Ask the Author: Johnny Payne
Answered Questions (10)
Johnny Payne
My grandfather was a printer in Berea College. He was utterly devoted to his work and stayed in that job for many years. After his death, employees reported him seen walking the halls of the printery after hours. Though I don't quite believe in ghosts, I can imagine this to be true. It's a story I've always meant to write, but never gotten to.
Johnny Payne
I've never had it. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. When I feel a little stale on one project, I simply move to another one. If the novel feels too tough one day, I write a poem instead, or a play scene. Something will take hold and you go back to the other one when you're ready.
Johnny Payne
You begin to understand yourself as a person and it make you notice much more what is going on around you, because you become a professional observer.
Johnny Payne
Do some formal study with a good teacher. It will speed things up and get you in a habit and a discipline where you have to meet deadlines. They will teach you basic craft just like you would a tennis player and that cuts out a lot of guesswork.
Johnny Payne
I am writing my first fantasy novel, Man of Granite. My students write fantasy so much I thought I'd give it a try. It's the hardest thing I've ever done! I now have total respect for fantasy writers.
Johnny Payne
I don't wait for inspiration. I treat it like a job. I find the more I write, the more I want to write. Staying in a groove means loving being at the desk. I think it's fun and am never unhappy about the blank screen that I get to fill up.
Johnny Payne
I was reading about the abolitionist Kentuckian Henry Clay in archives. I came across the story of the famous 19th century case of two abolitionists who smuggled out a slave and were tried. It was O.J. level famous at the time. Following the track of that led me to write Hard Side of the River.
Johnny Payne
A man looked into a mirror and cracked to pieces. The mirror was fine.
Johnny Payne
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands. Dance in Carnival, indulge in a little excess, probably get in trouble, sleep it off in the jail cell, get sent home the next morning, go home and eat some feijoada and black beans.
Johnny Payne
The Good Lord Bird
The Known World
Deliverance
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Suttree
The Known World
Deliverance
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Suttree
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