Interview with Christopher Dwyer

Christopher Dwyer is a romantic at heart. Sometimes his love involves amputations, or maybe it requires suicide to be reunited with a love, but however deep the darkness, there is always an element of hope, a sweetness buried underneath it all. Sickly sweet.

We met in a small cabin that was barely standing, about a half mile behind his new house in Boston. We were a bit off the beaten path, the city not far away, but in reality, a lifetime. His lovely wife waved at us, as we started down the path that took us to the edge of their property, a slight tic in her eye, some unknown communication being shared between the two.

He knew where he was going, so I followed. He asked me not to mention the altar, the shelves of dolls bound with husks and wire. I said I wouldn’t mention the bag of hair from Mr. Baer, or the stolen hockey mask from Dr. Jones. Well, I lied. It bothered me, and I wanted this record in case things went south. In case a certain parrot turned up dead in San Francisco.

He lit a fire in the pot-bellied stove, a few candles sitting in the window, and sat down at a darkly stained table, twisting off the cap of his flask, and we settled in, warmed and bound by the ever contracting woods around us.

RICHARD THOMAS: When did you start writing?

CHRISTOPHER DWYER: Started writing way back when I was a little kid, wrote these stories with my own visions of zombies, vampires and other creatures of the night. It’s actually a bit funny; I would be in elementary school reading Stephen King novels while all the other kids were reading actual children’s fiction. I guess I have Mr. King to thank for what I eventually became as a writer.

RT: When did you realize you wanted to take a serious stab at writing?

CD: Didn’t really become serious about it until after college when I was an editor and lead reporter for a newspaper outside of Boston. I think it was the fact that I was so immersed in words, in language, that really sparked me to take my writing seriously. Too, part of it was the schedule. As an editor and reporter, you end up working a couple 24-hour shifts back-to-back, and your sleep patterns are way beyond fucked-up. Just seemed like a perfect time to take my work seriously and spend weekends, nights, whatever, just pouring over my style and my visions.

[A groan settles just outside the cabin. A deep creaking.]

CD: Wind. There’s some old trees here. Don’t worry. They won’t tip over tonight.

RT: I’ll take your word for that.

CD: Another sip?

RT: What does noir mean to you? Neo-noir?

CD: Good question. I think the term “noir,” to me at least, has become more of a device than a genre. I associate first-person POV, drugs, bad dudes with guns, and missing people as the calling cards of noir as a genre. But noir as a storytelling device just translates into gritty, slinky fiction that stabs at your emotions. “Neo-noir” is probably what I’d call your style, my style, and the style of some of our other close peers in the fiction world: dirty fiction with strong storytelling.

RT: What would you call your writing, your style?

CD: I like to call myself a noir writer because it’s the style I’m most comfortable with. If anything, all of my stories are going to be noir derivatives with sprinkles of other influences. When October Falls is written in the noir style and has the type of tone you’d associate with the genre, but by the middle of the novel it’s clear that there’s a sticky sci-fi overtone to it all.

RT: Right. What is it you try to do with your stories, and novels, what response do you want from you audience?

CD: It’s all about emotion. Tugging at the heartstrings, eliciting some tears, driving goosebumps. It doesn’t matter what genre I’m writing in, I want that emotional response from my readers. I want my audience to be scared, moved or driven to keep reading because they’re emotionally invested in the story. With When October Falls, I wanted my readers to be concerned with Clint’s demise into the disappearance of Jenna and to be emotionally moved when he’d have those dreamy flashbacks.

RT: And you certainly like floating in that dream state.

[Christopher’s eyes float to the windows. The candle flames flicker. The windows are shut, nailed shut. Painted shut.]

RT: What are your short and long term goals?

CD: Short-term, I want When October Falls to be widely read, and I want people to be aware that I exist. If anything, I can only hope it leads to landing an agent and selling my next novel to a big house in New York City. I want fiction to be a part of my life until I’m dead and buried, and even then, I still want people to be reading my shit. Long-term, and I sort of already answered this, I want to be with a big publishing house. I’d like to someday be able to write a television pilot and be involved with coming up with the next great “X-Files” or “Lost.”

