Ask the Author: Shane Kuhn
Answered Questions (13)
Shane Kuhn
Cynthia
So sorry it took me FOREVER to respond to your interesting questions.
Writing Hostile Takeover was an interesting process because it was like riding a pendulum between easy and difficult. The easy part was the concept. Shortly after finishing Intern's Handbook, I knew I wanted to write an explosive, bullet-riddled love story between John and Alice and that's exactly what I set out to do. The flow of the narrative was another easy part. The difficult part was dealing with "second novel expectations." I found out that, in publishing, the second novel is often the most difficult to write because everyone actually expects you to fail. They expect this because that is often the case. No one could ever explain the phenomenon to me but it is real and, in many ways, I had exponentially more to prove than I did selling my first book. As a result, the edit was long, arduous, and more work than I've ever had to do on any creative project. And of course there were dark nights of the soul when I didn't think I could go on. Self doubt and fear are demons to an artist and they are incredibly powerful. But my father and mother taught me to have a strong work ethic. They were both farmers and hardship was a way of life for them. My father used to say "when the going gets tough, the tough get going." That was my mantra writing this book. I never surrendered and I kept hammering that iron until I had a sword. It was a battle and it made me stronger and I'm grateful for my editor Sarah Knight (fitting name right) who never left my side and held the fire in our darkest hours. I'm really glad you asked this question because I want readers to know how hard I worked to deliver a great follow up to Intern's and how hard I will always work for them with every book I write. I understand there are thousands of books to choose from and I'm honored by each person who chooses mine. Thanks!
So sorry it took me FOREVER to respond to your interesting questions.
Writing Hostile Takeover was an interesting process because it was like riding a pendulum between easy and difficult. The easy part was the concept. Shortly after finishing Intern's Handbook, I knew I wanted to write an explosive, bullet-riddled love story between John and Alice and that's exactly what I set out to do. The flow of the narrative was another easy part. The difficult part was dealing with "second novel expectations." I found out that, in publishing, the second novel is often the most difficult to write because everyone actually expects you to fail. They expect this because that is often the case. No one could ever explain the phenomenon to me but it is real and, in many ways, I had exponentially more to prove than I did selling my first book. As a result, the edit was long, arduous, and more work than I've ever had to do on any creative project. And of course there were dark nights of the soul when I didn't think I could go on. Self doubt and fear are demons to an artist and they are incredibly powerful. But my father and mother taught me to have a strong work ethic. They were both farmers and hardship was a way of life for them. My father used to say "when the going gets tough, the tough get going." That was my mantra writing this book. I never surrendered and I kept hammering that iron until I had a sword. It was a battle and it made me stronger and I'm grateful for my editor Sarah Knight (fitting name right) who never left my side and held the fire in our darkest hours. I'm really glad you asked this question because I want readers to know how hard I worked to deliver a great follow up to Intern's and how hard I will always work for them with every book I write. I understand there are thousands of books to choose from and I'm honored by each person who chooses mine. Thanks!
Shane Kuhn
Hi! *waves back* Thank you for loving my book. It's nice to hear as I'm currently in the dark night of the soul toiling on a new novel. Yours is a very good question because characters are EVERYTHING in any kind of story. I have kind of an interesting method for developing mine. When I was in film school, I learned a lot about writing characters from the acting teachers that did visiting lectures. From them I learned that actors can't truly play any role in a convincing way without actually becoming the role. Let's use Daniel Day Lewis as an example. He actually becomes every role he plays. And this is something we have done our whole lives, especially as children. So, when I'm building a character for a story, I pretend I am that person. I'll spend hours on walks or meditating, trying to think like the character I want to create. The beauty of it is, as human beings, so much of our lives are similar and relatable, regardless of our age, gender, ethnicity, etc. That's the reason empathy exists! So, I get into each character's skin and, based on motivations (the most important character trait in a story), I develop a personality and a belief system based on those motivations. If you are writing about Napoleon, you have to consider his motivation to acquire power on a massive scale. Based on this motivation, how would he behave in person? What would he have to believe? What would be his greatest wants and fears? This makes characters human beings and therefore relatable to us as their creators and as the people who read about them. And to speak to your other questions, experience definitely does play a part. We learn so much about the people we know, even fleetingly, and our brains dutifully store all of that information. So, yes, I will incorporate character traits that I have encountered in the people I know or know about, but I never base any characters based wholly on one person. Usually, it's a mixed bag of traits that come together to build a character. So, if you're a writer and you want to create a character, do everything in your power to become that person in your mind, and you'll see how it's possible because of what Carl Jung called the Collective Unconscious. Thanks for the great question!
