for his draftsmanship and surreal imagery, or Ian Miller, for his jagged, woodblock effect. Again, too many come to mind.
Question
Do you work in a studio when you write?
Answer
If writing by hand, it can be anywhere, on a clipboard. I’ve written in moving vehicles, during parties, anyplace by hand. My computer’s on a desk beside the fireplace between the kitchen and the foyer in our raised-ranch style house. Hallway to my back. Place doesn’t matter that much to me, and conditions matter only a little. When writing, I’m transported anyway, into the fiction. You often have to “wake” me from writing so I’ll come eat.
Question
Do you often complete a story in one sitting, or does it take several days of working at it here and there?
Answer
I trust my subconscious, so short stories usually come right out and can be finished in one sitting. This includes several drafts at once, on computer. If I write it by hand, then the handwritten version is a first draft I clean up when I later type it. In novels, I do a finished draft of each day’s stint before moving on. Learned this from Dean Koontz, who, back in the days of typewriters, advised one get each page into finished form before moving on. Good advice, it’s served me well.
Question
Have you ever written something you dreamed?
Answer
All the time, sometimes directly, other times just the imagery or a snippet of scene or even just a feeling. I recall many dreams. They tend to be layered and fairly complex, and I can often recall something of them when I sit down to write, if the emotional context of the story parallels the dream enough to warrant it. I’m not yet to the H.P. Lovecraft stage of dreaming entire stories, though. And the eldritch creatures leave me pretty much alone, unless I owe them money.
Question
What’s your favorite pastime when not writing?
Answer
I like to read, listen to music, play guitar and flute, paint in acrylics, watercolors, and sumi, and draw cartoons. Also, I walk, spend time with my wife and kids, and watch movies or documentaries. Travel is enjoyable, too, and seeing new sights, meeting new people.
Question
Do any or all of your stories have a particular underlying theme or message?
Answer
Possibly, but I don’t know, because I’m the common element. Each story is approached on its own terms, and in what ever way seems best for it. This means each one is distinct, to me. However, my motives for writing may touch on basic themes without me realizing. I think I tend to write about average folks in extraordinary circumstances, and people struggling in a chaotic, often belligerent world.
Question
Do you write at the same time each day?
Answer
My novels are written in morning stints. I usually write in the mornings, but writing can happen any time and anywhere for me. When the story comes, you write it down. It’s only polite.
Question
Do you consider yourself a disciplined person?
Answer
In some areas, yes. In others, ha.
Question
Where is your favorite place you’ve ever lived? Why?
Answer
I’ve lived all over the world, most notably Misawa, Japan and Erlenbach, Germany. Stateside, I’ve lived in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, Mississippi, Georgia, and now Nebraska. Still haven’t found a favorite place, and maybe its the search that counts. Does “In my head” count?
Question
What one experience would you most like to have, if today were your last?
Answer
A miracle cure and astonishing recovery. Barring that, I’d like to experience Cosmic Consciousness. To be aware of everything in reality would keep you occupied for those final seconds, right?
Question
What would you like your peers to think/say about your work when you are gone from this world?
Answer
I’d hope they’d like it, and be kind about its flaws, and protective of its strengths. If they think it said something about the human condition, this plight called life, then that’d be good to know during my flash of Cosmic Cognizance, eh?
Question
Do you find more inspiration from the joyful moments in life, or from the sad?
Answer
It’s a mix, and depends on the story, but I do like to ride out my angst and anger in fiction. Creating’s a result of play, not pain, so my fiction is me playing with what ever touched me, good or bad.
Question
Is there a particular place you would like to see that you haven’t yet seen?
Answer
Macchu Picchu is said to be sliding off its mountain, and I’d love to see it before that happens. The dark side of the Moon is interesting, and what’s under the ice in Antarctica.
Question
What is the most memorable or favorite gift you ever received?
Answer
A copy of “Pickwick Papers” from the Easter Bunny when I was about 12.
Question
Do you hope your children become writers? Do any of them show an interest or ability now?
Answer
My three sons have been warned that writing is an avocation, not a profession. And all three have shown ability. They know to pursue other things, though, such as being a physicist, engineer, or stage magician. Anything to earn a living while writing, you see.
Question
What was the most difficult story you ever told. How did it affect you?
Answer
Maybe my father’s death, which I didn’t face up to very well, but I try to deal with difficult things, rather than shy from them, so too many other examples come to mind. I often deal with pain, loss, and suffering in my work and try to show a way through, how others cope, what they do to get by, how they can make things better sometimes. It affects me by showing me what’s inside each story, each moment, each soul. And I hope it makes me stronger, or at least more patient.