Mysterical-E

author interview

Marshall Thornton

Marshall Thornton is a novelist, playwright and screenwriter living in Long Beach, California. He is best known for the Boystown detective series, which received an honorable mention in the 2011 Rainbow Awards and was a finalist for the Lambda Book Award – Gay Mystery. Other novels include the erotic comedy The Perils of Praline, or the Amorous Adventures of a Southern Gentleman in Hollywood, Desert Run and Full Release. Marshall has an MFA in screenwriting from UCLA, where he received the Carl David Memorial Fellowship and was recognized in the Samuel Goldwyn Writing awards. He has also had plays produced in both Chicago and Los Angeles and stories published in The James White Review and Frontier Magazine.

How have you grown as a writer? What has gotten better? What things have you dropped along the way?

Wow… I’ve been writing since I was sixteen so this question covers a lot of time. I think one of the biggest mistakes I made when I was younger was to misunderstand the role of talent in writing. People told me I was a talented writer and what I heard was that I was finished. I just had to write and my work would get published or performed and it would all be wonderful. I’ve since come to understand that talent is a very small part of what it takes to be a writer. To me, writing is almost entirely craft. You might have a great talent for imaging houses but if you can’t swing a hammer; or use a level; or read a plumb line you will never build one worth living in.

What is it that kick starts a project for you: a character, a situation, or…?

I think the most important thing when starting a new project is to make sure it’s something I’d actually like to read. If it’s not the kind of book I’d pick up in the store and devour than it’s just not going to work out well. Especially since writing a book requires you to read it six or seven times. Even projects you love get old by the time they’re published.

How long does it generally take you to complete a novel – from conception to completion?

When I was at UCLA we were taught to write a screenplay in ten weeks. The first draft of a novel I can get done in about thirteen weeks. Now, that’s just the beginning of the process. I typically rest the book for a month or so, then do a light rewrite. Then I put it out to readers and do another rewrite. Then it goes to my publisher… the whole process takes around a year. I began Boystown 4: A Time For Secrets in April of 2011 and it was published at the end of March in 2012. That’s very typical.

When doing a series, how “into” the world of that series do you get?

The Boystown series takes place in Chicago during the early eighties. I lived in Chicago from 1980 to 1987. In a way, I’m already “into” that world. Which is not to say I don’t have to do research, but I do work a lot from memory.

Thoughts on your series?

The scariest thing about writing a series is that someday I’ll get a reader review that says, “This one’s just not as good as the last one.” I’ve gotten comfortable with negative reviews. It is subjective, after all. But I do dread disappointing readers who like my work. Logically, I know someday it will happen – I’ve thought the same kind of thing about my favorite writers – I’m just not looking forward to it.
I’ve really enjoyed writing a series. It’s a luxury to develop a character(s) over several books. The movements are much more as they are in life and I never find myself trying to squeeze in resolutions the way you sometimes have to in shorter works.

What is your writing method? Lots of planning, no planning, etc.

I find that each book requires something slightly different. I try to outline and sometimes I do a better job of it than other times. Usually I get too excited about what I want to write and start writing part way through the outline. If I find myself getting stuck, I do stop and re-outline. It helps when you’re lost.

Where is your favorite place to write?

My desk for drafting. A coffee shop for taking notes and spit-balling ideas.

What are the five most distracting things when you’re working?

Email. Texting. Lunch. My roommate. The cat.

What do you consider your two writing strengths and your two writing weaknesses?

My first completed work was a play. I consider dialogue a strength, my first strength. I guess my other strength would be doing the unexpected. I have a real fear of being predictable.
Gravitating toward praise, I suppose is one weakness. If I get complimented on something I simply have to do it again, and again, and again. And that is not always wise. I do not write well with others – that would be a second weakness. Some writers work well in teams; I just can’t do it.

What rituals do you go through to get yourself started?

Coffee and getting my ass in the chair. Those seem to be the things that work.

Talk about your most recent book and what it means to you.