Shane Kuhn
Ha! Who knows? Long lost cousins? Nebraska is the place of origin for my Kuhn relatives. Immigrant German farmers don't you know.
Shane Kuhn
Great question!! The next book in the John Lago thriller series is Hostile Takeover and it is coming out this summer - July 2015!
Shane Kuhn
Excellent question and I would love to hear how readers would answer it. My answer is this: when I wrote the book, I was picturing Joseph Gordon-Levitt the entire time. As you may know from the book, John has to be someone who can blend in, so I never imagined anyone too pretty. But, were talking about a movie now, so the actor can't be too bland or no one will see the movie. Levitt is a total star, with plenty of star power, but he can dial it way back and create skillfully understated characters. So, he could blend in as John Lago, but everyone digs him so he would put butts in seats. Additionally, Levitt is a great actor. Playing John will by no means be a cake walk. That character will require humor, intelligence, a lot of physicality, and occasionally some very heavy emotion. So, that's why I thought of him as the ideal John Lago. Having said that, I do not have control over the casting process and Sony has attached Dave Franco to play John. When I first heard that I was intrigued, but had never seen his work, so I was also terrified. Then I checked out some of his supporting work in movies and watched him on a few talk shows. He clearly has chops and, obviously, comes from a strong acting pedigree. The cool thing is he also has an edge. I saw him on Chelsea Lately and was really curious if he could hang with her. Not only did he hang with her, but he had great poise and a gritty sense of humor. Then I met him in person and that sealed the deal. The guy reminds me of Tom Cruise way back in the All The Right Moves and Risky Business days. He has the same star power, but more edge than Tom has. So, I'm very excited about what he is going to be able to do with John Lago and he's excited about his first starring role in an action film!
Shane Kuhn
Hi Renee
I believe that I was born to be a writer because that is all I have ever wanted to do and I started doing it at a young age. Conversely, I am horrific at math and still count on my fingers! So, like with singing or painting or the ability to throw a 100 mph fastball, people are given strengths or talents at the beginning. Now, that doesn't always mean it turns into something. We've all seen wildly talented people who never did a damn thing with their talent. And, we've seen marginally talented people do great things because they are hard workers. So, I feel like I was given an ability to write and I combined that with the hard core work ethic my German father bestowed on me. That combination has enabled me to keep working for years, producing better stories and characters. It took me nearly 10 years just to sell one screenplay in the movie business! But I kept at it, like Malcolm Gladwell talks about putting 10,000 hours into something. I have done that. When I sold my first book, I had been working as a writer in the film and tv business, and as a copywriter in advertising, for nearly 18 years. So, it has taken a ton of work and sacrifice (I have no retirement fund) to get to this place. And people are really responding to my work in very positive ways, which is amazing, but for me it is only the beginning. I may write like a wild man, but my heroes are literary giants - Nabokov, Faulkner, Vonnegut, Joyce to name a few - and I aspire to be like them. So, I guess the short answer here is that I was given an ability that I have worked very hard to cultivate and even though I am experiencing some fantastic success, my ultimate goal is to not only write books that people want to buy and read, but to write books that enrich readers' lives like so many great authors have enriched mine.
I believe that I was born to be a writer because that is all I have ever wanted to do and I started doing it at a young age. Conversely, I am horrific at math and still count on my fingers! So, like with singing or painting or the ability to throw a 100 mph fastball, people are given strengths or talents at the beginning. Now, that doesn't always mean it turns into something. We've all seen wildly talented people who never did a damn thing with their talent. And, we've seen marginally talented people do great things because they are hard workers. So, I feel like I was given an ability to write and I combined that with the hard core work ethic my German father bestowed on me. That combination has enabled me to keep working for years, producing better stories and characters. It took me nearly 10 years just to sell one screenplay in the movie business! But I kept at it, like Malcolm Gladwell talks about putting 10,000 hours into something. I have done that. When I sold my first book, I had been working as a writer in the film and tv business, and as a copywriter in advertising, for nearly 18 years. So, it has taken a ton of work and sacrifice (I have no retirement fund) to get to this place. And people are really responding to my work in very positive ways, which is amazing, but for me it is only the beginning. I may write like a wild man, but my heroes are literary giants - Nabokov, Faulkner, Vonnegut, Joyce to name a few - and I aspire to be like them. So, I guess the short answer here is that I was given an ability that I have worked very hard to cultivate and even though I am experiencing some fantastic success, my ultimate goal is to not only write books that people want to buy and read, but to write books that enrich readers' lives like so many great authors have enriched mine.