RT: The amputation fetish. Discuss.

CD: Probably one of the most popular questions I’m asked. I stumbled upon it by accident back in the day while doing some research for a story for the Will Clarke writing intensive at The Cult. What seemed like a cool idea at the time ended up spurring at least 75 pages in research on the various types of amputation-related mental illnesses. It seemed like an interesting backdrop to a series of noir short stories that I’ve written (and will continue to write; working on one right now). My story “Crackle” was probably my strongest piece utilizing the amputation fetish backdrop, partly because of the supernatural tinges to it.

RT: I love that story. It makes you wonder, how far would you go to please your sexual partner, your love, would you cut them, slap them? That mix of pleasure and pain.

You like to write with a heavy setting, floating in the surreal, that place between sensation and reality. Tell us about this.

CD: I’ve always been a proponent of true storytelling and sucking the reader into the text via the five senses. Colors, sensations, feelings, they’re all important to a good story. And it has a direct link to the idea of eliciting emotion in a reader. You want them to be invested in your characters, your plot, the overall story arcs, and going heavy on sensation is a great way of pushing that. Too, blurring the surreal line between sensation and reality is something I like to be a part of my work; it’s always cool to hear a reader say they felt like they were dreaming while reading my work.

RT: What is your writing process like? Do you have a set schedule (everyday versus one big push)? Do you plot?

CD: I’ve never really had a process to writing, it’s really all about finding the time to write, even if it’s only a few hundred words here and there. I’ll take a weekend night, too, to really crank out some words. The last fifty pages of When October Falls were written in a fourteen-hour span, and to be honest, the majority of people who’ve read the novel so far state that it seemed like that section of the book was “on fire,” how it all flowed together perfectly. I’ve taken Chuck Palahniuk’s “headlights” method to heart; I never plot more than the next chapter.

RT: Any thoughts on print versus ebooks?

CD: I used to be so against e-books; I’m pretty old-fashioned in some regards. My wife bought me an iPad for Christmas and my views totally changed on the idea. I find that I’m purchasing more e-books now than printed ones. I guess it’s a convenience aspect that I can toss my iPad in my messenger bag and have access to three dozen books. Consider me a convert.

RT: I feel the same way.

Do you need an MFA to be a good writer?

CD: I think the MFA is a better link to teaching creative fiction and literature rather than it fueling how “good” you are as a writer. If I had the time and could do it, hell yeah, I’d start an MFA program tomorrow. I just don’t think it’s a necessity in being a good writer. I mean, Cormac McCarthy didn’t even fucking finish college and he’s one of the greatest writers of our time.

RT: Who are your main influences?

CD: Chuck Palahniuk, Craig Clevenger, Will Christopher Baer, Stephen Graham Jones, Stephen King, Chelsea Cain, Charlie Huston, Robert J. Sawyer, and the list goes on.

RT: You’re sentenced to live on a desert island, and you can’t bring one book, but you can bring the complete work of one author. Who do you bring and why?

CD: I’m going to have to go with King here.

RT: He might be my choice too.

CD: Part of it’s the quantity of his work and the fact that there are so many of his novels that I haven’t read. It reminds me of the Desmond character in “Lost,” how he didn’t read that last Dickens novel. As King progressed, his genres sort of spread out. He’s written a noir novel, literary ones, went back to his roots with horror, spun around to sci-fi. It’s all there if you’re stranded somewhere out in the Pacific.

RT: How has your writing evolved over the past five years?

CD: Fantastic question. I think that I’m still evolving, still learning the craft. If you read a short story I wrote back in 2005-2006 and compared it to When October Falls, you’d think that it was two completely different writers. Part of my development is due to the intensives at the Cult. Being able to study and interact with Clevenger, Drake, Baer, Jones, Barry . . . all of those workshops gave me guidance and helped me discover my voice.

RT: So true. I’ve definitely benefited from the influence of those guys, especially Clevenger.

What is it about writing that excites you?

CD: Eliciting emotion in a reader. That’s what does it for me. Scaring the shit out of someone, then making them cry seventy pages later. There’s no better feeling than giving a reader goosebumps.