My most recent book is Boystown 4: A Time For Secrets. Typically with the Boystown books I begin to write the next one while I’m editing the previous one. So, this one began during the edit for Boystown 3: Two Nick Nowak Novellas. I think the kernel of the idea came from reading Secret Historian the biography of Samuel Steward by Justin Spring. I was intrigued by the idea of keeping extensive journals about your sex life. And journaling is an important part of Boystown 4 though not as extensive as I originally envisioned. Around the same time, I sat down with a good friend of mine who still lives in Chicago and we went through her parents’ scrapbooks. They were involved in early Chicago TV and that intrigued me. Then in April of 2011 I went to Las Vegas and wrote an outline – well, most of an outline. By the time I was driving home I had a really solid idea what I wanted the book to be.

Tell us your favorite joke.

There’s this little boy. He’s poor and lives on a farm. When his birthday comes along his father give him a duck and says, “Take this duck to town and see what you can get for it.” So, the little boy heads off toward town with the duck. On the way, he meets up with this little girl and says to her, “If you go into the woods with me and fool around for awhile I’ll give you my duck.” She agrees so they go into the woods and fool around. When they come out, he gives her the duck but before she walks away she says, “You know that was pretty fun. If you go back into the woods with me and fool around some more, I’ll give you back your duck.” This is a win/win situation for the little boy so they go back into the woods and fool around some more. Then, when they’re done, they come back to the road and the girl gives the boy back his duck. He’s continuing on his way to town to see what he can get for the duck, when a huge limousine comes along and runs over the duck. The owner of the limo gets out and feels really bad about what happened, so he gives the boy two dollars. At that point, since he doesn’t have the duck anymore, the little boy goes home. When he gets there his father asks, “What did you get for the duck?” The little boy says, “I got a fuck for a duck. A duck for a fuck. And two bucks for a fucked up duck.”

When's the last time you used profanity?

See above.

What are your top three pet peeves?

People who can’t think logically. People who take advantage of people who can’t think logically. People who enrich themselves and say it’s for the good of others.

What’s the oddest thing you’ve ever done to promote your work?

So far I’ve been pretty vanilla in my approach to promotion. I am open to suggestion.

What’s the strangest fan question/request you’ve ever gotten? (And, did you comply?)

My fans have not been that strange. Am I doing something wrong?

On what type of products do you never go cheap on, for the sake of quality?

Computers. Always have at least one Mac.

How often do you Google yourself?

Never. I use Google Alerts. They do it for me.

If you were exiled:  a) what five books would you take with you? Why?  b) What current celebrity would you like to have exiled with you? Why? c) what famous author (living or dead) would you like to have accompany you? Why?  d) what famous fictional character would you take with you and why?

a) The Tales of the City Omnibus by Amisted Maupin. Complete Brandstetter by Joseph Hansen. The Back Passage by James Lear. The Complete Plays Joe Orton. And, King Perry by Edmond Manning. The first two are actually about fifteen books. I really like reading and I assume there’s no cable in exile. James Lear is just deliciously fun. As is Joe Orton – perhaps answer b will read aloud. And last, a friend recommended King Perry to me. I haven’t read it yet. I should bring something I haven’t read yet.

b) Josh Lucas. I’m assuming this is exile in a hot place where clothes aren’t all that necessary.

c) Alan Hollinghurst. Please make sure he’s got a computer so he can keep writing. I wouldn’t want to miss his next book.

d) Harry Potter. I’ve never been good at vanquishing evil. I figure he can handle anything that comes up.

Respond to these pairings and tell why you respond the way you do:

a.     Series or stand-alone books – Both. One is too limiting.
b.     Lots of research or make it all up - Both. You have to make things up to get the research to connect.
c.     Neat or sloppy – in between, extremes are difficult.
d.     NY or DC – Palm Springs. It’s restful. And sunny.
e.     Carnivore or Vegetarian – Omnivore.
f.      Caffeine or Decaffeinated – Half and half.

What is your favorite body part (on yourself) and why?

Are we dating yet? This is getting very personal. Um, I would have to say my brain. It’s my only body part that has improved with age.

If you could invite any five historical figures to dinner (all together or one at a time) who would they be? And why?

Agatha Christie, for writing tips; Steve Jobs, because he’d be good at picking out the next big thing to invest in; Dorothy Parker, to make us all laugh; Rock Hudson, to bring the sexy; and, Zelda Fitzgerald, because it’s not a party until someone dances on the table.