The Storyteller: An Interview with David Goodwillie
Hi and welcome to Issue #11 of The Storyteller!
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Today's guest is David Goodwillie. David and I met at the Simon & Schuster Selects event in Boston back in early March (just a few days prior to Boston going into quarantine, ah those days) where his then-upcoming book, Kings County was one of S&S's lead titles for the summer. I've reviewed it here, and am glad I get to share my chat with him in this issue. Make sure you've got your cups or glasses of [insert choice of beverage] before you settle down to it!
AN: You’ve had a most unorthodox route to becoming a writer. Could you talk about the journey and how it’s affected or impacted your work as a writer, including being born in France and spending so much of your life overseas?
DG: While I came late to writing—I didn’t start my first book until I was thirty—I feel like I’d been preparing to write for most of my life. I’ve always been an observer, a person who wants to understand the context of things, the larger story. If I’m going to a new restaurant, I’ll look up the neighbourhood it’s in, maybe arrive early and wander around a bit. As you mentioned, I grew up overseas, in Paris and then London (though my parents are both American), and I’m sure that piqued my interest in people and places—the greater world out there. At the same time—and this is the only thing I believe every writer has in common—I found solace in books at an early age, and the tension between the these two poles—the world of words and the one outside the door—is what I think creates a writers mind. Inquisitiveness. Knowledge. A little bravery. A lot of fear. These are the pre-requisites of fiction writing. And they all interact on the page.
AN: I’m yet to read your memoir or American Subversive but they strike me as very “different” books as does Kings County. Do you feel like you have a writer’s manifesto pulling all of your work together? Is that something you think of when you’re thinking of ideas for future books/stories?
DG: I feel like “literary” writers, whatever else that term means, have a responsibility, to both their readers and themselves, to try different things from book to book. The contemporary authors I most admire—and I’m thinking here of Zadie Smith, Joshua Ferris, Emily St. John Mandel, David Mitchell, and Jess Walter, among many others—are constantly trying new things on the page. Voices and styles and ideas. I try to do that, too. It keeps me interested and engaged over the long course of writing a book. (Also, part of me also just wants to see if I can pull it off.) At the same time, writers have certain themes that bubble up in every book. For Mitchell, for example, it’s his running cast of characters and circular, time-traveling narratives. For me, it’s writing about New York City. I can’t help it. The city holds such a cacophony of stories and possibilities, I never get sick of it. New York has always been a character in my novels.
AN: What drives you to write what you do?
DG: I’ve had a lot of other jobs, most of them quite fascinating (hence my memoir). I’ve been a baseball player, a private investigator, an expert at Sotheby’s auction house, and an Internet entrepreneur. I’ve loved parts about all of them, but none seemed quite right as a career. They felt limiting, or inconsequential (or, in the case of baseball, I just wasn’t good enough). Writing books seemed like something different. Worthy, romantic, impossibly difficult. Many years (and three books) later, I still feel that way.
AN: Is there anything you’d really love to try (format, style, topic) in the future?
DG: Yes, historical fiction. Having written three quite contemporary books, I’m looking forward to delving into decades past. I love research, and also enjoy the challenge of trying something new. At the same time, between the rapid pace of changing technology and the politicization of every aspect of America life, writing about the present day seems especially fraught at the moment.
AN: Two of the things I enjoyed most about Kings County were its keen observations and the vivid recreation of place. How did you go about your research for this? On a similar note, how do you normally go about your research for a new project?
DG: As a reader, I always love it when a writer takes the time to set a scene, to give us a visceral idea of the setting, the world the characters are inhabiting, and I suppose that’s carried over into my writing. I also like playing with the line between fiction and non-fiction by using real places in my novels—restaurants, bars, buildings, parks—because it makes the story more personal and intimate (at least, I think so). Yes, writing about real places--and events--requires more research, but it’s often of a participatory nature—going to a place, meeting people, etc. And I’ll find any excuse to get away from my writing desk.
I hope that readers who’ve been to a setting they encounter in a book tend will delight in it’s re-creation, while readers who haven’t, if I’ve done my job well enough, will yearn to go. Real places makes for good set pieces, too. Kings County contains scenes that take place in actual restaurants (Balthazar and Café Loup), stores (Forbidden Planet), parks (McCarren), concert venues (Webster Hall) and even an auction house (Sotheby’s). But not everything is real. I make up places when it’s convenient, as well. That’s the joy of fiction: creating a world and then shaping it to one’s needs.
AN: Writing a multi-character narrative and POV. How did you approach that? Was it a challenge?
DG: I’d always wanted to write a novel employing a close third-person POV with multiple characters. I wanted to show how one major event can be experienced in different ways by different people, and using alternating chapters to get into the heads of each of my four main characters seemed like an excellent way to do that. It also builds suspense, as the reader—again, hopefully!—is never quite sure who’s right or wrong, lying or telling the truth. It was most definitely a challenge, especially when adding flashbacks to the mix, but I always wanted this book to be like the characters who comprise it: deep, complex, and full of surprises.
AN: How/why did you choose this very specific time in the world, and especially in Brooklyn, as a setting for Kings County?
