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Author Jess Walter Rob Holden: Jess Walter, welcome to ReadersRoom.com -- it's a pleasure to have you with us here today .... finally! Jess Walter: Thanks. It's good to finally be here. Rob Holden: I would like to start this off discussing your latest novel Citizen Vince. Can you tell our readers a bit about it? Jess Walter: Sure. It's a kind of hybrid, I guess ... part crime novel, part political novel, part comic novel, about a guy in the witness protection program voting. Rob Holden: Can you tell us a bit about the plot? Jess Walter: Sure. Vince Camden is a low-level hood, from New York, who is sent to Spokane, WA, after testifying in a big trial. He's sure someone's been sent to kill him, but he's really concerned about which candidate to vote for. It's set in the 1980 presidential election, and ranges from Spokane to New York and back, and is filled with real historical figures. Rob Holden: Vince -- who is both likeable and REALLY shady -- is himself a fascinating character. Can you give us an idea of how you came up with him? Jess Walter: It's kind of an author cliché -- that your characters often come up with you, but with Vince, it almost seems that way. First, I actually know former Mafia guys in the witness protection program. Spokane, my hometown, is a good place for them. So some of the character came from research. But most of it is from me, I suppose. Vince has a fascination with architecture and likes to read the beginnings of novels. He's really a guy who never got the chance to improve himself ... until now. That's what the novel is really about, the desire to remake oneself. I share that trait (as I think we all do) with Vince. Sadly, he's a much better poker player than I am. Rob Holden: The novel has a lot of political overtones, and yet you chose to set it during the 1980 election between Jilly Carter and Ronald Reagan. Was there a particular reason for that? Or Jimmy Carter even! Jess Walter: Jilly Carter might've had a better chance. I wrote this as a screenplay originally, and wanted 1980 for a few reasons. First, it was a pivot for the country, the election when we began a (so far) 25-year shift to the right politically. But more importantly, that election changed the way candidates are marketed (and they really are marketed.) It was Reagan saying, "Are you better off than you were four years ago" during the 1980 debate that got my attention. That question becomes the crux of Vince's character decision. See, he's been given a chance for a new life, but HE'S THE SAME PERSON he was before. And this makes him really want to change. I also wanted an election that wasn't close, because it's not about Vince's effect on the election, but the effect of the election on Vince. One vote doesn't matter ... except to the voter.

Rob Holden: Citizen Vince could be described as a thriller, or as a suspense novel, or in fact as a comic novel. How would YOU like to have it viewed?

Jess Walter: By every set of eyes in the world. Actually, I think it's just a novel. There are elements of suspense, but there is suspense in every story. The real questions in this, I think, are questions of character. We shouldn't punish books for having plots. For me, the criteria for a great novel is the same, no matter the subject matter. Sometimes I think the publishing world thinks that people who like thrillers only want that effect, thrills. But that's like buying a stereo with only one knob: volume. Every great novel should have great writing, real characters and a driving plot. I think.

Rob Holden: I would like to move back a book if we could to your last book, Land of the Blind -- recently out in paperback. Could you tell us a bit about that book?

Jess Walter: Sure. It's another tough one to classify. (I recently had a bookstore owner tell me that I have the hardest books to file. That was the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me.) Land of the Blind is about a guy who decides to confess to a police officer (he doesn't believe in God, or he might find a priest to confess to) and it's only after sitting for hours and hours that the police officer realizes the man is confessing his whole life. The novel's theme is contained in something the man, Clark Mason, writes: There aren't even names for most of the crimes we commit. Clark Mason's crimes are related to a childhood friend, Eli Mason, who had every affliction a kid can have, but saved Clark's life, and the way Clark ultimately rescues and betrays this childhood friend. It's darkly funny.

Rob Holden: Humor seems to be very important to your novels, and yet most writers we have spoken to tell us that it is one of the hardest things to write. Do you find this to be the case?

Jess Walter: It's the hardest to intentionally write. I think it has to be reflected in your outlook on life. I have a dark, gallows sense of humor. Personally, I love where sorrow intersects with humor ... and I'm always writing for that moment when you're not sure whether to laugh or cry. That, to me, is the sweet spot.

Rob Holden: As well as writing novels, you also have a non-fiction book to your credit: Ruby Ridge -- which was made into a mini-series. Can you tell us a bit about that book?

Jess Walter: I covered the stand-off at Ruby Ridge between the FBI and a family of white separatists and tried to write an objective, narrative-style book about it ... novelistic and yet fully researched. The story covers Randy Weaver and his family, the way they got into paranoia and racism, and the way the government overstated their danger and this inevitable, sad conflict between them. It's really two stories: the way a family got lost in the woods of North Idaho and in their own fear, and a story about a civil rights violation, government screw-ups and coveups and the marginalization of people on the fringe.

Rob Holden: Did you have much to do with the mini-series, and were you happy with the results?

Jess Walter: I was a consultant, and helped with the script a bit. It was hard, because so much changes for a movie. That said, they did their best to stay true to the objectivity of the book. They didn't try to make heroes out of anyone, or villains. It was a tragedy, people brought down by hubris and human weakness. So, overall, I was happy with it.

