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Written by James Davis:
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On a quiet Tuesday in January of 2010, in Vancouver, in Kitsilano inside Benny's on Broadway, I casually interviewed two writers--B.S.1 at 4:30PM and S.L.2 at 8:00PM--with the intention of publishing each interview in a local grassroots art news medium at a bi-monthly interval. To my surprise, in the following week, one of the two writers, on the condition of anonymity herein, queried me about the possibility of engineering a contest, a warm and cordial one, insinuating “irrational urge” as his or her chief motive. To my disbelief, the second of the two writers accepted the challenge. And so I, James Davis, having heard that light comes from heat, agreed to devise this contest. In the following days, I configured my two pages of ad lib interview notes into an amalgamated and candid split-screen contrapuntal contest. Once completed, both writers were offered editing opportunities and have ultimately consented to the finished presentation, including the six sentences you just read, and now the seventh: Each writer invites you, yes you, one amongst a coterie, to choose the writer whose future book you would most prefer to read on the basis of the information adduced. Delineate your impressions based on your own standards of judgement. You can vote by emailing either B.S. or S.L. a memo of support.
Lets begin. Both expositors are not celebutantes. Both expositors have not met one another. They do, however, share similar socioeconomic and educational backgrounds; they were both raised on a georgic landscape; they are similar-looking twenty-seven year old male fiction writers who have self-published one English book, and are constructing a second, which will be available in the foreseeable future. Let’s unveil further:
1) During writing, do you ever feel precarious or incapable?
B.S: Even though I have no choice but to keep telling myself I’m an excellent writer, I cannot shake the feeling that I am incapable of writing. It takes me an entire day to get one paragraph just right. And lately, on average, I find it virtually impossible to write at all. I don’t have the slightest clue as to why I feel frustrated. By waiting faithfully, my hope is that the feeling will subside. With self-congratulatory whispers, I boost my shaky spirits. And by remembering my dreams, I renew my powers and plod onward.
S.L: It’s when I’m not writing that I feel precarious and incapable. The longer it is between sessions, the worse it gets. When I begin, it’s very difficult to get past that first sentence when I’m over-analyzing and fearful instead of saying “to hell with it” and going forth. But while I’m getting work done, I’m in the ‘zone’ and I’m able to switch off from confronting my self-esteem and simply perform the action of writing. I feel like nothing can touch me.
2) Your email address if people would like to purchase your book?
B.S: I anticipate providing my email address would threaten my privacy. But if you are interested in obtaining my prose, please contact me indirectly via the grapevine of James Davis, formulator of this contest:
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. With regards to book availability, I have four hundred ninety-six copies at my parents house...all of which are for sale. The cost is forty dollars, taxes included; all copies have been personally signed and are of a limited edition. As long as you live in Canada, I can have the copies delivered to you at no extra charge.
S.L: If anyone is interested in contacting me, my email address is
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, though I will say that copies of my novel are in very short supply, and tracking one down will be difficult. I loosely maintain a blog--myspace.com/twomileroad--which has information on the book as well as some spoken word recordings. There is an audio recording of an interview with a radio journalist from the University of Winnipeg which outlines much of the process in creating the book.
3) What incentives sustain your day-to-day motivation to write?
B.S: Even though writing isn’t inherently pleasurable to me, what sustains my day-to-day motivation to write is simple: I have a dream. I have a hard time articulating my dream without blushing as it involves an SL-Class Benz, The Giller, a model, and a mansion in the hills. Just kidding. Well...sort of. But even more than these things, I fantasize most about being revered and, one day, abhorred (sic).
S.L: My day to day motivation is sustained by a sense that if I didn’t write, or if I decided to give it up, then there would be a hole in my life that would forever eat at me. Through workshops at UBC, and having spent time at the Banff Centre and in the company of other writers and artists, I understand that this is who I am. Also, I use my writing as a incentive to explore the world. It’s an excuse to go outside and take a look around, and make something of what I see. It’s all usable, and this lends meaning to the little things.
4) What has been the main source of your skill as a writer?
B.S: I was born with whatever abilities I demonstrate. I have faith that I am special. All I do is trust my intuition because that’s all writing is about. My skill is also derived from other writers. Because everything has already been said and because the experiences of other writers triumph over my own personal experience, I believe becoming a better writer involves a laborious process of learning what other writers have to say. Yes this process is never-ending. Yes I submissively gaze at the auras of published writers and feel intimidated. But then I rely on my genetics and I have faith I will be fine. Occasionally, however, when I feel like writing, I re-arrange, re-state, and fix their ideas, thereby, making them mine.
S.L: The source of my skill comes from….writing, I guess. I’d be a better hockey player if I still played the game or at least took to the ice with a stick and a puck every once in a while. I used to be better at hockey than writing, but once I quit hockey and wrote more, I can say that I’m far advanced in my writing abilities. If you’re asking what makes me a good writer, I suppose I’d answer in the same way.
5) How would you characterize yourself as a writer?
