A Word Please

Every now and then, I am fortunate enough to stumble upon a relatively unknown author whose work makes me think. Eric Glick is one of those authors. His novel The Dog At The Signpost looks at the subtleties of human behavior; how one interaction, one decision, one chance meeting, can alter the course of our lives. After I’d read his book, I contacted Eric and we had a great conversation about his writing, which I’ll share with you today. But, first, a little about Eric and his book:

Eric Glick is an author, writer, editor and recovering journalist. His novel, The Dog at the Signpost, is now in its second printing. He is a two-time recipient of the Larry Neal Award, given each year by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
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Joe Berzinski lives in a state of perpetual malaise, drifting from the confines of his home, to the drone of his working day, to casual encounters with acquaintances. The plodding rhythm of this existence is set off kilter after meeting Reed Devonshire, an enigmatic stranger whose continuing and unexplained presence in all aspects of Berzinski’s life carries with it a disquieting air of foreboding and a constricting sense of dread.

THE DOG AT THE SIGNPOST is an exploration of the rifts in one man’s identity, as well as a study in the unspoken, unknown connections that have both the power to bind any group of people together and to leave them isolated forever.
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A Chat With Eric:

Is Dog At The Signpost your first book?

Yes. After many false starts with novels I never finished, I finally set my mind to completing a book. Blame ADD.

Where does the title – The Dog At The Signpost – come from?

I struggled with the title literally for more than a year. One day I was reading a news briefing about a senior executive at some company I have now long forgotten and he said something to the effect of, Our industry is like a dog lost in the rain contemplating a signpost. That kind of stuck with me and, frankly, I pretty much stole the whole quote verbatim (as best as I could remember it) and used it in a scene in the book (Joe is reading an industry report with the same quote). I liked the idea of the dog at the signpost working on two levels. Joe relates to the notion of being directionless, uninspired, sort of like that dog lost in the rain.

What prompted this particular story?

I can’t say whether any one thing prompted me. This actually started as a short story < in fact, it started as a sentence - more accurately, an image - that had been in my head and I finally got around to putting down on paper. Then I wrote another sentence. And then another. Then, after a while, I realized there was no turning back.

For me, your book was more about the characters than the plot. Life was happening to them in a way that made me more interested in how they reacted than what would happen next. (That is not to say that I didn’t enjoy the plot as it unraveled.) Was it your intention to be more character-driven in your writing?

I suppose I’m sort of fascinated by people and what drives them, so, yes, I am a character-driven writer, but not intentionally. I started as a playwright because dialogue was always my strong point – and Lord knows there’s enough dialogue in this book (my characters are awfully prolix). But when you think about it, language, and the way people use it, defines who we are, in a sense. I don’t imagine you talk the same way to your boss as you do your intimate friends, or your mother. My point is, we tailor our language to our audience, and that partly defines how we see the world and how we manage ourselves and the people around us.

I’ll be honest – I had absolutely no plot in mind when I started writing this book. In fact, it was only at about page 50 when the plot began to emerge. I warn readers that the book starts out very slowly because the first fifty pages or so mostly take place in the protagonist’s head, and, admittedly it appears to be going nowhere. (I remember being in a writing group while putting this book together and one of the criticisms was that it appeared to be a lot of words with no story.) So again, there’s more proof I seem to be character-driven than plot-driven. I suppose my feeling is that if the characters are compelling enough and the prose is muscular enough (not that I believe mine is), the plot – for what it’s worth – will take care of itself.

Besides, plots are over-rated! Some of the greatest books of all time (and again, mine is not) have no plot. And I challenge anyone to find a plot to one of my favorite movies, La Dolce Vita. So, I’m pigeon-holing myself! I’m a writer who could care less for plot. I’m more interested in language and the psychology and motives behind characters. I think people miss a lot by spending too much time looking for a narrative. Life isn’t a narrative – it’s much too random and chaotic. (But I could be wrong.)

Did you work at uncovering a plot to tie your story together or did you have an “aha” moment”?

A little of both. I was looking for some connective element during the writing, and I suppose the “aha” moment came when I realized that it made perfect sense that some of these characters could connect while coincidentally not knowing that they had a mutual acquaintance. I think it happens all the time, so why not in fiction? Besides, I liked having a way to tie all the loose plot ends together. When people ask me what my book is “about”, I usually say, “coincidences”. If they press, I explain that there are these little eccentric circles happening as the book builds momentum. The circles come closer together and more concentric as the plot builds to its final crescendo, as it were.