Rob Holden: Jess, since we announced this chat, we have had a number of questions from our readers. Could you answer a few of them for us now?

Jess Walter: I'd love to.

Natalie R. Collins: Mark Q., Boise, Idaho: I was born in Spokane, and so the setting in Citizen Vince really appealed to me. But I also like that you bring people into the setting that don't belong there. How did you come up with this idea?

Jess Walter: Well, the fish out of water was a natural. I'd spent a lot of time in New York and I loved the differences. The dialogue about deep dish pizza (pepperoni French toast) and four-way stops was so much fun. The historical characters, like Jimmy Carter and John Gotti, came from my research. I looked at who might have been involved and they added to Vince's story in compelling ways. Gotti, for instance, had lost his son in 1980 in a car accident and I really wanted that pathos. And Carter, for me, was summed up in a fictional line from his pollster: You remind them of their weakness. Thanks Mark.

Natalie R. Collins: Cassie P., New York, NY: Your brand of humor almost seems suited for film. Have you ever written a screen play?

Jess Walter: I've written a couple, yes. And this novel started out as a script. (And is, hopefully, headed that way again.) As a matter of fact, I'm waiting to hear today about a possible film offer. Fingers crossed, please.

Natalie R. Collins: We will definitely do that!

Natalie R. Collins: Cameron L., Houston, TX: I would like to know what you are working on now, and if it is similar to your past novels, or do you always try to find something different to write about.

Jess Walter: I'm working on a novel now, The Zero (tentative title) about our reaction to terrorism. I was at Ground Zero just a few days after the terrorist attacks and worked there for a couple of weeks. The novel is my attempt to write the kind of book Kurt Vonnegut (one of my favorite writers) would attempt, something social and funny and human. I'm about halfway into it right now. I never want to write the same book twice, and so while my characters make cameos in other books, I'm probably not going to write a series in which the same character keeps solving crimes. I couldn't write it if I didn't believe it.

Natalie R. Collins: Speaking of Vonnegut.... Sammy P., Cincinnati, OH: I heard that you actually met my hero, Kurt Vonnegut. Can you tell us a bit about that?

Jess Walter: Yeah. The whole story is on my website ... www.jesswalter.com (ugh, the self-promotion of it all) in an essay that I wrote a couple of years ago. Long story short: I posed as a magazine writer when I was young to meet all my heroes and got an interview with Vonnegut. He saw through me, but was far more patient than I deserved. Later, I wrote an essay about it and he sent me a signed copy of Sirens of Titan, that began To My Fellow Novelist Jess Walter ... I could've retired at that moment, except I'm deeply in debt and have children who keep demanding things like braces and food. I've stayed in touch with Vonnegut and sent him Citizen Vince, which he liked. The first line of the novel is "One day you know more dead people than live ones." He wrote me back: "Everyone I know is dead."

Rob Holden: And our final readers' question ...

Natalie R. Collins: Sharon K., Baton Rouge, LA: As a fellow writer, I am wondering how important to you is your setting? Do you only place your books in settings you are familiar with?

Jess Walter: That's a tough one. I purposely set out to write these three novels in Spokane. The new novel is set mostly in New York. Of course, you don't have to set your novel in some place you've lived (there would be no sci-fi or historical fiction if this were the case. For me, though, Spokane was, in some ways, the most important character in these three novels, the thing that ties them together. I'm not a big believer that you must write only what you know. But if you write about place ... if that's one of the goals of your fiction, then you give yourself an advantage if you really know a place ... if you can describe it the way you describe your characters, its insecurities especially.

Rob Holden: Thanks for answering those. Jess, our readers who are also writers like to know about our guests' writing habits. Do you work a set number of hours a day, looking for a page/word count, etc?

Jess Walter: My friend, Sherman Alexie, coined a phrase that I've appropriated: binge writer. I write all the time. No page count or word count. Discipline isn't my problem (mine is focus). I have what I think is an ingenious method for avoiding writer's block. I only write what I want to write. So I write poems and stories and essays and journalism and screenplays. To me, it's all part of what I'm trying to say. Also, I try to work 40 hours, as if I had any other job. Not all of that time is spent at the computer obviously. I would like to keep my eyesight a few years more.

Rob Holden: Do you still work as a journalist?

Jess Walter: Yes. You may have seen my name connected to the recent Deep Throat story. I interviewed Mark Felt several times for a book that I couldn't pull together. I am always looking for another long-form nonfiction book. But I don't do much daily journalism anymore. I might have to put on shoes.

Rob Holden: Before we wrap this up, I would like to thank your publicist Ann Binney for all her help in making this chat happen. So, what is next for Jess Walter?

Jess Walter: Coffee. A bowl of Cap'n Crunch. A chapter of Harry Potter read to my five-year-old. And back to the epiphany factory. Thank you, Rob and Natalie!

Rob Holden: Finally Jess, is there anything you would like to say to your fans who might read this chat at ReadersRoom.com?

Jess Walter: Fans? Don't hesitate to contact me (you can email me through my website). And most of all, thank you so much. It's a real honor to have people read what I write.

Rob Holden: Jess Walter, thanks for joining us here today, and best of luck with Citizen Vince and all your future projects!

Jess Walter: Thank you.




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