DG: As a music fan living in New York City between 2000-2011, it was impossible not to notice the burgeoning indie scene taking place in the formerly immigrant enclaves of Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Bushwick, Brooklyn. Suddenly, it seemed like every great young band in America was living and playing within twenty square blocks of each other. Interpol. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. TV on the Radio. LCD Soundsystem. (The list is long.) I was living in downtown Manhattan at the time, but would spend my evenings taking the L-train across the river to meet friends, see shows, and soak up the atmosphere. The nights all but glowed with creative energy, and soon enough, I realized that something special was going on, that geographically-based artistic movements like this didn’t happen very often. Maybe once a decade somewhere. Soho in the Eighties if you were a visual artist. Or Seattle in the Nineties with grunge. And I remember thinking I’d write about it someday, not as a thing unto itself, but as the luminous backdrop to a larger story. My characters would exist within the heightened import of a cultural moment—a last gasp moment as it happened, for soon hip hop would come to reign supreme, and indie music would recede, become just another chapter in the great American songbook.
AN: I’m a sucker for reading about method and craft and would love to know about your writing process from how you approach a new idea to handing in that final draft.
DG: The initial concepts for my books come from things that bother me in the real world. Mysteries and questions I don’t have answers for. I started writing my first novel, American Subversive, during the endless wars of the late Bush era, and I remember, amidst the helpless despair of those years, wondering if it was possible for one person to make a difference in an increasingly indifferent world. A vague premise, sure, but from there, I came up with a character named Paige Roderick, a young idealist from a military family, whose brother has been killed in Iraq. With nowhere to turn for answers, she joins a group of environmental and anti-war radicals and begins a journey that will make her a household name. But at what cost?
If American Subversive was about politics, Kings County is about love. More specifically, I wanted to delve into questions of trust, loyalty and secrecy. What do we owe our partners? What do we owe ourselves? I wanted this new novel to be more character driven than my last (which was quite plotty), so I started with the two protagonists, Audrey Benton and Theo Gorski, and set out to discover who they were. I trusted that the larger story would come in time. I had no idea what the end would be when I started. I couldn’t even imagine the middle. But I liked the characters I’d created so much that I know I’d get there—that is, I knew I could spend several years with them floating around in my head (if that makes sense). And it took several years—seven to be exact. An eternity in every other profession. But it felt just right to me.
AN: Releasing a book during the pandemic. What has yet another different experience in a virtual, online space been like? I know many have been talking about the changes and difficulties about virtual events, but I want to know about the good. Any favourite parts, any unexpectedly enjoyable ones?
DG: A great question! The toughest part about having a book come out during COVID has been the cancelation of touring. It’s incredibly rewarding to travel around and meet readers, do Q&As, maybe talk books over a drink after events. Obviously, that’s been replaced by virtual events, which try as we all might, can’t quite replicate the real thing. On the other hand, in brainstorming and setting up these Zooms and Facebook Lives, I’ve gotten to know independent bookstore owners and employees in ways I never would have on a book tour. There’s a great camaraderie to figuring these things out on the fly, and often, after the virtual event, we get back together on Zoom, pour glasses of wine, and happily recap what just happened.
AN: What’s next?
DG: A family saga centered around a famous robbery, and set in 1950s Paris. Maybe? I don’t know. I’m just figuring it out now.
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1. What's the last book that you read that you'd recommend and why?
Stray by Stephanie Danler was raw, gripping, emotionally honest, and beautifully written—basically everything I love in a memoir. I thought about it for weeks after I finished.
2. What's the last TV show or movie you watched that you'd recommend and why?
I’m usually hopefully behind the Zeitgeist with TV, but I’ve finally started Succession and, of course, it’s fantastic. I also just re-watched the Bill Cunningham documentary (for about fifth time), and if anything it get better with age. Highly recommended.
3. What's the last song you listened to that you'd recommend and why?
I’ve been listening to “Fool’s Gold” by Lucy Dacus for the last three days on repeat and I need to stop soon lest I drive everyone around me insane. But it’s such a brilliant song!
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Thank you, David for that wonderful chat.
As always, I've included both mine and David's social media links below, for you to check out if you so wish. There are buying links as well, which include links through my own online affiliate shop for Bookshop.org, which supports independent bookstores. I have a separate section on there titled "The Storyteller newsletter" so you can access the relevant buying links for all the authors I've had on here so far.
In Issue #12 coming into your inboxes on November 1, we have Meredith Hall, the award-winning author of New York Times-bestselling memoir, Without a Map, whose debut novel, Beneficence was published by David Godine just last month and is already garnering critical acclaim.
If you enjoyed this and know someone who would, as well, please forward this to them! I'm also always up for a book (or general) chat so feel free to turn this into a conversation at any time by replying to the email, even if just to let me know your thoughts on an issue or if you have any feedback, but also if you must share with someone how awesome something is that you've recently read, watched, or listened to.
Thank you and until next time!
Anu
Currently reading: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Currently watching: The Good Place
Latest writing: I don't have anything new at the moment (though a few are under consideration/in the pipeline and I'll hopefully be able to share them soon), but I do have two new creative ventures by friends to shout out - this newsletter by Football Paradise colleague and fellow Gooner Ryan where every issue is a bite-sized offering of amazing work by creatives in various industries, his own projects and more, and the Curated Boook Box start-up in Mumbai by Parita, an awesome subscription book box venture looking to serve your needs for quality reads (I'm the resident "book spammer" who picks each month's reads).
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Website (you should particularly check out David's store - he had some merch made for the band and record label in the book and all proceeds go to Equal Justice Initiative, a criminal justice organisation doing great work in the US)
Instagram
Twitter
Buying links:
Barnes and Noble
Amazon
https://bookshop.org/shop/anushreenande