interv. w/ author tao lin about money

The Urban Elitist is putting together a series of interviews with not big-time authors about how they make money. Here’s one with Tao Lin. Anybody who visits random literary websites has run into Tao Lin. He’s all over the place (I think he once tried to befriend everyone on Goodreads). His style is jarring in a good way, and his comments always pithy and sarcastic–like he’s putting on performance art for himself like Joaquin Phoenix’s recent binge. (h/t largehearted).
The best: “I feel that having a blog increases the amount of abstract space “Tao Lin” takes up in people’s lives. When a person looks at my blog they see my name and the books I have published (the header), causing other information that they “know” to exist less, to a degree, and be replaced by information about me and my oeuvre, which causes them to be more inclined maybe to buy my books or talk about me during awkward silences…”-Tao Lin

young lit agents have an opinion

From Poets and Writers: I’m not sure how “young” these people actually are, but a couple of good ideas come out including when to send your manuscript and what to put in the cover letter. Usually, agents aren’t this forthcoming and there are some specifics about working w/ an editor etc.

The best: From Julie Barer–”I think everybody’s looking for a book that you can’t put down, that you lose yourself in so completely that you forget everything else that’s going on in your life and you just want to stay up and you don’t care if you’re going to be tired in the morning. You just want to keep reading.“

interv. w/ brent forrester, writer on “the office”

From Vanity Fair: Here’s Brent Forrester, a writer on “The Office.” Silly for sure isn’t funny, though Jim putting staplers in Jello early on and watching where the DVD logo will bounce on the TV is pretty silly. I think the difference there is the actors play it straight not waiting for the laugh track like on a CBS comedy.
The best: “There’s not always humor in tragedy. The truth is, some stuff is just too tragic, and it’s not even appropriate to be laughing at. But stuff that’s a little bit difficult—that’s where humor really lies.”

the new west? deadbeats and authors

I guess I’m pretty easy to characterize as this article from the New York Observer interviews a couple of my most recent reading choices–including Ferris of Then We Came To The End and Bock of Beautiful Children. Maybe male authors are attracted to these characters, because that’s all we know. Books on high society aren’t interesting anymore and interesting stuff about the legal system or government has been given over to too much genre. In a lot of ways, what the article describes is a version of the modern western: bad guys still trying to find their place in the world. I’m kind of surprised Ferris was included–his “anti-hero” is more humorous and is not necessarily the central character.
The best: Mr. Howard said he does not get irritated when he sees young authors compared to Mr. Palahniuk, and thinks it’s natural that young writers would be attracted to drawing these kinds of characters. “There is so much pressure, I think, for young people to be adjusted and to get with the program these days that the fact that somebody like Chuck is out there saying ‘uh-uh’ is being taken as liberating,” he explained. “And obviously, if that sort of feeling is in the air, a lot of other talented young writers are going to channel it themselves.” (h/t Largehearted).