Chat with Paul Tremblay

SNUTCH TALK LIVE! w/ Paul Tremblay – 4/22/2009

Erik Williams: Paul G. Tremblay, is a two-time nominee of the Bram Stoker Award, has sold over fifty short stories to markets such as Razor Magazine, CHIZINE, and Weird Tales, and is the author of collection Compositions for the Young and Old. His first novel, The Little Sleep, is now out from Henry Holt to rave reviews. The follow-up novel, No Sleep Till Wonderland, is due next year. As if that isn’t enough, his horror novella The Harlequin and the Train will be released next month, and in July, his co-edited anthology of literary horror, Phantom, will be available. He is also currently a juror for the Shirley Jackson Awards. Paul lives outside of Boston, Massachusetts where he teaches high school mathematics. Welcome, Paul.

Paul Tremblay: Most of that is true! (and thanks!)

Kurt Dinan: Okay then – Paul, not to bring up bad memories, but before TLS, you’d written other novels that hadn’t sold (yet). What do you think made the difference with TLS? Did you approach this novel differently from the others? What were some lessons you learned from writing the other novels that helped you with TLS?

Paul Tremblay: TLS is my 4.5th novel, I think? I wrote a horrible King rip off when I first started writing then got halfway through another horror novel that I shelved. PHOBIA, which I wrote in 2002-2003 was the first novel length work that I thought was good. It collected over 200 agent rejects of the type “wow, this is funny and original, but we don’t know who we could sell this to.” Very frustrating. The non-selling point was that the novel was loosely plotted. But because of Phobia, I met Stewart O’Nan and landed my agent, Stephen Barbara. He tried to sell the novel for 9 months to the big publishers and I got the same kind of rejects. In February 2007, Stephen told me that he wasn’t going to push Phobia anymore, and I was okay with that. He also said he wasn’t going to try and sell SWALLOWING A DONKEY’S EYES (dystopian stew novel set in my City Pier world) because that wouldn’t work as a first novel. I’m not going to lie. That was a tough pill to swallow. But Stephen and I got past my tantrum and threats, and he asked what other ideas I had. I told him about my idea for The Little Sleep. He loved it. Said it had my voice/style but also the hook/plot that phobia was missing. So I wrote a ten page plot summary in March (something I’d never done pre-writing the book) and then started writing it april, finished it August, sold it in late September. So my different approach was the ten page plot synopsis. Before I just sat and wrote.

Erik Williams: You wrote TLS pretty fast. Is that normal for you?

Paul Tremblay: Every work/book is different. NO SLEEP TILL WONDERLAND was a tractor pull. Took me 9 months just to get a plot synopsis I thought I could work with, then maybe another 7-8 months of constant writing/struggling. Donkey took me two years to write.

Petra Miller: Paul, looking at the different time lines, I’m wondering if the quicker you get a book done, the better it sells/works. I know it’s different for everyone, but it looks like if a writer is struggling, maybe it’s time to move to a different story. I’m speaking from experience!

Paul Tremblay: It sure feels that way sometimes, but I think it can work both ways. Meaning, sometimes the work that feels so easy doesn’t quite connect with readers like you thought it might. Used to happen with my short fiction all the time. The quickies that felt great didn’t sell or get the big reaction like some other stories did.

Paul Tremblay: “The Teacher” took me a year to write (not a constant year, but I’d write part, then put it away). Donkey took me a long time to write, and still working on it, but I think it’s going to be real good (my mom thinks so anyway) when I’m done. Phobia was fast and I thought for sure it would sell, but it didn’t…There’s nothing wrong with forcing the issue. Forcing yourself to write. It’s something all writers have to do, you know? There are days when you don’t fell like it, but if it’s going to be your career, you gotta do it. Even if you end up going back and junking most of it.

Kim Despins: How has publishing your first novel compared with publishing the collection, novella and short fiction? Were there any challenges in the process of working with the publisher that surprised you? Anything you’d do differently next time?

Paul Tremblay: Publishing with Holt is a completely different experience than with the small presses. Good and bad. With the small presses, I’ve had complete creative control of almost everything (including cover art). I’m quite fortunate that I’ve had a great experience with Holt. I love the cover. The communication with my editors have been great. But there’s this whole part of the experience (sales, marketing) that I’m not a part of. I have no control how my book is marketed, etc, and it can be a little intimidating at times, but at this point, I try to remind myself that I did the hard part; wrote the book. So really all I can do now is some promotion and, more importantly, work on the next book.

