Ask the Author: Roger Angle
Answered Questions (7)
Roger Angle
I backed into the wall in the dark. The wall opened, and I fell into the darkness and never stopped falling.
Roger Angle
I don't really believe in inspiration. I believe in time and effort and intention. I think of writing as both a craft and an art.
Writing non-fiction is a craft. It's like building a table. You start out with a plan, some dimensions, a type of wood. You think about what you want it to look like. Then you use your saws and hammers, drills, nails, screws, sandpaper. You shape it and then you finish it. Non-fiction is like that. You write an essay, a news story, a news feature, a magazine feature, or a book. You know the rules, and you follow them, more or less.
Writing fiction, to me, is more of an art. You tap into something deep within yourself. You bring the characters to life. You create a world that you believe in, for the time being. I believe most writers write according to an idea they have of what a novel should be, or what kind of novel they want to write. This is not usually as restrictive as the plan you have for a piece of non-fiction. I guess that depends on lot on genre. Some generic categories do have pretty strict rules.
But once you get into the story, you just let it rip, or I do. I talk to my characters. I went to a neuro-linguistic programmer (NLP) years ago, and he taught me how to tap into my unconscious in this way. When I talk to my characters, I can picture them in the room with me, like a ghost you can see through in a movie. My bad guys scare the hell outta me. That is a good thing. I want them to scare the reader.
I find this process motivating. Maybe you could call that inspiration.
I've been thinking about my answer to this Q, and it seems incomplete. I guess I was first inspired by reading James Joyce in college. The writing was so compelling and so rich. It seemed better than real life. I guess I got permanently inspired then.
I also always liked good mysteries and thrillers. So I try to combine the two things, good writing and a thrilling story. I don't always succeed, of course. I don't know anybody who does. But it's a great goal to work toward.
Writing non-fiction is a craft. It's like building a table. You start out with a plan, some dimensions, a type of wood. You think about what you want it to look like. Then you use your saws and hammers, drills, nails, screws, sandpaper. You shape it and then you finish it. Non-fiction is like that. You write an essay, a news story, a news feature, a magazine feature, or a book. You know the rules, and you follow them, more or less.
Writing fiction, to me, is more of an art. You tap into something deep within yourself. You bring the characters to life. You create a world that you believe in, for the time being. I believe most writers write according to an idea they have of what a novel should be, or what kind of novel they want to write. This is not usually as restrictive as the plan you have for a piece of non-fiction. I guess that depends on lot on genre. Some generic categories do have pretty strict rules.
But once you get into the story, you just let it rip, or I do. I talk to my characters. I went to a neuro-linguistic programmer (NLP) years ago, and he taught me how to tap into my unconscious in this way. When I talk to my characters, I can picture them in the room with me, like a ghost you can see through in a movie. My bad guys scare the hell outta me. That is a good thing. I want them to scare the reader.
I find this process motivating. Maybe you could call that inspiration.
I've been thinking about my answer to this Q, and it seems incomplete. I guess I was first inspired by reading James Joyce in college. The writing was so compelling and so rich. It seemed better than real life. I guess I got permanently inspired then.
I also always liked good mysteries and thrillers. So I try to combine the two things, good writing and a thrilling story. I don't always succeed, of course. I don't know anybody who does. But it's a great goal to work toward.
Roger Angle
I like to write fiction because it lets me use everything I've got. It's like having a stable full of race horses, and in most jobs I've had, including that of investigative reporter, I felt like only two or three out of my ten or twelve horses were allowed to run. The rest were chomping at the bit.
I feel most intensely alive when I'm writing. I get lost in it and when the phone rings it's like being awakened from a trance. I jump and think, What the hell was that?
I love peak experiences. Mountain biking down a steep rocky path with cacti on one side and a gully on the other. Demands focus. Doing the Eskimo roll in a kayak in the ocean. Taking boxing lessons from a professional prize fighter.
Writing is like that, for me. It lights my fire. It sets all my horses free to run.
I feel most intensely alive when I'm writing. I get lost in it and when the phone rings it's like being awakened from a trance. I jump and think, What the hell was that?
I love peak experiences. Mountain biking down a steep rocky path with cacti on one side and a gully on the other. Demands focus. Doing the Eskimo roll in a kayak in the ocean. Taking boxing lessons from a professional prize fighter.
Writing is like that, for me. It lights my fire. It sets all my horses free to run.
Roger Angle
Well, that is complicated. I always loved NYC. The hustle and bustle, the wild driving energy of all those millions of people, and so many out on the street. The sense that everyone was there, at least back in the '60s and '70s because everyone else was there. It had a thriving, throbbing intensity.
I had the feeling that you could live in NYC for a thousand years and go out ever day and every night and never do the same thing twice. I also had the feeling that you could be anything you wanted to be. Nobody cared. Nobody was looking. In Wichita, KS, where I was born and grew up, I always had the feeling people were watching and measuring you against social norms. I didn't always adopt them as my own.
Someone once said that all the important decisions in America are either made in New York or D.C. I thought that was true. When I lived in Lower Manhattan, in Little Italy at Mulberry and Broome, we had an electronic musician working downstairs and I could hear him composing during the day. Upstairs were artists doing huge paintings. Next door was an art restorer who worked for museums. So much creative energy. An exciting place.
Also, I grew up around cops. They always seemed stone-faced and controlled, confident, sure of themselves, and willing to deal with danger and ugliness and to go up against people the rest of us run from. One of my cop sources told me, "You know, when you're a cop, you can't afford to lose a fight." I thought, whoa, that means you are all-in, all the time. That total commitment appealed to me. I tried to become a reserve police officer one time, and they wouldn't take me, because I'm nearsighted.