[Christopher suddenly stands up and goes to the door, he pulls it open. He mumbles something, turns around to look at me, shakes his head. He closes the door and sits back down. He sips at the flask and offers me some more. I shake my head no.]

RT: What are the best books you read in 2010?

CD: I probably read around 75 books over the last year, and in no particular order, here are my top ones: Nik Korpon’s Stay God, Robert J. Sawyer’s Calculating God, Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, Charlie Huston’s My Dead Body . . .

RT: Been meaning to read his stuff, Huston.

CD:  . . . and a little book called Transubstantiate by some dude in Chicago.

RT: Hack. Give my your five favorite authors.

CD: Stephen King, Craig Clevenger, Chuck Palahniuk, Will Christopher Baer and Charlie Huston.

RT: That’s pretty close to mine. Maybe PKD instead of Huston. Or Straub.

What are your favorite novels?

CD: The Stand is always going to be one of my faves.

RT: Me too.

CD: I have a mint condition first edition somewhere in my house that I’ll never, ever part with. Baer’s Kiss Me, Judas is like the neo-noir bible, and Clevenger’s Dermaphoria is probably the most beautifully-written novel I’ve ever read.

RT: Totally agree.

You’ve done a lot of intensives at The Cult. Can you tell me a little bit about each of them, what you got out of each one?

Clevenger – Clevenger’s intensive was so beneficial that I took it twice. I honestly wouldn’t have been able to finish When October Falls without learning from him. Dialogue, descriptions, control . . . Clevenger really had it all in his intensives. The total writing package.

Stephen Graham Jones – SGJ was cool because he forced us to step outside of our comfort zones a bit and write stories that we ordinarily wouldn’t. I consider myself a big horror buff and honestly think I scare the shit out of a reader with my work, but Jones is truly a horror master and schooled all of us in that workshop.

Will Christopher Baer – The only reason I say it was my favorite intensive was because Baer was damn fucking cool. Seriously, it was akin to learning how to hit a fastball straight from Ted Williams or learning guitar riffs from Jimi Hendrix. Baer is a noir god and the feedback I received from him is something that I will never, ever forget. I remember one of my stories caused him to stop reading and just say “Uhhhh . . .” in shock. I took that as a compliment.

Will Clarke – Ah, the very first Cult Intensive. Will was very laid back, very cool, and taught us a lot about dialogue and getting into the heads of our characters.

Monica Drake – Monica’s intensive was interesting because of her “unpacking” technique, a method I still use today.

Max Barry – Before Max Barry’s intensive, I’d try and write 5,000 words in a single night and ignore my work the rest of the week. I loved his “ceiling” method, capping daily work at 400 or 500 words. To be honest, I would have blown my deadline for When October Falls if I didn’t leverage this method.

RT: You’re also very involved at The Velvet and Write Club. What do these groups do to make your writer’s life more successful?

CD: Those groups are like family to me. I wouldn’t be able to survive on my own in the writing world. While the life of a writer is a solitary one, it’s the peers that make it all worthwhile. People like you, Richard, and Axel Taiari, Nik Korpon, Caleb J. Ross, I consider all of them brothers in one large literary family. It’s good to be able to throw stuff at each other for feedback and know what works, what doesn’t. Your peers often know your style so they can pinpoint when you’re being lazy or need to step it up.

RT: Let’s talk about your book. Where did you get the idea for this story, for When October Falls?

CD: I had the idea of the “missing wife” plot for a while, it was just finding a cool backdrop for it. I’ve always been fascinated by ghosts and supernatural, and having the character of Jenna continually reach out to Clint really fueled the beginning of the novel. And, too, to add elements of noir in there, the spool un-threading and Clint finding exactly who’s behind it all, that was a dream to put together.

RT: Do you believe in dark matter?

CD: The more I researched it, the more I believed that it was all around us. It’s so cool to know that in our modern age there are still things about science and the universe and life that we cannot pick apart and understand.

RT: Do you think our souls continue after we die? (Is there a heaven/hell? A rebirth?)

