EXTRA CREDIT INTERVIEW WITH SEAN JACKSON:

Today Sean Jackson is joining LitPick for an Extra Credit interview! Sean debut novel, Haw is the gripping story of a father’s struggle to save his son from a corrupt society in a pitiless, bleak, futuristic America. 

Do you have a solid outline before writing, or do you usually get ideas as you go along?

Developed a start-to-finish outline for Haw, which I really didn’t veer away from. Did allow for a lot of development to occur throughout the story, as I came to know the characters better.

Has someone you knew ever appeared as a character in a book (consciously or subconsciously)?

Primarily in the bad things I have written, yes. I try to stay away from that as much as I can.

What do you do when you get writer's block?

I rarely, if ever, have it happen, but if it feels like I’m stuck, I don’t stress about it. The words will come eventually. I spent a number of years as a journalist, so I realize that any freezing-up is temporary.

If you could live in a book's world, which would you choose?

Any of the Vonnegut books with Billy Pilgrim in them. Time-travel is a plus, and the daily grind is typically missing, too. Plus there’s always humor, even in dire situations.

What is your favorite book-to-movie adaptation?

The Hours. It’s a flawless adaptation.

If you could have lunch with one other author (dead or alive!), who would it be?

Maya Angelou, strictly because of her positivity and the fact that she was, I believe, a fantastic talker.

Wild Card Question: When you aren’t writing, what do you like to do in North Carolina?

Explore the mountains. It will take a lifetime, but it’s worth it.

Sean, thank you for joining LitPick for an Extra Credit interview. It’s been a pleasure to get to know you a little better!

 

 

 

SIX MINUTES WITH SEAN JACKSON:

Today, Sean Jackson, author of Haw, joins LitPick for Six Minutes with an Author! While Haw is Sean’s debut novel, he has published numerous short stories in literary journals. He was an award-winning North Carolina Press Association journalist for Cox Newspapers in North Carolina for 12 years. Sean was also a 2011 Million Writers Award Nominee for his short story, Not Even Jail.

How did you get started writing?

I wrote a long story when I was twelve that was about sports and growing up. It was terrible, but when I got into high school I began writing poetry, which I continued into college. After college, I picked up writing short fiction again, then spent twelve years writing news stories for newspapers. I didn't write fiction when I was a journalist. There just wasn't time. But it all goes back to that summer when I was twelve, when my parents bought a typewriter and I needed something to do.

Who influenced you?

Early influences were the typical H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. More recently I have been influenced by Raymond Carver and Annie Proulx. I wrote Haw while thinking about George Orwell and Albert Camus.

Do you have a favorite book/subject/character/setting?

My favorite book is William Faulkner's Light in August, which also includes the closest thing to what I would consider my favorite character, Joe Christmas. I'm intrigued by the idea that he may be both the book's villain and its protagonist.

What advice do you have for someone who wants to be an author?

Of course have an outline before you begin, but also edit as you go along. Continuously question what you're putting into that first draft. And don't be afraid to take chances that you think may make a reader uncomfortable. Your job is to surprise the reader, in addition to entertaining. So be bold.

Where is your favorite place to write?

Don't tell my boss, but I love to write at work. The distractions are minimal and for whatever reason my mind is able to sharpen its focus onto what I'm typing. It's hard to explain. I know William T. Vollmann has said he used to write at work when he was just starting out. Maybe it has to do with the boredom of working a desk job, but for me it just works.

What else would you like to tell us?

When I read Orwell and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, I didn't realize just how deeply their messages, their warnings about how society should heed its limits and responsibilities, had tunneled into me. But when I wrote Haw, it all came back to me. While I don't think my book is rightly compared to their works, I really appreciate that I had the opportunity to read them and other conscientious writers when I was younger.

Sean, thank you for spending six minutes with LitPick! Congratulations on your debut novel! Great advice for someone who wants to be an author. You are the first author to say that.