Monday, April 03, 2006

Author: FELIX PALMER

Author: Felix Palmer

Authors website address: www.authorsonline.co.uk

Published Books: Fish out of Water

Books in process: second novel almost finished, as yet without a title

Author's background: He has studied mathematics and natural sciences in England, received a BA in Literature and a MA in Philosophy in the United States. He is currently studying English Literature and Classics at the University of Berlin, Germany.


Welcome Felix,

Interview:

1. When and why did you begin writing?

This may sound silly, but I began to write in second grade. I had a good teacher, whom I looked up to and tried to please. She was a tall dark-haired young woman in her late twenties. I used to scribble what I imagined to be poetry, doing my best to make the couplets rhyme. She used to read and correct them, assuring me that she liked them, always telling me to write more. I believe that writing, besides being a spiritual endeavor, is also a mechanical act. So I can say that the mechanical part was there at the age of eight, only the spirit was absent. It was then that I first began to think about God. As an eight years old boy I could not reconcile the pain and suffering with the idea of a benign, omniscient and omnipotent God. I seriously began to think about God at the age of eight, keeping my thoughts to myself, while going through the mechanics of writing instinctively.

2. What inspired you to write your first book?

I have been writing fragments and throwing them away since my late teens. Then something happened to me when I was a sophomore at college. Ever since that event I have been writing regularly in my journals. The earliest record goes back to 1979. The idea of the first novel came to me while walking with a friend of mine who is a struggling writer. It was a fine afternoon in a small university town in southern Germany. We had gone for a walk through the woods and had stopped to have a beer. I suddenly uttered a thought loud enough so that he could hear it. "Why don't you start your first novel by writing this sentence down?" he asked me. I am not a real writer. I cannot get beyond fragments," I said. "You are a writer. You are just too lazy. You prefer to dream about writing, because it is so much easier to dream than working hard. Writing is hard work. But you shall start and finish your first novel some day."

That is how it started. I felt I was getting older. It was time to take something seriously.

3. How did you approach writing your first book?

I followed my friend's advice and wrote the first sentence, just the way I had uttered it that fine summer afternoon in Germany. Originally I wanted to write a short novel, about hundred pages, a happy story full of delightful scenes and dialogues. But soon I experienced my first block. It really was a challenge. I have not known a single writer capable of writing about pure happiness, except Plato. In order to overcome my block I started to leaf through my journals, looking for a way out. Re-reading my journals really helped, but I had to change my plans. It was as if a demon had taken full possession of me, asserting himself; another voice began to dictate, making me write.

4. Who or what influenced your writing?

My teachers are the Russian and Spanish giants. I believe that the novel as a literary genre reached its apex in the nineteenth century. Among the Victorians George Gissing is the greatest, in my opinion. Thomas Hardy has a sense for the tragic, but his plots are often incredible. I believe that Kafka is a must for all aspiring writers, because he has reached the very limits of literature. It is good, even necessary, for an aspiring writer to read the giants and despair. My first and foremost teacher was John Gardner, who died in a motorcycle accident in 1982.

5. Why do you continue to write?

Writing is an escape for me. I am a religious person without a religion, an atheist who seeks God but cannot believe in Him. Writing, I believe, is a religious ritual, an attempt to reach God, but the experiment is destined to fail. That is why every writer strives to publish eventually, although he/she may postpone the exposition indefinitely. If not the Deity, then at least the public, the invisible reader out there and in the future.

6. What do you hope to accomplish through your writing?

This is a difficult question for me to answer. I do not write for publication because of vanity. I can only say that I hope to reach out to the future personified as the unknown reader.

7. What has been your experience as a published writer?

A very difficult one! It is a vicious circle; most large publishing houses will not even look at your manuscript if it is not submitted by an agent, and again, most agents won't even bother to look at your manuscript if you are not an established writer. Like every other profession, there are good, well educated and competent editors and agents, but the number of predators and literary parasites are far greater. My impression is that most editors and agents are like conventional politicians, assuming that the public is stupid, interested only in superficial trash in large quantity. Thus they actually contribute to the demise of literature.

8. How do you promote your books?

I read the reviews displayed in Amazon websites, look for reviewers' comments on books similar to mine, read their background information, and then write them an email inviting them to have a look at my work. Most responses are friendly and encouraging. I do not let the occasional negative reply, or even the rare insult, discourage me.

9. What advice would you like to share with other writers?

Do not be discouraged! Do not take yourself and your work too seriously!


Thank you, Felix, for your time and sharing some of your thoughts with us.

Interviewer: Kaye Trout - April 3, 2006 - Copyright