“There’s a desk in my studio somewhere–probably under all the crumpled up balls of shitty writing and sundry other forms of refuse–but I’ve stopped using it altogether in the last year or so. I now generally write with my laptop on my knees, sitting or lying on one of the two sofas, which works pretty well until I fall asleep. I’m not sure what it says about my work ethic that I have two sofas in my studio and only one desk. Actually, I am sure. Maybe if they called portable computers ‘desktops’ my whole life would be different. All that really matters about the space I work in, though, is that there’s enough wall space to tack up a book’s worth of notes and pictures and so on. I don’t use most of them in the end, but their presence is crucial, in the early stages, in tricking my brain into thinking that a book is happening. That’s my only trick. That and almonds. I eat lots of almonds.”
FROM YOUR DESKS: How do you work?FYD: What is your favorite sentimental object at your workspace and why?
JW: For some reason I feel downright connubial with a life-sized, hand-carved, anatomical wooden skull that I bought for $5 in a flea market in Santiago, Chile. It sums up my feelings about writing perfectly.
FYD: What is your favorite or most required work tool?
JW: I’d have to say self-loathing. And other people’s books.
FYD: Describe your writing habits. Are you a creature of habit?
JW: Habit it essential to writing a book of any kind, as every writer will tell you. Unfortunately, I hate habit. I move all around my office to try to keep things seeming slightly novel in some way. Lately I’ve abandoned writing at a desk altogether, and write best while lying on the couch, with my laptop in my lap. That’s where a laptop is designed to be, right?
FYD: You wrote your first draft of Lowboy on the subway. Does that book seem like a long time ago?
I’ve never seen a film of Kubrick’s that I haven’t found interesting. How many directors can you say that about?
FYD: You wrote Canaan’s Tounge when you were down on US affairs. Do you feel we are making any progress? I’m struggling with the hope thing.
JW: The more you hope, of course, the greater you open yourself to disappointment. Our country has sunk so low in recent decades that a genuinely ethical administration would appear downright freakish to most Americans. Maybe we’ll get there one day.
FYD: Perhaps one can muster courage to write badly as long as they are getting words on the page. What’s your advice when you think a book isn’t going anywhere or your tapped mentally?
JW: It’s certainly a mistake to expect too much from an initial draft—what matters is that some progress is made, no matter how clumsy. That’s why revision exists: to allow the writer of an initial draft maximum freedom from fear.
Unfortunately, I hate habit.
FYD: Talk about your writing process.
There’s an interview I did with comedian and book-lover Zach Galifianakis that addresses this issue. (see below)
FYD: Where did you film that piece? You held your own in that interview by not laughing until the end, which I’m assuming was tricky.
JW: Every book I write has its own little constellation of precedents, books that I like to keep close by when I’m working. For me each project is a triangulation, basically, between three or four novels that I love, and that I’m shamelessly pillaging to my own nefarious ends. (I guess it couldn’t really be a triangulation between that many books. A trapezoidalization? A bumble?)
FYD: You are a Kubrick fan. What are your three favorites?
JW: I’ve never seen a film of Kubrick’s that I haven’t found interesting. How many directors can you say that about? I’d even go to the mat for Eyes Wide Shut, though I probably wouldn’t get up again. The greats, for me, are Paths of Glory, Spartacus, Dr. Strangelove and 2001.
FYD: Your Twitter handle incorporates a character called “Citizen.” What is the premise and is it easy for one to become familiar with his comings and goings?
JW: The idea was to write the type of story that would function in the Twitter context, not to simply plug a preexisting story into the mold. So the conceit of Citizen couldn’t be simpler: eccentric, opinionated and occasionally violent guy wanders the city, gets into trouble and hijinks. And every tweet should ideally be a self-contained little piece of entertainment.
For me each project is a triangulation, basically, between three or four novels that I love, and that I’m shamelessly pillaging to my own nefarious ends.
FYD: What are you currently working on?
JW: I’m writing a long novel. A very long novel. My goal is to finish it while I still have my teeth.