Paul Tremblay: As far as doing things differently…I made a ton of mistakes early on with short fiction selling for ten bucks to scam artists or appearing in embarassing markets, etc…i beat myself up over them, but learn, and move on. (quick backtrack): When I had the time (kids, school, ah!!!) and I didn’t feel like writing, I used to find a phrase, from the paper or a song lyric and try to write a little story based off it. It’s how I ended up writing quite a few stories and my Donkey novel.

Kim Despins: Do you make yourself write every day?

Paul Tremblay: I should make myself write everyday, but I don’t. But I always try to do something writing related: my blog, or Shirley Jackson awards stuff, or at the very least reading something great. But when I’m in writing-mode (usually spring/summer) I aim for 500 new words a day.

Erik Williams: Speaking of marketing, I’m hoping to sell my first novel here soon and was wondering if you have any tips on self-promotion/marketing? Stuff you’ve enjoyed. Stuff you’ve hated. Stuff that dhas/hasn’t work.

Paul Tremblay: Marketing is tough. My grand plan for PHOBIA was to get blurbs first and then surely agents would bow down before my great novel. I had killer blurbs from Poppy Z. Brite and Stewart O’Nan, and I’m sure that helped get the cover letter noticed, but agents are only going to take you on if they think they can sell your book. Avoid (I’m sure I don’t have to tell you) spamming folks randomly if you do decided to go the blurb route. I’ve always just tried my best to meet like-minded writers/editors, and tried not to annoy them too much. Back in 2000/2001 I took on a chat hosting gig for Delirium Books, met Jeffrey Thomas and other folks that way. Joined HWA (there were many more pros as members back then), tried going to some cons. My big break was winning the chi contest the first time, I think.

Petra Miller: There has been much talk in the last 10 years (or maybe that’s exaggerating) on how publishers want to know how you expect to sell your book. Meaning, they want to know what you will do to ensure the success. What experiences with TLS did you encounter, as far as Holt’s expectation of how you will promote it?

Paul Tremblay: For TLS, I culled a list of bloggers/reviews and sent them ARCs, which worked quite well I think. Landed quite a few reviews/interviews, and even a blurb or two, that way. I had to fill out an author’s questionaire for Holt (with stuff like who do I know in the local media…um…no one…what editors, reviewers I know, etc). Holt (like all major publishers) has a publicity dept, but you need to do some of your own hustling too, setting up readings and the like.

Petra Miller: Right. I wondered if they had some expectations too. Were you worried when you had to tell them you knew no one in the media?

Paul Tremblay: When TLS was released, I drove around to local bookstores, introduced myself, offered to sign the stock (please sign your own book, Mr. Tremblay, not anyone else’s….), etc.

Petra Miller: Was that hard for you to do that? Or not? I’m kind of shy, and it would be a big pill to swallow for me, even though I know I would need to do it.

Paul Tremblay: I was hoping for more to be honest, but the half-dozen I’ve done so far have been a lot of fun. The last two readings weren’t mobbed shall we say, but the point is to meet and greet the booksellers, at indie stores especially. They’re the ones who will hand sell your book to however many readers. It is hard for me, Petra. And I’ve flubbed it a few times, but I try my best and laugh at myself afterwards. One flub: I grew up in Beverly, MA, and I stopped by the library with book in hand I stopped at the front desk, introduced myself, said something like I grew up here, my first novel is out, and I want to donate a copy to the library…but I also wanted to talk to the head librarian, maybe chat about setting up an event…but the person behind the counter said, thanks!, took my book, and disappeared…and I felt too goofy to call her back and say, “Wait! I want more!” So I left.

Sam W Anderson: Two part question: First, how did you get to be so perceptive on the subject of Denver sports? Second, everything I’ve read by you is written in first person present tense – is this a conscious choice? What benefits do you see in telling your stories in this voice?

Paul Tremblay: I was born in Aurora (lived there until I was 1), so I’ve always had a soft spot for Denver sports.

Paul Tremblay: I love first person because, simply, it’s how we experience reality. We don’t get to bounce around in other people’s heads. A good first person work feels less “told” to me (in the sort of ultimate show don’t tell way). As a writer I enjoy the challenge of building the secondary characters through the lense of the first-person protag because if I do it well, how the first person protag perceives the other characters also builds the protag’s character. Present tense because it just feels more immediate to me. It’s a feel thing. With TLS, though, that book had to be first person present. It was the only way to be fair to the reader, for the whole is-it-real-is-it-a-dream thing to work, for the reader and Mark to be finding everything out at the same time. My whacked out horror novella (harlequin and the train) is third person present and past. And the reader has to highlight certain words with a yellow highlighter….

