Ask the Author: Jim Grimsley

“I joined Goodreads years ago and never did anything with the membership. Now I'm activating myself. I'm open to questions from all and sundry, and will answer them with reasonable perspicacity.” Jim Grimsley

Answered Questions (18)

Sort By:

An error occurred while sorting questions for author Jim Grimsley.

Are Kirinth Kirin and The Ordinary a duology, or have you planned more novels (if so, how many?)

Jim Grimsley There's a third published novel in that universe, The Last Green Tree, and there's an unpublished novel that I have drafted. I'm trying to bring some closure to that world, which is hard, because I let it get too big.

like
Comment

Any plans for future novels?

Jim Grimsley I have another book ready about two men who fall for each other very hard at the same time that one of them is involved with a political scandal. Crossing my fingers to see whether I can place it.

5 likes · like
2 comments

Hi! We talked briefly on Twitter but I don't know if you remember me or not. I was wondering if you could give me some advice on the best way to publish a dark GLBT+ and mental health-themed book I've written? It doesn't seem like publishing companies are that interested but writing dark stuff is your jam.

Jim Grimsley I don't know anything about publishing any more, everything changes so fast. The best thing you can do is build yourself a social media platform and find some editors who put out books that you like or that are like yours. Be prepared for rejection. Writing is full of that.

2 likes · like
Comment

Mr. Grimsley - I am absolutely infatuated with your book The Dove in the Belly and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it in the months that has passed since I finished it? As a gay man coming out of college fresh from a break up this was everything I needed and more. This isn't truly a question but I just wanted to say how much I loved this book, how your prose is impeccable, and I hope to read more from you!

Jim Grimsley This is really sweet. Thanks.

2 likes · like
Comment

Hey Mr. Grimsley! I Just read The Dove in the Belly and came to your page and saw your awnser about Ronny and Ben breaking up (which made me sad😭) and I got curious: what you think that leads to their break up? And why is important to imply that in the end of the book? Thank you for such an amazing work!

Jim Grimsley I think Ben and Ronny are together for a long time. Doesn't mean they don't have problems. What I meant in the previous answer was simply that every love ends because people die. I never made a real decision about what might come next for them. But I'm sure there's more drama.

1 like · like
Comment

Your book The Dove in the Belly has been marketed as Young Adult Fiction--a genre that is intended for high school and/or middle school readers. What are your feelings about that? Were high school students your intended audience when you were writing it? If not, have you come to think of it as a book for high school-aged youth now that it is written? Why or why not?

Jim Grimsley My intention in writing the book was to tell this story, about these two boys. The audience was to be whoever would want to read a story about their contact with one another and its intensity. I've never been very good in considering what my audience ought to be. Levine Querido was interested in a book like my earlier novel Dream Boy, but with an ending that was not quite so enigmatic and clouded. I know that this is a book I wish I might have found when I was in high school.

2 likes · like
1 comment

I just finished THE DOVE IN THE BELLY. Yes, it's one of my all-time favorites now, up there with AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF RED and AT SWIM, TWO BOYS and ROCK and THE LITTLE PRINCE. But four words in the last paragraph are killing me, absolutely killing me: "when everything was done." What does this signify? Is this an indication that your story is only a happy-for-now and not a happy-ever-after? Say it ain't so!

Jim Grimsley I meant the phrase to indicate a time in the future in which Ben and Roy's relationship was at an end, for whatever reason, however distant (or close) in the future that might be. It's to evoke the fact that their relationship will end at some point no matter what. I never did decide whether they would be together for a long time. But I hope they will.

3 likes · like
1 comment

If there was a book you wish you could have written yourself, what would it be?

Jim Grimsley To the Lighthouse

2 likes · like
Comment

Is The Last Green Tree the end of the City Behind the Stars novels? (Also - which issues of ASF have the related short stories?)

Jim Grimsley The Last Green Tree is the most current of the City novels; I am working on followups but it will take a while to complete them. ASF issues: September 2001 "Into Greenwood"; February 2005 "The 120 Hours of Sodom"; February 2003 "Perfect Pilgrim"; and Jan/Feb 2017 "Still Life with Abyss" is peripherally connected, too.

1 like · like
1 comment

Mr. Grimsley! Huge fan. Do you have any science fiction novels in the works?

Jim Grimsley I'm working on further books in the Hormling / Irion group of books but it's going to be a while before I can release any of them.

1 like · like
Comment

Can you tell us a two-sentence horror story?

Jim Grimsley Slowly he turned, so slowly. But when he did, he was not there.

11 likes · like
Comment

If you could travel to any fictional book world, where would you go and what would you do there?

Jim Grimsley Dune. Would pee outside a sietch and wait for the Fremen to kill me.

9 likes · like
Comment

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Jim Grimsley I don't believe in writer's block. There's always something I can write. If I'm stuck on what I'm working on today, I'll turn to something else. The project that's telling me it's stuck just needs me to do some thinking. I'll get back to it when I'm ready.

like
Comment

What’s the best thing about being a writer?

Jim Grimsley Being able to work in my underwear.

1 like · like
Comment

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Jim Grimsley Give up if you can. Become a passionate reader. If you can't give up, then do the work. There's no ABC plan to arrive at publication. Try everything.

1 like · like
Comment

What are you currently working on?

Jim Grimsley Many projects. Most recently a love story. Some short fiction. Poems. I have my time under my own control now, and can write as I please.

2 likes · like
1 comment

How do you get inspired to write?

Jim Grimsley I write everyday, inspired or not. Inspiration is only one impetus for writing, and a person doesn't get it all the time. Nor is inspiration the only way that good fiction happens. Discipline is far more important. Often my inspiration comes after I have been writing for a time; I have to warm up the furnace before I feel any heat.

1 like · like
Comment

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Jim Grimsley My most recent book was How I Shed My Skin, a memoir about court-ordered school desegregation in North Carolina, which affected me very deeply by showing me my nascent racism in clear terms. I've wanted to tell this story for a long time, and now that it's done I wish I'd written it sooner.

2 likes · like
Comment

396 followers

To ask Jim Grimsley a question, please sign up.

About Goodreads Q&A

Ask and answer questions about books!

You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.

See Featured Authors Answering Questions