So, I couldn't be a cop, but I could write about them. I wanted to combine those two things: cops and NYC.
I had the feeling that you could live in NYC for a thousand years and go out ever day and every night and never do the same thing twice. I also had the feeling that you could be anything you wanted to be. Nobody cared. Nobody was looking. In Wichita, KS, where I was born and grew up, I always had the feeling people were watching and measuring you against social norms. I didn't always adopt them as my own.
Someone once said that all the important decisions in America are either made in New York or D.C. I thought that was true. When I lived in Lower Manhattan, in Little Italy at Mulberry and Broome, we had an electronic musician working downstairs and I could hear him composing during the day. Upstairs were artists doing huge paintings. Next door was an art restorer who worked for museums. So much creative energy. An exciting place.
Also, I grew up around cops. They always seemed stone-faced and controlled, confident, sure of themselves, and willing to deal with danger and ugliness and to go up against people the rest of us run from. One of my cop sources told me, "You know, when you're a cop, you can't afford to lose a fight." I thought, whoa, that means you are all-in, all the time. That total commitment appealed to me. I tried to become a reserve police officer one time, and they wouldn't take me, because I'm nearsighted.
So, I couldn't be a cop, but I could write about them. I wanted to combine those two things: cops and NYC.
Roger Angle
I don't believe in writer's block. You just sit down and do it. I learned to write as a reporter on daily newspapers. One time I had 20 minutes to do a five-graf story on an EIR (environmental impact report). I read the executive summary and the conclusion and wrote my story, which appeared on Page One the next day. I re-read it and it was accurate. It held up.
I believe this:
“Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.” — Chuck Close
Ann Rule, one of my favorite non-fiction writers, said she couldn't afford writer's block. She had five kids to feed. Or something like that.
I think most writer's block comes from asking yourself the wrong questions: Is it good enough? Am I good enough? Will it make me rich? Or famous?
Forget all that and focus on the story. Who is the main character? What does he or she want? Is she willing to die for it? Or kill for it? What stands in her way? What is happening right now? Why do I care about this character and this story? Answer those questions and start writing. Keep writing until you have finished. Let the story tell itself.
I believe this:
“Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.” — Chuck Close
Ann Rule, one of my favorite non-fiction writers, said she couldn't afford writer's block. She had five kids to feed. Or something like that.
I think most writer's block comes from asking yourself the wrong questions: Is it good enough? Am I good enough? Will it make me rich? Or famous?
Forget all that and focus on the story. Who is the main character? What does he or she want? Is she willing to die for it? Or kill for it? What stands in her way? What is happening right now? Why do I care about this character and this story? Answer those questions and start writing. Keep writing until you have finished. Let the story tell itself.
Roger Angle
I have about 15 current writing projects. I get ideas all the time and add them to the list. Here are my top four:
1. "The Death of Evelyn Grantz," about a hotshot young reporter who gets murdered in Newport Beach, CA, covering a series of missing young women from Latin America.
2. “Alien Love” – Right-wing militia member goes to the border to stop illegal aliens. He falls in love with a Mexican woman, after she saves his life.
3. “The Prince of Newport” – Idealistic young reporter meets a con-man whose wealthy paramours are being killed. The con-man is the prime suspect, but the reporter doesn't think the con-man is the killer.
4. “Saving Amanda” – An old retired hit-man who is really an old fool tries to save his adult daughter from a series of killers. Based on my story "The Hit-Man" in "Murder at the Beach."
5. “Looking for Suzie Sunshine” -- An old horse trainer from Kansas is searching for his daughter Suzie who ran away when she was 16. He meets a young woman who reminds him of his daughter. She keeps choosing abusive men. He has to decide how much to risk.
1. "The Death of Evelyn Grantz," about a hotshot young reporter who gets murdered in Newport Beach, CA, covering a series of missing young women from Latin America.
2. “Alien Love” – Right-wing militia member goes to the border to stop illegal aliens. He falls in love with a Mexican woman, after she saves his life.
3. “The Prince of Newport” – Idealistic young reporter meets a con-man whose wealthy paramours are being killed. The con-man is the prime suspect, but the reporter doesn't think the con-man is the killer.
4. “Saving Amanda” – An old retired hit-man who is really an old fool tries to save his adult daughter from a series of killers. Based on my story "The Hit-Man" in "Murder at the Beach."
5. “Looking for Suzie Sunshine” -- An old horse trainer from Kansas is searching for his daughter Suzie who ran away when she was 16. He meets a young woman who reminds him of his daughter. She keeps choosing abusive men. He has to decide how much to risk.
Roger Angle
Don't do it. Unless you can't help yourself. Then by all means, plunge all the way in.
Most of the writers I know are compulsive. And they have insomnia. Writing is both a blessing and a curse. I tried to give it up several years ago and only lasted about three weeks. I had the jumps, the jitters, the heebie-jeebs. I needed something bigger than myself to wrestle with. Had to have it. So I'm still at it.
You have to buy time to write, which means having some kind of day job, probably all your life.
“If you want to be a writer, keep your overhead low and don’t get involved with anyone who thinks your writing is crap.” -- Grace Paley
Most of the writers I know are compulsive. And they have insomnia. Writing is both a blessing and a curse. I tried to give it up several years ago and only lasted about three weeks. I had the jumps, the jitters, the heebie-jeebs. I needed something bigger than myself to wrestle with. Had to have it. So I'm still at it.
You have to buy time to write, which means having some kind of day job, probably all your life.
“If you want to be a writer, keep your overhead low and don’t get involved with anyone who thinks your writing is crap.” -- Grace Paley
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