Joe Berzinski, your main character, seemed stagnant in his misery until the world around him forced a reaction. Do you think that most of our behaviors are reactionary?

I suppose it depends on the person. Some people are highly motivated and proactive. Others wait for things to happen to them. But I suppose on some level, we are all reactionary creatures. It’s hard to imagine how you would respond to certain stimuli or events, especially if they are unpredictable. We all have a certain routine and have certain expectations of what will unfold during the day. It’s the utter unpredictability that I suppose helps shape our personalities and, to a larger extent, our society – have you ever noticed that most preventative laws are created after something goes wrong? And in a way, the unpredictable is a test of strength and character. Say you were an ordinary German citizen in 1939. How would you have responded to Hitler’s policies – would you have gone along with them and kept your mouth shut even though you didn¹t agree with it, just to save your own skin? Or would you have taken a stand and, say, hidden a Jewish family in your home? Same with, say, being a white person in Selma, Alabama during the civil rights era. It’s very easy to say, “Oh, I would definitely fight against injustice” but to actually do it takes real courage, strength and conviction. And the outcome is far from predictable. You don’t know if you’re choosing the winning side. Who can say they truly have the strength to stand up for what they believe?

I think I got totally off topic there. Sorry.

No need to apologize. I’m enjoying the conversation.

You touched upon the issue that, not only do each of us have our own unique style of speaking, but we speak differently to the various people in our lives. Joe Berzinski not only spoke a little differently but he also altered his personality slightly when interacting with various people. Do you think that’s a way of conforming to other people’s expectations or is it about containing and/or showing aspects of our unique personality, given a certain circumstance?

I absolutely believe that we tailor our behavior to our audience – not only in speech but in body language as well, our very manner of being, I don’t know if it’s because we’re conforming to other people’s expectations – maybe that’s
part of it. But I imagine we’re also conforming to our own. We tend to perform, no matter what situation we’re in and, as self-conscious beings, we’re aware of our audience and what the audience’s expectations are. It’s part of the complex human makeup that we process all of this while interacting with fellow humans.

You mentioned that you started out as a playwright. Have you completed a play that we might someday see on a stage?

Ha! That would be nice. I’ve probably written about four or five full length plays and a dozen or so one-acts. Out of all of those, I only believe one is truly stage-worthy (maybe two if I ever rewrote it). It’s had a couple of readings and won a literary award, but no full production. I barely give it any thought anymore. My bad writing habits usually include not keeping track of my old work, and believing that whatever I’m currently working on matters more than whatever I wrote last week (and I usually hate what I wrote last week). I tend to look down on my old work, hoping I improve with each piece.

What are you working on now?

I have three projects going – all in similar stages of incompletion. The first is another novel, the furthest along of the three. It’s called Elvis Goldberg is (Not) the Devil, and it’s about a young man who becomes famous for nothing – or at least becomes a tabloid star (thanks to reality TV). I’m about halfway through the first draft.

The second piece is called Joe the Lion (I stole the title from David Bowie, if it sounds familiar), and it’s about a drug-addicted U.S. president, his high-level confidant (Joe King), and a congressional committee hell bent on seeing him impeached. I started it as a play, then thought about it as a screenplay. But it’s all dialogue.

And the third is a sort of memoir of my working life. I realized that I have easily had more than 40 jobs my entire life (starting at age 15). So I’m telling the story of my life through these various jobs. It’s called Plan Z.

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You can find Eric on his 2 blogs:
http://eglick.blogspot.com
http://dogsignpost.blogspot.com
These blogs have been sadly uninhabited for the past year. Being “a proud lapsed blogger”, Eric has allowed these 2 sites to wallow on their own. Perhaps we can help to give Eric and his blogs a nudge by directing a little activity their way.

You can find The Dog At The Signpost in e-book format on Pablo D’Stair’s website: http://brownpaperpub.wordpress.com

Tags: Author Interview, Brown Paper Publishing, Eric Glick, Guest Authors, Independent Authors, indie authors, Literary Fiction, small press publishing, The Dog At The Signpost