Author Interview: Daniel Clausen

Daniel Clausen  is an author of many faces. He has written all sorts of different works, varying from news-articles to novels. Currently writing a brand new novel, The Ghosts of Nagasaki, Daniel provides readers with a comical and interesting way to read. He is a graduate from the University of Miami (Cum Laude) with a degree in English and American Studies. In addition, he has completed graduate course work in International Relations and public policy. He also enjoys reading and speaking Japanese in his free time. Writing since he was an elementary kid, Clausen knows what he is doing when it comes to the world of writing.

You have a unique and almost strange style of writing that is entertaining and enlightening. What inspires you to write the way that you do?

In a lot of ways I see my writing style as a product of my lifestyle outside of writing. In short, I am a boring, mild-mannered person. Often, I find in order to do the kinds of things I want to do outside of writing–teaching, helping others, writing academic essays–that I have to be disciplined, hardworking, even conservative with how I live my life. Writing short stories and word-novelties helps me retain what I consider the best part of myself–my creative inner child. For this reason, I also find novels very hard to write. I find that I have to find reserves of energy just to keep myself disciplined long enough to stay in a consistent voice. Free writing helps me feel like an artist-writer.

Who influences you the most?

It’s hard to pin down one influence. For a while now, I’ve been enamored with Haruki Murakami–his soulful narratives of haunted every day lives makes me feel that he somehow understands how the world can be at once hopelessly drab and oppressive and at the same time magical. Before that Philip K. Dick and JD Salinger were big on my list. But other influences seem sporadic and random. For some reason, I love Hamlet but have trouble connecting with other Shakespeare plays. I love the music of Weezer and listened to them nonstop while writing my first novel the Sage and the Scarecrow. Their album Pinkerton was a deep inspiration for that book, but beyond that I think it’s hard to pin down the band’s influence.

The connection between Catcher in the Rye and Sage and the Scarecrow is so apparent to anyone who has read the book that it’s almost hardly worth pointing out. At the same time, I wanted Sage and the Scarecrow to be influenced by an Eastern philosophy. Thus, the Tao Teh Ching was also influential. When that failed, I just tried to write as honestly as I could. Sometimes it hurt.

My new book The Ghosts of Nagasaki is influenced heavily by Toni Morrison’s Beloved–perhaps the greatest American novel ever written. It’s also influenced by Japanese sob-romance movies (Ima Aini Yukimasu–Now I Go to Meet You)) and Endo Shusaku’s Silence (Endo appears as a character in the book, since he wrote Silence in Nagasaki).

If you compared yourself to any other writer, who do you think you share similarities with?

I’m not sure–but friends have said that the main characters in my novels sound too much like me. I think this is less of a problem in my short stories (hopefully). Not sure.

When did you start writing? What did you start writing?

I started writing in elementary school. I remembered the thrill I got reading a short story to my friends in class called The Treasure of New Mexico. I was very young at the time, so of course I put my friends and myself in it as heroes fighting bad guys. For a long time, all my stories were heroes fighting bad guys. It’s hard to say whether I’ve evolved from this, or whether I’ll start writing serious stuff any time soon .

You have written full length novels, short stories, and articles. Out of all of those, what do you prefer to write and why?

In a sense, the forum doesn’t really matter. What matters most is finding that one perfect writerly moment. When you’ve reached that writerly moment you’re so involved in the world of your story and everything seems to generate itself so perfectly that nothing else really matters. I’ve had writerly moment writing articles, essays, short stories, or just shooting hoops while imagining movies in my mind. I’ve found that adulthood is not too receptive to creating these perfect writerly moments. Luckily, I have notebooks and notebooks full of story ideas from my younger years–crafting these into publishable works feels more like a craft than an art. There is different joy that comes with doing the craft element (compared with finding the writerly moment). The craft element is more of a kind of professional (almost guild-like) honor.

Was your dream to be a writer supported by your parents, or were you on your own when it came to following that path?

Surprisingly, yes. No one ever discouraged me, and actually (and strangely) everyone assumed I would be a monumental success (I’m not, but no one seems to point this out to me). In terms of financial support, I was more or less on my own (and never really thought it fair to ask for help), although my family did everything in their power to help me graduate from college (BA in English). I have nothing but heartfelt appreciation and awe for the support I received.

Did you ever feel like you chose the wrong career? Or is the dream kept alive by the excitement that you are actually doing what you dreamed of doing?

