Ask the Author: Leslie Spitz-Edson
Answered Questions (4)
Leslie Spitz-Edson
At the moment I'd have to say Zeke and Mylene from The Get Down. I love that the conventional veils of self-preservation that we so often draw between each other are simply not there between the two of them - even when they'd like them to be. It makes for a certain rawness that I - a lover of expressionist painting and screeching, dissonant operas by Richard Strauss - can really appreciate. Also, their care for each other feeds their own more individual passions - or seems to, so far (I'm only halfway through the series) - so that their love for each other creates more space, more possibility for each of them, rather than less.
Leslie Spitz-Edson
I'm actually having a tough time settling on a "main project" right now. I keep going back and forth between wanting to rewrite an earlier start I had on a historical novel set in 10th century Sweden, and wanting to start a new story (plot still only vaguely grasped) that would be more contemporary.
Leslie Spitz-Edson
That's easy: write. If you were an aspiring basketball player, you'd play basketball, right?
Another thing that comes to mind is something I actually stole from someone and I can't even remember who it was! But it is this: don't be afraid to be curious. If there's a subject that interests you - no matter how trivial or unworthy prevailing opinion makes it out to be - look into it. Deeply. Chances are there's a lot more to it than meets the eye, and let that be your inspiration.
Another thing that comes to mind is something I actually stole from someone and I can't even remember who it was! But it is this: don't be afraid to be curious. If there's a subject that interests you - no matter how trivial or unworthy prevailing opinion makes it out to be - look into it. Deeply. Chances are there's a lot more to it than meets the eye, and let that be your inspiration.
Leslie Spitz-Edson
Several years ago I became a hockey fan. I got very curious about the sport: its players, its culture, its origins. I spent a huge amount of time researching it, and as I did, certain things stuck out to me. In hockey there is this odd, constant teetering between humility and swagger. There is violence and a consequent abiding respect for sheer physical courage. There is a strong moral code, which includes standing up for your teammates, no matter the cost. There is a constant necessity to grapple with fate, with misfortune, with overflows of emotion. The whole mass of ideas fascinated me. And then I just started thinking of characters inhabiting that world, and they started reacting to each other. And the story started to grow.
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