Ask the Author: Sam Quinones
Answered Questions (3)
Sam Quinones
Several are still in prison, which is where I found them. A few I've followed up with. The ones I contacted are back doing the menial dead-end jobs they did before they got into heroin, which are, for many, the only jobs available to them. So drugs meant in the end no real improvement in their lives, particularly as they spent their money frequently on parties and things that didn't do much to move them forward. Enrique, though, I have no spoken to since his release from prison.
Two of them that I spoke to did have qualms. They come from a small Mexican town, after all, where drugs are frowned on. But money does override a lot of troublesome moral questions. Enrique had many rationalizations for it - someone else would have sold this had it not been me, that sort of thing. One guy is very happy to be out of it, though he's back working jobs that lead nowhere. All his friends, brothers and in-laws are involved in heroin work, but he's happy to be away from it.
Two of them that I spoke to did have qualms. They come from a small Mexican town, after all, where drugs are frowned on. But money does override a lot of troublesome moral questions. Enrique had many rationalizations for it - someone else would have sold this had it not been me, that sort of thing. One guy is very happy to be out of it, though he's back working jobs that lead nowhere. All his friends, brothers and in-laws are involved in heroin work, but he's happy to be away from it.
Sam Quinones
After publishing Dreamland, I'm back to writing freelance stories for magazines and websites. I'm doing some radio stories as well. I like the idea that it's so much easier nowadays to tell stories in different media.
I hope to begin another book at some point - a full biography of the narcosinger named Chalino Sanchez, whom I briefly profiled in my first book. I believe within his story I can tell larger stories as well, of Mexican immigration and drug trafficking.
I hope to begin another book at some point - a full biography of the narcosinger named Chalino Sanchez, whom I briefly profiled in my first book. I believe within his story I can tell larger stories as well, of Mexican immigration and drug trafficking.
Sam Quinones
Sounds trite, but you have to write. It helps enormously to find a job that pays you to write - which is why journalism is so important. Like poetry, journalism also forces you, or should, to pay close attention to how you use words and express ideas. Also, don't think of any first draft you write - to a novel or an email - as done. Writing is rewriting - always.
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