Well, actually writing isn’t my career. At the ripe old age of 28 I’ve crafted a somewhat odd and eclectic anti-career. I’ve published books and short stories but never made anywhere near enough money to support myself in any meaningful way with my writing. I’ve been an English teacher overseas, worked in coffee shops, worked as an assistant to the handicapped, and have now taught college level classes in International Relations, human geography, and English composition. In the near future, I’ll probably try to get a job working in international affairs.

I actually have mixed feelings about “making it” as a writer. I worry about the corrupting influences of success. I worry about the many non-writing roles I’ll have to assume to be a professional writer. I think I actually am a better person–more humble and hardworking–when I have to deal with my own limitations. It also makes me pay more attention to other struggling writers. There are a lot of good independent writers out there. Balancing my new life as a quasi-academic and writer has pushed me beyond my limits at times, but in the end I think I’m a better person for it. I’m not sure I would want to give up my new found life as a teacher and scholar if my new novel The Ghosts of Nagasaki did happen to get picked up by a large publisher. I’ve put a lot of hard work into becoming a good teacher and professional.

When you write your novels, do you intend them for a certain audience?

I’ve actually had a difficult time understanding who my target audience is. Because I like writing such diverse works, I’ve found it difficult to craft an identity for myself that I can market easily to people. I’ve read a few articles that suggest that crafting a well-known voice, well known characters, and developing a consistent readership is the path to professional success. With un-success, however, comes quite a bit of freedom. No one tells me what to write.

Readers of the Lexical Funk have told me that they love some stories and hate others. The delightful thing about reader responses so far is that everyone has a different favorite short story. That actually makes me feel validated.

What is your favourite novel/article/short story that you have written to date? Why, and do you consider this to be your best accomplishment?

The Ghosts of Nagasaki–by far. I think this novel is something special. When I feel I’ve written something special, I feel like I have to get it in people’s hands. The hardest part for me is being patient with the process of submitting the novel to agents. Publishing is slow. You grow old waiting for people to read your stuff and take you seriously. It doesn’t matter if its academic articles, short stories, or novels. You submit your work and then go off to watch the grass grow and your hair thin out.

You are currently writing a new novel, Ghosts of Nagasaki. Can you give us in hints as to what it contains?

One night a foreign business analyst in Tokyo sits down in his spacious high rise apartment and begins typing something. The words pour out and exhaust him. He soon realizes that the words appearing on his laptop are memories of his first days in Nagasaki four years ago.

Nagasaki, the non-birthplace of atomic warfare, but instead its brother, second cousin, was a place full of spirits, a garrulous Welsh roommate, and a lingering mystery. Though he wants to give up his writing, though he wants to let the past rest, within his compulsive writing lies the key to his salvation.

Somehow he must finish the story of four years ago—a story that involves a young Japanese girl,　the ghost of a dead Japanese writer, and a mysterious island. He must solve this mystery while manoeuvring the hazards of middle management, a cruel Japanese samurai, and his own knowledge that if he doesn’t solve this mystery soon his heart will transform into a ball of steel, crushing his soul forever.

http://daniellclausen.wordpress.com/the-ghosts-of-nagasaki/

And, finally, any hints to aspiring writers?

The best advice is: the simplest–read and write; more importantly, read like a writer.

The other advise has to do with the everyday minutiae of  being a writer (and trying to be a functioning adult at the same time): Create a plan that involves equal doses of prudence and boldness. Know exactly what you want to get from the writing process. Know how the process of writing is going to affect your relationship with your family, friends, and other career aspirations. Ask yourself hard (but necessary) questions early like: Why do I write? What do I want personally from the act or writing? How is writing a way of relating to people? How can I create a modus vivendi (mode of living or surviving) as a writer even when life is not amenable to my ideal visions of what a writer should be? What are very practical goals for myself as writer in 6 months, 1 year, 3 years time?

For me, understanding the ways that writing makes me a better person in my everyday life has helped sustain me as a writer. That is what the conclusion to The Lexical Funk is essentially about. Writing–like any form or expression–can be dangerously personal and absorbing. One of my greatest successes as a writer is that I’ve continued to find ways to succeed as a human being.

Thanks very much to Daniel Clausen for providing the opportunity to do this interview. For more information on him and his novels, visit his website, http://daniellclausen.wordpress.com/