Sam W Anderson: On the TLS strategy – two part question: First, do you think Jay Cutler uses the pick-up line, “My tongue’s stronger than John Elway’s, too.”? Second – The father dream sequences in TLS – What was the goal of those and do you think you achieved that?

Paul Tremblay: If Cutler doesn’t, he should. What I wanted to do with the father dream sequences was to build Tim as a secondary character, but in such a way that the reader experiences Tim only as Mark does: a shadowy figure, a faded memory, but still be important to the plot, the story, and even as a flavor of Mark’s narcolepsy and childhood. The Tim dreams are some of my favorite parts of that books, so it worked for me, at least.

Petra Miller: Mark Genevich is such an original character, and actually, the premise itself is just as original – we’ve seen much of the ‘bumbling P.I.’ stories before, but never to this degree, at least I haven’t. I think that’s part of why I liked the book so much. He was so damn down and out! I’m curious as to what came to you first; the concept of your Main Character, or the story. Or did they come to you all at once. Premise being original because of his narcolepsy.

Paul Tremblay: Thanks again, Petra! I almost always come up with a character first and then build the story around the character. So for me, writing the second Genevich book was very difficult because it took a while for me to get over the whiney punk in my head saying, “you already wrote his story…waaaaah.” Although, I guess the first chapter came first, to be fair.

Petra Miller: Yeah, I figured the character came first…also In your acknowledgments, you thank the ‘Genovich clan.’ Is your character Mark Genovich based on someone you know?

Paul Tremblay: I had the image of the woman in the Dick’s office with the missing fingers, and I’d planned to write a SF/horror/noir mash up, and play the missing fingers straight. But I had nothing for the PI character and put the chapter away…until I happened to be reading about narcolepsy, and the chapter made sense, the PI had narcolepsy

Paul Tremblay: All my major characters are based on bits and chunks of people I know. Mark is a lot of people I’ve met, and a little of me, too. Genevich is my mother-in-law’s maiden name. Ellen Genevich is her maiden name actually. Southie is stereotypically Irish-catholic, but there’s a large lithuanian community too, and I thought the lithuanian part of his character fit with the rest of the novel in its trope reveling and undercutting.

Kurt Dinan: How do you deal with the time issue when writing a novel? Since you have a full-time job and family responsibilities, how do you stay focused and “into” a novel when you can only work on it for a short while each day? When are you writing? When are you editing?

Paul Tremblay: I was born (and I think I’ve trained to increase this too, much to the chagrin of my family at times) with a one-track mind. When I was in novel mode, I pretty much thought about it all the time. I write when I’m at school during a free period, even if it’s only twenty minutes. I did a lot of Wonderland at night, too, after the kids went to bed. So didn’t watch much TV or see any movies, or have a life really, in the fall and winter. I keep the daily goals small, so I can achieve them. Seriously, as much as I’d love to crank out 1500 words a day, it ain’t gonna happen consistently, so why set myself up for failure? Most days it was 500 words. Some days it was, if I work on this chapter for 30 or 45 minutes, I’m good. Meeting those little goals helps the self-esteem.
It’s the biggest difference between writing short fiction and novels. It never feels like you’ll finish the novel, especially compared to the short story. So for me, part and parcel of the novel process is the process. Setting the small goals. Meeting them, and letting that be the reward instead of, with short fiction, the finished story being the reward. For TLS I used to do a running word count tally and seeing the weekly and monthly growth was a big boost.

Sam W Anderson: Two part question: How depressed is Massachusetts that the Celtics’ season is officially over? Second – The anthologies that you’ve edited call for “literary horror.” Can you define this better and when are you going to invite all of Snutch to submit to one?

Paul Tremblay: We’re bummed, but there’s just so much winning going on, we ease our pain with the 1 seed Bruins or the Sox or the Pats. The bad news is that with Prime’s move to be stand alone (not owned by wildside) that might be the last antho from them for a long, long time. Literary horror…many a more talented editor/critic/writer than I has spent ton-o-ink on answering that. Briefly, it means a horror story that goes beyond the scare, and answers the questions, that I think, all great literature attempts to answer: What decisions are you going to make? Do you know the concequences? Do you care? How do you live through this? how does anyone live through this?

