Ask the Author: Tom Connelly
Answered Questions (9)
Tom Connelly
My wife and I lived in NY from 2014-2015 with my parents while we were looking for work. One day, in the backyard, I found a jawbone from a deer (we have lots of deer in the Hudson Valley).
My initial guess was that an animal must have found a dead deer and was eating it and left the jawbone in our backyard. Yuck!
I tossed the jawbone into the woods.
A few weeks later (give or take) the jawbone showed up again in the backyard. I did the same - tossed it. A few weeks later, it showed up again!
Maybe it wasn't an animal feasting on the jawbone....
My initial guess was that an animal must have found a dead deer and was eating it and left the jawbone in our backyard. Yuck!
I tossed the jawbone into the woods.
A few weeks later (give or take) the jawbone showed up again in the backyard. I did the same - tossed it. A few weeks later, it showed up again!
Maybe it wasn't an animal feasting on the jawbone....
Tom Connelly
I read a lot of Stephen King books this summer: Desperation and The Regulators. I read the last three Dark Tower books: Wolves of Calla, Song of Susannah, and The Dark Tower. I also read Motherless Brooklyn, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, The Stepford Wives, and Miss Lonelyhearts. I am currently reading Doctor Sleep.
Tom Connelly
This is tough, but a great question. It don't know if this counts, but I really enjoyed the story of Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley in The Sun Also Rises. I also loved the story of Frederic Henry and Catherine Barkley in Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms. I enjoyed reading the separation and re-uniting of Frederic and Catherine. You just want them to be together. Of course, the war problematizes their relationship - a classic melodrama.
Tom Connelly
Don't be afraid to try something new and unusual. Don't be afraid to write something personal. Don't give up when you are stuck. My new novel developed out of a short story that I began writing in 2007. I could never finish that short story. But in 2012, after binge watching the television show Lost, an idea came to me that turned my short story into a full blown novel. Strange things happen. Strange stuff happened on Lost!
Tom Connelly
I was a film major in college and was inspired by cinema and screenwriting. I loved Ambrose Bierce's short stories, which encouraged me to write stories with big plot twists. But I think it was when I drew upon my personal experiences and the everyday that I was truly inspired to write. That inspiration came from reading Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five. Vonnegut taught me that you can be serious, absurd and hilarious.
Tom Connelly
I am introvert, so I like the solitude of writing.
Tom Connelly
Don't be afraid to be messy. Creative writing is not a smooth process. I will try to write even I don't have any ideas, or if I have writer's block. Once you put words on the screen or paper, the mind begins to process what you have written. The mind analyzes the mess. Sometimes, a nugget emerges.
Tom Connelly
After I read Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five in 2001, I felt inspired to write a novel about my own life. I based The Postcard on my personal experience traveling to CBGB with my friends when I was in high school in 1989. I had such a great time, and was such an adventure for me that I thought it would serve well as the structure of The Postcard. Some of my ideas came from both The Sun Also Rises and The Great Gatsby. I wanted my book to be pithy and minimalist. I was intrigued by characters Daisy Fay in The Great Gatsby and Lady Brett Ashley in The Sun Also Rises. I also drew upon my love of movies and was inspired by The 400 Blows. I particularly love movies that take place in one day, which I used in The Postcard.
Tom Connelly
I am currently finishing my second novel called "The Bells." I hope to have the book available for purchase in late spring/early summer 2015. Here is a brief description of the book:
Set behind the backdrop of The Wall Street meltdown and 2008 Presidential Campaign, "The Bells" follows the lives and longings of ten New York Hudson Valley individuals. Sprinkled with traits of magical realism, Chaucer, and Arthurian legend, it soon becomes apparent that these characters are all connected in some way as their paths and journeys intersect over the course of a Halloween evening.
Set behind the backdrop of The Wall Street meltdown and 2008 Presidential Campaign, "The Bells" follows the lives and longings of ten New York Hudson Valley individuals. Sprinkled with traits of magical realism, Chaucer, and Arthurian legend, it soon becomes apparent that these characters are all connected in some way as their paths and journeys intersect over the course of a Halloween evening.
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