Shane Kuhn
Currently, I am working on Business Class, an espionage thriller that takes place in the world of frequent air travelers. For the past 6 years, I have been a frequent flyer, going around the country directing and producing videos. Within that time, I have come to know the inner world of the road warrior and it is fascinating. So, inspiration for Business Class came from my own experiences. And it's a completely different type of book from my John Lago thrillers -The Intern's Handbook and Hostile Takeover. With John, you are dealing with an almost super human killing machine. With my character in Business Class, you are dealing with a "normal" person with a wife, kids, job, dog, etc. So, I have enjoyed switching gears and stepping into the wheelhouse of the more classic thriller genre.
Shane Kuhn
I am always inspired to write. It's in my DNA. What inspires me more is time. With my busy life (I'm also a Creative Director and Video Producer), I get very excited when I know I'll have a large block of time to write. And I am inspired by other writers. When I read something amazing - The Martian by Andy Weir, Come Closer by Sara Gran, or Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy - it inspires me to work harder and dig deeper within myself to produce better work and to grow as an artist.
Shane Kuhn
Writing itself. I was a screenwriter for many years and I HATED working. It was such a drag to sit down and work within a genre of writing that is so utterly constrained by format, industry influence, and verbal composition. What writer would love having to limit all of his or her beautiful, compelling descriptions to a few terse lines? When I wrote my first book, I fell back in love with writing. When I was a kid, I did a lot of journaling and free form verse and it was the best form of expression for me. My novel writing process is very similar so every time I sit down to write now I am excited to see what is going to come rushing out.
Shane Kuhn
I am a visceral writer so I don't spend a lot of time intellectualizing my work. This is, I believe, the source of writer's block. Your mind can talk you out of anything good and talk you into anything bad. So, I turn off that internal voice and focus on what I feel. And I write without judgment. Whatever comes out is what ends up on the page, for better or for worse. So, I keep it all flowing like a geyser. And I rely on Sarah Knight, my fearless editor at Simon & Schuster, to assist me in shaping it into the best story possible. She went to Harvard and I played baseball at Utah so do the math on that collaboration.
Shane Kuhn
Thank you! My three favorite movie assassins are Leon from The Professional, Nikita from La Femme Nikita, and The Jackal (played by Edward Fox) from The Day of the Jackal. The beauty of these characters is that they could not be more different, despite sharing the same career. When I created John, I wanted to create a completely new type of assassin character - totally original. So, I think the way in which I was inspired by those three characters was to be challenged to be unique instead of following the usual hit man cliches.
Shane Kuhn
I was an intern many times in different areas of business - engineering firm, research lab, film production company, advertising agency, newspaper. The most important thing I learned being an intern was the pecking order. When I was younger, I figured I was entitled to a sweet job with no experience or skills. I quickly realized the difference between the fantasy worlds of high school and college and the working world. So I learned to pay my dues without being a crybaby about it. And guess what? I learned a lot. In all but one of my internships, I eventually got paying work - contract, part time, and even full time. When I interned for a newspaper photo dept. I started out emptying the trash and ended up shooting the auto and real estate circulars! Pecking order, baby. It's like Meek Mill says, "there are levels to this shit."
Shane Kuhn
This is a question that undiscovered authors and screenwriters alike ask and there really is no stock answer. I sold my first screenplay because I gave it to a producer I had met after ten years of trying to put my foot in the door in the film and tv biz. I got a book agent from my entertainment manager, but not until I had been grinding it out in Hollywood for over 18 years. When people say "it's about who you know," they are mostly right. You need to build relationships and often that takes a lot of time and work. But I firmly believe that if your work is good, it will be discovered eventually. You just have to keep knocking on doors until you break one down.
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