Sam W Anderson: So, should we set a deadline for you to have our stories to you?

Paul Tremblay: I wish I had an antho for which to read stories….god what an awful sentence.

John Mantooth: In the Little Sleep, the narcalepsy came across as very believable to me. How much research did you put into that? I’m wondering if you actually interviewed anyone with narcalepsy?

Erik Williams: And did they fall asleep during the interview

Paul Tremblay: Thanks, John. I did a fair amount of reaserach, with the web and a non-fiction book written by a narcoletpic as my primary source. No interviews though. This might sound odd, but I didn’t want to do too much research. One, I’m lazy when it comes to research, and two, I really wanted a go at creating a character with my own version of kitchen-sink narcolepsy. At the time, I was less interested in being true to the disease than I was doing what I wanted to do with the fiction. But as I went narcolepsy became such an imporant part of Mark, being true, at least in terms of how he would deal with the disease, became quite important. I actually suffered from a sleep disorder in the mid-late 90′s. Sleep apnea. They took out my tonsils and uvula.

John Mantooth: yeah, I know nothing about the condition, but it came across as very believable to me.

Paul Tremblay: While I wasn’t narcoleptic, I remember being tired all the time and falling asleep behind the wheel (ever so briefly).

John Mantooth: I really loved the dream sequences with Tim, and I don’t usually dig dream sequences but you’ve got to have those in a book about a narcaleptic, right?

Paul Tremblay: Thanks, John. It’s kind of ironic (in a Alannis kind of way) that I usually cringe at dream sequences in books. I think years ago I blogged about how I hated dreams in stories. heh. Yeah, the dreams were part of the deal, for sure. So when writing them, I had to make sure they served a purpose: to further plot or build character.

Petra Miller: Okay..I just have one more question and I’m praying you don’t think I’m soliciting you: I want to know how you gained three inches of height in a twelve hour period. And does it have anything to do with Basketball?

Paul Tremblay: I had scoliosis as a kid. Undiagnosed until I was in my mid-teens, unfortunately. I had a 45 degree curve in my spine. Couldn’t really tell unless I bent over. So the only way to somewhat correct it and keep it from getting worse was a spinal fusion. They took bone from my hip and metal rods, at stuck it all in there. I was 6’0 when I went under. Woke up 6’3. 6’0 140 lbs when I went under. Woke up 6’3, dropped to 125lbs after a week in a hosptial. Now I’m 6’4 205, and all man.

Sam W Anderson: Two part question: Are you going to cry when I rain down threes on your azz? Secondly – what about your Donkey novel did your agent say wasn’t first-novel material?

Paul Tremblay: I don’t cry over what won’t happen. I’m quite simply the best basketball shooting and playing spec fic writer alive. The Donkey novel is very weird, I guess. Not heavy on plot. Dystopian, which I’m told, is a tough sell. He thinks it would be a good later novel, not a first. With a first, he felt strongly that he wanted to ‘break me out’ with the first novel. I am 37 and getting creaky. So I might, begrudgingly relinquish best player, but not best shooter. Taking that to my grave. Unless you’ve hit 28 threes in a row.

John Mantooth” Paul, forgive me not knowing this, but do you have collection of stories, I might pick up somewhere?

Paul Tremblay: Yeah, I have Compositions for the Young and Old, which was published in ’04, so a lot of the stories feel kinda, well, old, but there’s still a handful that I think hold up okay. The conceit is that the opening stories are from the POV of children, then grow older, so to speak, until the last story is from the POV of an Alzheimer’s patient.
These are horror stories, definitely. My short stuff tends to be horror, but not the novel length stuff. Don’t know why. Part of me agrees with Laird Barron that horror’s optimum length is somewhere in the novella.

John Mantooth: Prime books. How’d you break in with them?

Paul Tremblay: I feel like I’ve been very lucky and fortunate along every step of the way, mind you, with help from so many talented authors. Mort Castle put in a good word for me and my work to Wallace at Prime, and it got the collection read, then sold. I went to Prime, and to be honest, part of me feels like I published it too soon, but at the same time, I do think it was a credit that helped me a bit. Everyone here should try markets outside the usual horror markets, which are great markets, but you never know? I sold a crazy-ass co-written horror story to Razor Magazine (rest in piece) for 1500 bucks. Wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t try them.