This interview with Stacey Cochran was first published in
January 2006. To find about more about the author, you must visit our Stacey Cochran page.
What
was it that first got you into writing and when did you start writing?
Stacey
Cochran: It wasn’t until I was about twenty-one
that I understood that writing fiction was a profession, and I began to pursue
it as such from that point forward. I knew earlier than that that I wanted to
be involved in the entertainment industry, but it wasn’t until about age
twenty-one that it crystallized in my mind that I may actually be able to fit
into the entertainment industry as a writer. Filmmaking had been an option as
early as sixteen because I worked at a movie theater as a projectionist, and
that taught me that storytelling was a profession and that there were many
people -- writers being one of them -- that go into entertaining folks with
fictional stories.
Where were you born and raised?
Stacey Cochran:
I was
born in Columbia, South Carolina in the United States. For folks outside of the
U.S. who might not be familiar with the subtleties of U.S. regionalism,
Columbia is really looked down on politically and historically in the United
States. It is there that the South made its stand against the abolishment of
slavery, which instigated the American Civil War. As such, people stereotype it
with ignorance and racism. I actually grew up in North Carolina, which has some
distance both politically and historically from that past. But you better
believe the experience of growing up in the South shapes every decision I make.
Which writers have influenced
you the most?
Stacey Cochran:
John
Steinbeck, Leo Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Hemingway, Faulkner, Stephen King, Michael
Crichton, Shakespeare, and hundreds and hundreds of nameless television writers
because I grew up watching hours and hours of TV every day. Filmmakers like
George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.
Where
do you stand on the nature v. nurture debate? Were you born a writer, or were
there factors in your environment that enabled you to become a writer?
Stacey
Cochran: I think I was put on this earth to write
fiction. Good, bad, indifferent, or completely forgettable fiction. It doesn’t
matter. My personality and my temperament are so completely suited to the life
of a being writer -- most of which is arduous and lonely -- that I’m nearly
convinced I’m supposed to do this for the rest of my life, even if I never get
a major book deal. There’s also a side to me that is very much about being a
salesman and a showman, and that’s a major part of being a writer as well. You
have to have a ton of self-discipline, an ego to withstand the lean years and
to actually believe that what you have to say may be interesting or even
entertaining, and yet to do it really well, you have to learn humility and
compassion. Most of that stuff is inborn, I think. I really felt drawn to
become a writer. But living in the time and place that I did, with the parents
that I had, certainly convinced me that I could do this. I can look back at the
different things that happened in my life that led me to be who I am, and it
all makes sense.
There
are a lot of courses teaching creative writing nowadays, but do you think that
good writing can be taught?
Stacey
Cochran: That’s a great question. I think the best
kind of teaching is self-taught. There’s too much safety in the Academy and
there’s too much of a need to please the authorities. Those two factors
combined tend to lead young writers to write “safe” and “acceptable” fiction.
The problem is more complicated than that, though, because what has happened is
the publishing business has been shaped for the past thirty years by the
Academy. Editors who rise to become major players are shaped by the
sensibilities taught in Creative Writing classes. Too much emphasis is placed
on character and style, and very few writers (if any) who are brash yet fun and
interesting get ahead in the business. A book like The Shining probably
wouldn’t find an agent in today’s marketplace, let alone a major editor at a
major publisher who could convince a house to be enthusiastic about it. The
most innovative groundbreaking writers in recent years have found ways to write
“acceptable” work that transforms its genre -- J.K. Rowling epitomizing this.
Have
you entered writing competitions? If so, have you won any prizes?
Stacey
Cochran: I have entered many and been selected as
a finalist for a few. But I haven’t won a competition since I was in college.
The most notable finalist being a PI novel that I wrote that was selected as
one of six finalists for the 2004 St. Martin’s Press/PWA Best First Private Eye
Novel Contest. I was an Honorable Mention for the 1998 Isaac Asimov Award, and
four short stories of mine have been selected as quarter-finalists for the
international Writers of the Future Contest. Contests are fun.
Do you
have any short stories or poems published online? (If so, please provide the
URLs):
Stacey
Cochran: Here’s a quick list:
http://www.januarymagazine.com/profiles/jcolt.html
http://www.shredofevidence.com/may04/killers.html
http://www.strangehorizons.com/2004/20041220/int-gilman-a.shtml
http://www.grendelguy.com/colseq.html
http://www.grendelguy.com/brite.html
http://www.grendelguy.com/cochran.htm
http://www.plotswithguns.com/QuietCouple.htm
http://www.plotswithguns.com/allthatchanges.htm
I also have had short stories and interviews published in
North Carolina Literary Review, Cemetery Dance, and the sci-fi magazine
Simulacrum, edited by Lynn Jamneck and published by Doyle Wilmoth.
