Ask the Author: David Kopf
Answered Questions (6)
David Kopf
Watching 30,000 masked Russian soldiers pretending not to be 30,000 masked Russian soldiers dropping into Crimea and forcibly taking it from Ukraine absolutely grabbed at me. The event was surreal, galling, and if I'm honest, upsetting, given the power plays Russia was making against Ukraine.
I started thinking about how regular people would react to an event like that — especially in a part of the world that has seen horrible events, such as the Holodomor and Stalin's forced deportation and exile of the Crimean Tatars (the Sürgünlik).
Who would be happy the Russians invaded? Who would be angry? Who would be scared? And how might their attitudes change as the situation develops? Moreover, how would Crimea change, as well as the characters relationship with Crimea?
That's what got me writing.
I started thinking about how regular people would react to an event like that — especially in a part of the world that has seen horrible events, such as the Holodomor and Stalin's forced deportation and exile of the Crimean Tatars (the Sürgünlik).
Who would be happy the Russians invaded? Who would be angry? Who would be scared? And how might their attitudes change as the situation develops? Moreover, how would Crimea change, as well as the characters relationship with Crimea?
That's what got me writing.
David Kopf
Three big influences on me are current events, long-form articles about science and history, and images. I'm a news junkie, a magazine fiend, and a visual thinker. Sometimes a photograph will get me thinking. Other times it might be a National Geographic article. And at other moments a news story might send my me thoughts in new directions.
What I can tell you is that I get inspired often, and my phone is crammed with note files on short story ideas, story prompts, and the frameworks of possible novels. My cogs are constantly spinning, which is not necessarily a good thing.
What I can tell you is that I get inspired often, and my phone is crammed with note files on short story ideas, story prompts, and the frameworks of possible novels. My cogs are constantly spinning, which is not necessarily a good thing.
David Kopf
I don't want to say too much, but I am gearing up to start another novel, and it will go in an entirely different direction from Tea in Crimea.
David Kopf
I spent nearly 30 years writing for technology, business, and healthcare periodicals before writing a novel. What that taught me is a healthy respect for style, grammar, and the mechanics and rules of language, and the need to constantly work at those elements of writing. In the same way that the first chair violinist for the Boston Philharmonic will practice scales to his or her dying day, a writer must also refine and practice the fundamentals of his or her craft. There are acres of good storytellers out there, but there are not nearly as many good writers.
David Kopf
Two things:
1) Writing has taught me that every subject is interesting. The seemingly dull will dazzle you if you give it a moment's inspection. You will never grow bored as a writer.
2) After decades of writing, the copy will sometimes unconsciously flow out of my fingers. I almost feel as though I'm channeling a subconscious version of myself or engaging in automatic writing for some kind of ghost living in my mind. That's not an exaggeration and I know it sounds mystic or new agey, but I assure you not all writing is willful.
1) Writing has taught me that every subject is interesting. The seemingly dull will dazzle you if you give it a moment's inspection. You will never grow bored as a writer.
2) After decades of writing, the copy will sometimes unconsciously flow out of my fingers. I almost feel as though I'm channeling a subconscious version of myself or engaging in automatic writing for some kind of ghost living in my mind. That's not an exaggeration and I know it sounds mystic or new agey, but I assure you not all writing is willful.
David Kopf
As a magazine editor, I write for a living, so writer's block isn't an issue for me. I might not write my best all the time, but I don't need a prompt.
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