A few days back I read an interview with the author Percival Everett, and his words have been haunting me, raising questions.
He’s an amazing writer with a terrific career. There’s so much in the interview, about writing and in particular being a Black author, about his thoughts on magical realism, and “Afropessimism,” (which I’m also seeing spelled Afro-Pessimism in other pieces and I’m not sure which is the more common usage, apologies). He talks about being an artist and a workshop leader.
The interview is worth reading. Also, pick up his books!
There’s one strange riff in the interview, though, in relation to his work and writing as a process, that just seems so…distancing. The interview begins by establishing this distance:
AYIZE JAMA-EVERETT [Interviewer]: I haven’t read all of your work.
PERCIVAL EVERETT: Well, neither have I, so it’s okay.
Do you remember all of it?
I don’t remember the last one. I remember parts. People ask me about scenes, and I look at them like a deer caught in the headlights — like, what?
What does it mean to imagine an author, himself, hasn’t read all of his own work? Curious. I assume he’s speaking lightly, horsing around, enjoying the words, the ideas…
I laughed out loud at his description of the writing process:
Writing a novel is like knowingly entering a bad relationship.
Then it comes to the subject that you all know I’ve been thinking about lately: What is a writer’s relationship to audience, and how and when can we use it to create better work? How has the question of audience supported my work, and how can it in turn inspire, fuel and inform the work of others, those I work with or workshop with, those who send manuscripts my way, others… (yours)?
Percival Everett says:
I never think about readers — not to say I don’t want to be read. But there’s no profit in imagining some ideal reader when everyone is different. So, I’m the reader I’m trying to appeal to. Which, sadly, explains my book sales.
He’s in line with a few other authors mentioned previously…Brandan came up with a great list on a post (Feb. 21st).
Though, I’d say that imaging an ideal reader is different from considering the fact of readers, overall, a mix and mashup out there potentially listening.
When he writes, "…I’m the reader I’m trying to appeal to,” I’d say that, right there, is a sense of audience. We are our own audience.
He has a much larger audience than just himself, of course, and for all of us—hopefully that audience grows, from the self to reach others.
Check out the interview, if you’re interested! There’s more to it than I’ve encapsulated.
Keep going, stay safe, enjoy the day!
M
ps—For more on the question of audience…see you here!: Consider Audience, Shape Your Delivery | monicadrake
Thank you for the mention :)
As for the analogy in the interview and how writing a book can be like “knowingly entering a bad relationship”, I’ll defer again to something said by Bret Easton Ellis. That being (paraphrasing) “that a books calls to you”.
A line from the beginning of his new book -- “...and it wasn’t until 2020 that I felt I could begin ‘The Shards, or ‘The Shards’ had decided that ‘Bret’ was ready because the book was announcing itself to me.”
It seems that for some the book is something that demands itself be written -- kind of like some outer force making the author it’s conduit. Whether or not the whole notion is played up to be some kind of “romanticised artist called upon by the muse” routine, I think there’s something to it. People seem to be drawn and write about certain things for reasons which aren’t always necessarily obvious to them.
And maybe it’s not something on the outside coming in, like a muse, but something on the inside getting out, like an exorcism. Maybe it’s one or the other, maybe it’s both, or maybe it’s neither. Regardless, it’s neat to speculate and talk about.