What kind of things do you
write?
Stacey Cochran:
I’ve
written a little bit of everything really. I got my start writing literary
fiction in college. Then, I moved toward writing science fiction and fantasy.
That merged into crime and mystery fiction, which then gave way to
action-suspense fiction. And finally, I think I’m now at a place career-wise
where I’m focusing on suspense fiction. Of course, all of the genres
interweave, but in terms of where would I like to see my next few novels
shelves in a bookstore: on the adult suspense fiction shelf.
I feel like -- at conferences at least -- that I fit in with
Crime, Mystery and Suspense writers the most. But to be perfectly honest, I
don’t really fit in anywhere. Never have.
What, for you, is the best
piece of prose that you have ever written?
Stacey Cochran:
My first
published short story “In Love with Eleanor Rigby” is the most honest piece
I’ve ever written. I’m especially proud of an as-yet-unpublished suspense novel
“Claws” because I feel that it combines entertainment value with substance. I
think the role of a fiction writer is to entertain first and foremost, but a
writer should be aware, too, of the power of the written word and its capacity
for shaping the way we think.
What are you working on now?
Stacey Cochran:
I've
just finished the third book in a trilogy of action-suspense novels that I’ve
been working on since October of 2002. I’m also 50,000 words into the second
"Claws" book, so I need to finish that. I’ll probably work on that
through this winter and early into the spring. But after that, is the big
unknown. My wife and I have talked about it relentlessly. I feel that by this
summer (2006), I want to have all the loose ends of my first eight novels tied
up, and I’ll be able to close that chapter on my career.
I think I’m going to write a suspense novel next, but I’m
putting a lot of thought into that: into what I can write that a publisher and
editor will take on. I’m ready to move from the ranks of
independent-publishing.
What is your writing day like?
Stacey Cochran:
I wake
up most days around 7 or 8 A.M. I start a pot of coffee. I let the dogs out,
and I move my writing desk (a fold-out table) from a dark and cold back bedroom
to a bright and sunny sliding-glass door in our living room. Before noon, I’ll
usually try to pop off at least one good hour of writing. By the afternoon, my
resolve usually kicks in, and I’ll work in sixty-minute stretches, refusing to
move from my chair for one hour -- usually between 12:30 and 1:30. I take a
thirty-minute break, clean the kitchen, vacuum, pick up dog poop, etc. Then, I
try to put in another solid hour between about 2:00 and 3:00. I’ll take another
thirty to forty-five minute break, then, walk the dogs, sit on the back porch
in the sun reading, and then I’ll try to get in another solid hour between about
4:00 and 5:00 P.M.
If I stick to that regiment -- and most days I do -- I
manage to write about 1500-2000 words daily. I start every writing session by
doing stretching and calisthenics and about five minutes of focused meditation
to place myself emotionally in the scene I’m writing. Actors call this using
sense memory to activate a scene. I may focus on what image I want a scene to
start with where I see the scene going by the end of the hour.
Where would you like to be in
10 years time?
Stacey Cochran:
As
brash as it sounds, I’d like to put myself in the position to be the next
Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, or Tom Clancy. That level.
What’s the most exciting thing
about writing for you?
Stacey Cochran:
Readers.
And the dialogue between writers and readers. No doubt about it. That’s the
magic. That’s the most exciting thing. I also love reading about the history of
the business, the editors, publishers, managers, and agents from before I was
born.
What’s the most frustrating
thing about writing for you?
Stacey Cochran:
Finding
a publisher and an editor who believes in you.
What’s
the best piece of feedback that you’ve had from your audience?
Stacey
Cochran: Just a few days ago, I had my first
positive Amazon.com review for my novel "Amber Page and the Legend of the
Coral Stone". That one review made it seem possible that I could publish
the two other novels in the series on my own if necessary. It’s amazing what a
kind word like that can do. Having been at this for over a decade, I cannot
tell you enough how much it helps to have people who are interested and enjoy
your work. I love readers. I love them with all my heart.
Do you have a homepage? If so,
what’s the URL?
Stacey Cochran: http://www.staceycochran.com
To find about more about the author, you must visit our Stacey Cochran page.
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