CD: I was a forced Catholic when I was a child and pretty much abandoned all aspects of religion when I was a teenager. While I don’t believe in the typical aspects of heaven and hell, I know that there’s so much more to this life than the physical aspects. Are we reborn into an animal when we move on? Are we resurrected into a newborn child across the world? I don’t know, but I do believe that our souls are powerful and that they’re eternal.

RT: Do you believe in ghosts? Had any experiences with this?

[Christopher gets up, walks over to the stove, opens up the door with a long, metal hook, and kneels beside it. He stares into the flames for a moment, and then tosses in some new pieces of wood.]

CD: Absolutely.

[He stands back up and moves slowly to the chair, hands stuffed deep in his pockets.]

CD: Whether it’s what I wrote about in When October Falls or if there are actual supernatural beings all around us, I believe in it all. Doors close in my house when no one’s around and my two cats stare at certain parts of the house for hours. There has to be ghosts in my house, I can’t explain it any other way. A little creepy, but pretty cool. Although my wife will disagree me on that, though.

RT: Was there an underlying message you wanted to convey with this book?

CD: I think the central theme is that love transcends time and space and even though Clint and Jenna were separated by light years and miles, their love was so strong that it burst through those blockades. Overall, I really wanted to write a great story that would move readers emotionally and excite them enough about my work that they’d be interested in what I write in the future.

RT: How has it been working with Brown Paper Publishing?

CD: They are a perfect independent press, and Pablo d’Stair (BPP founder and CEO) is a fucking champ. He shared my vision from day one and he’s pretty much given me everything I’ve needed over the past year. Our relationship really started at the AWP conference last year in Denver. Goodloe Byron (fellow BPP author) and I were Facebook friends but had never connected in person, so I made it a point to seek out the BPP table at the AWP bookfair. Pablo was there, and we started chatting immediately. I told him I had something cool I was working on and he asked me to send a sample. A few weeks later, he basically said, “Finish it and we’ll put it out next year,” and the rest is history. He’s a fantastic human being and someone I’m proud to be able to work with.

RT: What’s the next long project for you?

CD: I just started working on the “bible” for my next novel. I had heard that the dudes that wrote Lost had a “series bible” that they leveraged when writing episodes, and since I’m straying from noir a bit into the horror and thriller category, I want to be able to write in third-person POV and know exactly how the multiple characters fit into the story. I’ll need to outline a bit and create this “bible” to keep myself on the right path. It’s a cool story that involves something supernatural and the opening chapter is so fucking cool, man, that I’d dare you not to keep reading after knowing what could possibly be coming up.

RT: Do you have any short stories coming out soon?

CD: Working on a short story that furthers the amputation fetish idea I wrote about in “Crackle” a couple years ago. Evolves it a bit, introduces a cool new aspect. Hopefully will be published sometime at the beginning of the summer. I’ve been so behind on writing short stories and I’ve recently realized that it’s only beneficial to throw down 3,000 words on something different after being married to a novel for so goddamn long.

RT: What else is on the horizon?

CD: I’m going to continue work on the new novel and hopefully have it finished around January or February of next year. It’s my goal to land this next novel with a big publishing house. Axel Taiari, Nik Korpon and I will have a new issue of our e-zine, Rotten Leaves, ready around late July 31, so I encourage any writers out there to send some cool, dark work our way. I’ll be pimping the hell outta When October Falls for the next few months as I hunker down and work on the next book.

[The tape cuts off here. Looking up I notice that the sun has set around us, the windows filled with a thick black film. The embers glow from the stove. We don’t speak for a while. The door rattles in its frame. It’s cold.]

 

ONLINE:

Christopher Dwyer | Facebook | When October Falls Group | Twitter

Brown Paper Publishing

“Crackle”

 

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Richard Thomas was the winner of the 2009 “Enter the World of Filaria” contest at ChiZine. He has published dozens of stories online and in print, including theShivers VI anthology (Cemetery Dance) with Stephen King and Peter Straub, Murky Depths, PANK, Pear Noir!, Word Riot, 3:AM Magazine, Dogmatika, Vain and Opium. His debut novel Transubstantiate (Otherworld Publications) was released in July of 2010. He also writes book reviews at The Nervous Breakdown. Visit his blog at whatdoesnotkillme.com. For more information about his novel go to transubstantiate.net.