B.S: I’ve always wanted to be asked this question. I am avant-garde and cosmopolitan. I am unnoticed, up-and-coming, and valuable. On some rare occasions, I am divine. Is this a trick question? Anyways, in the future, I plan to be more mysterious and stirring so that I can be more prodigious and lucrative.
S.L: My writing weighs heavily on character development, in particular, voice. I like them to be relatable, tangible and familiar such that I may entice readers to take a leap of faith...to live for awhile in their shoes. Then, I set them apart from one another by using humour.
6) Please reflect and comment on why your first book didn’t attract a publisher?
B.S: This may sound arrogant but I won’t take accountability for not being published. I know who I am, what I am doing, and I know that I am better than the average writer. I deserve a prize. I have faith that the public would have loved my last book because I love my last book. Time and time again, editors cannot recognize talent because they weren’t reading my book properly. If they had taste, I would have capitalized by now. But more so, my first book didn’t publish because of a lack of marketing. If I had more publicity, more people would have loved it. All writers deserve to be paid, me included.
S.L: The first book didn’t publish because, for one, it was a first book written by an overzealous and idealistic individual whose ambition surpassed his abilities. I won’t get into a self-critique, but to sum up, I didn’t know what the hell I was doing and it didn’t matter if a publishing house wanted it or not. I just wanted to have a book in my hands with my name on it as the author, and that’s what I got, all on my own. That, for me, was a rite of passage that allowed me to believe that I am a writer, and with all those successes and mistakes from the writing and publishing of the novel, I can do better next time.
7) Comment on the recognition and handling of your weaknesses or limitations? B.S: My greatest weakness is that I don’t have many weaknesses which has the effect of undermining my motivation to improve. Rather than face my weaknesses, I reconcile them by buffing up my strengths; my motto is “stick with what you know.” Sure it takes energy to filter out feedback. For example, some critics say my writing voice is the same as it was five years ago...that I stopped improving. I’ll respond with a question: why change what is already good enough? As such, I believe I could be a writing instructor. Even though spell check is my friend, and even though I don’t bother with a dictionary, I believe that if no one sees it, it didn’t happen. What’s more, I don’t envision my audience as being able to notice the boo boos I might make anyways.
S.L: With regards to handling limitations and weaknesses, I’m a student of writing, and I will always be. Sometimes, I can get down on myself with the slightest comment; this isn’t easy, but it can apply to much more than writing. The eclipse of feedback can threaten to blacken the confidence and even obliterate the whole individual. I have learned to see a bigger picture. If someone offers me a job to teach other writers, I’ll take it. But that’s not saying I’ll feel comfortable in that position.
8) "Among the candy-like blobs of sea-licked glass--lemon, cherry, peppermint--and the banded pebbles, and the little fluted shells with lustered insides, sometimes small bits of pottery, still beautiful in glaze and color, turned up. I do not doubt that among those slightly convex chips of majolica ware found by our child there was one whose border of scrollwork fitted exactly, and continued, the pattern of a fragment I had found in 1903 on the same shore." Can you provide an impression of the aforementioned excerpt?
B.S: Whoever wrote that is portentous (sic) and mustn’t have any merit in the literary community because I think people prefer general terms over details. They only want understandable words like “power,” “soul,” “heaven,” and “wonderful.” What’s more, when I implement generalities, I can guarantee I’ve captured the truth. For example: “wonderful power is a heavenly soul.” It’s so true that you can flip it around: “A heavenly soul is a wonderful power.” And isn’t the truth what people want? If I cannot understand the writing, the writer has to change. What does “majolica” mean anyways? Whoever wrote that is showing off how much he or she knows, which reminds me of how little I know. The smartest people are the ones that focus on what they know.
S.L: I choose not to answer this one. Call it self-conscious but I don't feel comfortable doing so. I don't know if I'm in a position to critique, because I still feel that I have much to learn, and would rather convey that message to the readers of the article rather than to try to prove that I know something. The smartest people I know are the ones who know what they don’t know.
9) As a writer, are you competing against anyone?
B.S: Yes; always. Since money and time are in short supply--amongst readers who give it and writers who take it--competition between writers is inevitable. I’m uncertain as to whether I’ll have a chair when the music stops. I’m uncertain as to whether I’ll be seen, read, and liked...never mind pursued, enjoyed, and acclaimed. Knowing this causes me a great deal of day-to-day anxiety and even anger. Plus, analyzing audience niches followed by the fight for positioning tires me out. Since my own money and time, not to mention energy, is in short supply, I don’t know how much more I can invest in myself, which is why I have little left to invest in others. And so, every day, my dreams sustain me; but I confess my dreams also cost me.
S.L: The rewards of writing are in abundant supply--solidarity with fellow writers, the private gratification of augmenting my ability, et cetera. Writing renews me every day without costing me anything. As such, the only competition I’d face would have to be imagined for me by someone else.
________________ 1 a fictitious foil 2 Steve Locke
Written by James Davis:
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