Ask the Author: Michael Reed
Answered Questions (11)
Michael Reed
Well, thank you for the compliment. The bar from the book, The Relix Club, is more a state of mind than an actual establishment. It's based on bits and pieces of a few establishments, but it most closely resembles a place called the Jockey Club that closed several years ago. It was located on Richmond Avenue but farther west than where I located my fictional bar.
The story line is made up as are the characters.
The story line is made up as are the characters.
Michael Reed
I awoke to find what I thought was my lush bed at the inn was a bit more constraining than that. In fact, it had a wall on either side, and only inches above my face -- a lid; I was in a coffin and it was sealed tight.
Michael Reed
Funny enough (or maybe not funny at all, depending on how you choose to look at it), when I started thinking about settings for my favorite books I realized most of them take place in a world that is not particularly appealing. And in the cases the book is set in a reasonably good locale, less-than-desirable events are are about to take place. Kesey (a mental institution, no less), Bukowski, Hunter Thompson, Roth, Salinger, Orwell, even Steinbeck? I think I'll stick to reading about these worlds, thank you.
I did come up with one great locale for you from a favorite book -- Iowa. The Iowa of W.P. Kinsella's "Shoeless Joe," which I read years before the movie based on it, "Field of Dreams," came out. In the book, a farmer builds a baseball diamond and old-time baseball players come out of the corn at night to play games with the farmer's late father. I love baseball would take great pleasure in seeing ghost versions of Babe Ruth and his buddies play America's pastime on a nightly basis.
I did come up with one great locale for you from a favorite book -- Iowa. The Iowa of W.P. Kinsella's "Shoeless Joe," which I read years before the movie based on it, "Field of Dreams," came out. In the book, a farmer builds a baseball diamond and old-time baseball players come out of the corn at night to play games with the farmer's late father. I love baseball would take great pleasure in seeing ghost versions of Babe Ruth and his buddies play America's pastime on a nightly basis.
Michael Reed
The incredibly wealth, power and fame it has brought me with virtually no effort on my part. Seriously, it makes me feel good, my guess is it's good for my sanity (you can't have too much of that), and unlike virtually all other hobbies -- it costs nothing.
Michael Reed
I'd like to read "Hillbilly Elegy," a memoir about growing up in Appalachia. I don't know anything about it beyond that; the region just interests me. Also, I may read "No Country for Old Men." I like Cormac McCarthy and it's already lying on shelf in the bedroom, so the price is right.
Michael Reed
First off, while it's best for me to maintain a writing schedule of sorts, it’s never been an intense one. I write one night a week without fail, and on those nights I always write at least a few paragraphs. Sometimes, I write a little on weekends. Pressing all the time is too much like a job to me. I have a job already. I also think too much time at a keyboard stifles my imagination. I don’t want this ever to be about just pounding out words and pages. I guess, in a roundabout way, I'm saying I've never experienced full-on writers block, in part, because I don't press for ideas and word counts.
Michael Reed
I'm not all that mysterious. That said I think all lives have mystery to them, to outsiders and to the person living them as well.
Maybe a plot could be made of why I write in the first place. I mean I am published but this has never been my main way of earning a living. I don't have a good, consistent answer for why I write so I guess that would make it a mystery.
I suppose you'd have to make up a reason in your plot and maybe throw in some magic swords and zombies, set in the Dystopian near-future if you wanted to sell the idea.
Maybe a plot could be made of why I write in the first place. I mean I am published but this has never been my main way of earning a living. I don't have a good, consistent answer for why I write so I guess that would make it a mystery.
I suppose you'd have to make up a reason in your plot and maybe throw in some magic swords and zombies, set in the Dystopian near-future if you wanted to sell the idea.
Michael Reed
The book, Songs From Richmond Avenue, took shape during a roughly eight-month period while I was drawing unemployment after a publication I worked at went belly up. I looked for work online in the morning and when that got boring, which happened pretty quickly most days, I started writing a couple of short stories based loosely on some funny things I’d witnessed riding metro buses or walking through my neighborhood.
One morning I stuck a couple of these short stories together and decided to have them come from the voice of a single, first-person narrator. Then I decided to have the narrator go to a bar. From there, I started putting together a vague outline that ended up changing a fair amount as I went forward. Most of the inspiration comes from the amalgamation of a funky bunch of characters from Houston dive bars, using some of their exploits to invent my own stories.
One morning I stuck a couple of these short stories together and decided to have them come from the voice of a single, first-person narrator. Then I decided to have the narrator go to a bar. From there, I started putting together a vague outline that ended up changing a fair amount as I went forward. Most of the inspiration comes from the amalgamation of a funky bunch of characters from Houston dive bars, using some of their exploits to invent my own stories.
Michael Reed
The book, Songs From Richmond Avenue, took shape during a roughly eight-month period while I was drawing unemployment after a publication I worked at went belly up. I looked for work online in the morning and when that got boring, which happened pretty quickly most days, I started writing a couple of short stories based loosely on some funny things I’d witnessed riding metro buses or walking through my neighbourhood.
One morning I stuck a couple of these short stories together and decided to have them come from the voice of a single, first-person narrator. Then I decided to have the narrator go to a bar. From there, I started putting together a vague outline that ended up changing a fair amount as I went forward. Most of the inspiration comes from the amalgamation of a funky bunch of characters from Houston dive bars, using some of their exploits to invent my own stories.
One morning I stuck a couple of these short stories together and decided to have them come from the voice of a single, first-person narrator. Then I decided to have the narrator go to a bar. From there, I started putting together a vague outline that ended up changing a fair amount as I went forward. Most of the inspiration comes from the amalgamation of a funky bunch of characters from Houston dive bars, using some of their exploits to invent my own stories.
Michael Reed
I’m working on a second book with a different setting and a third-person narrator this time. I hate the working title so I won’t mention it, but I’m maybe a third of the way through it. I’ve also got three or four short stories I’d like to turn into a book once I’ve got a few more. Then I’ve got a vague idea for a third novel and an even more vague idea for a fourth novel. I figure that should do a pretty good job of punching my dance card for a while.
Michael Reed
I don’t know if it’s really advice, but I’ve gotten in the habit of taking notes when I see things or have an idea that I think might be amusing, compelling, whatever. I do so immediately, too – or at least as close to it as I can get away with.
They may not turn out to be good notes or even good ideas but at least they are legible these days because I tend to take them on my phone now rather than on the traditional scraps of paper I used to use. I used to just tell myself I’d remember my thoughts if they were good. The truth is, most of the time I didn’t.
They may not turn out to be good notes or even good ideas but at least they are legible these days because I tend to take them on my phone now rather than on the traditional scraps of paper I used to use. I used to just tell myself I’d remember my thoughts if they were good. The truth is, most of the time I didn’t.
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