Author: JEROME TUCCILLE

Author's website address: www.jerometuccille.com

Books in Print: About 20, including Trump, Rupert Murdoch, Kingdom: The Story of the Hunts of Texas, Alan Shrugged, Heretic: Confessions of an ex-Catholic Rebel, many others.

Books in Process: Gallery of Fools: The True Story of a Celebrated
Manhattan Art Theft

Welcome Jerry,

1. When and why did you begin writing?
I began shortly after finishing college in the late 1950s, out of a sense of frustration and compulsion and a need to put words on paper. In many ways, it was a therapeutic exercise.

2. What inspired you to write your first book?
It was an attempt to make some sense out of the formative years of my life.

3. How did you approach writing your first book?
I just sat down and did it, with no formal training in composition or creative writing. I learned by trial and error.

4. Who or what influenced your writing?
The great American novelists of the early 20th century: Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, others.

5. Why do you continue to write?
It's what I do best, my defining talent. I still have a compulsion to write.

6. What do you hope to accomplish through your writing?
I hope to leave a legacy, a body of work that will be recognized as a significant contribution to the literature of our time.

7. What has been your experience as a published writer?
Extreme highs and lows. A couple of best-sellers or near best-sellers followed by books that sold poorly and received few reviews. It is still frustrating dealing with publishers in an increasingly competitive environment, fighting for shelf space in bookstores, and for media attention to gain traction for a book.

8. How do you promote your book(s)?
Press releases, radio and TV interviews, reviews by contacts in the media.

9. What advice would you like to share with other writers?
Don't write unless you feel you have no choice. It's too frustrating and you can make a lot more money and save yourself a lot of grief by pursuing a different career.

Thank you.

Interviewer: Kaye Trout - July 26, 2006 - Copyright