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The Alternative Library

The Keith Sutherland Interview

Author of "The Way of Things"

For the Fall 2007 issue, assistant Editor JJ Collins and I met with Keith Sutherland, author of "The Way of Things." Keith's story placed 19th in a recent Writer's Digest fiction contest. Keith told us a little bit about himself and provided us with some great insight into how he formulates the ideas for his stories. Time allowing and authors willing, JJ and I will continue to publish a new author interview in each issue of the Midnight Times. Enjoy! -- Jay Manning, MT Editor

THE INTERVIEW

Jay Manning: Glad you could join us, Keith.

JJ Collins: We'd like to get started by having you tell us a little about yourself. What are some of your interests, aside from writing?

Keith Sutherland: I'm a thirty-six-year-old father of two. I've been married for eight years, and I've been writing for over ten years. I just started submitting my work last year. I love sports, football and hockey particularly. Working out and horsing around with the kids, too. And writing, obviously.

JJ: What got you started?

Keith: I've always wanted to tell stories. My childhood was a little bumpy, I guess (whose wasn't?), and it was a good escape. I've always had a pretty good imagination, and as I got older the writing was a great escape, a great way to deal with things that troubled me.

JJ: Did you ever consider using any other methods of artistic expression prior to settling on fiction writing?

Keith: I played guitar and tried my hand at songwriting for a few years, but 2-3 minutes is not really adequate time to express yourself. Music seems to me to be more about emotion than any intellectual thought. Shit, it's hard enough to express yourself within the confines of a short story.

JJ: What were the most common themes in your songs?

Keith: I was much younger. And I was a disaster then, so the songs revolved around that, and the process of picking up the pieces.

JJ: Do you still play the guitar?

Keith: Not really. My daughter has mine, but she's too much into sports to play it much. I just don't have the time, but I would love to. If there were 50 hours in the day I would.

JJ: Tell us a bit about your creative inspirations for your writing.

Keith: Fear--plain and simple. Some ideas are conceived from nightmares I've had, others from things I'm afraid of. They all spring my fear of something.

JJ: Tell us about some of these fears.

Keith: The fear of being a bad parent, of being alone, of being unnoticed. You name it, and it has probably scared the crap out of me at one point or another in my life. Hey, I'm human. I fear the same things as everyone else out there. I just deal with the fear by writing about it. Of course, I usually disguise it as something else.

JJ: That's a good point. Let's talk about "The Way of Things." What fear or nightmare inspired that? I have to say, it was pretty terrifying.

Keith: The fear of being chewed up and spit out by my wife and daughter. I was working two jobs at the time. Before that I had grown extremely close with my daughter, but the more time I spent working the more I saw our relationship changing. My wife didn't like it much either. For a while I felt like a paycheck and nothing more. Scared the hell out of me.

JJ: Wow. That's pretty awesome hearing the motivation. Did you already know the end when you started "The Way of Things"?

Keith: I don't like writing about myself. I would rather change that fear to somehow to fit the story and the characters, but that was it in a nutshell. And yeah, I knew the ending.

JJ: We won't give any spoilers here, but the ending was pretty shocking. You did an excellent job with that. I can't remember the last time I read a story and then felt a sudden, cold hollow in my chest at the last line.

Jay: I agree. You get the sense that something unusual is coming, but it caught me completely off guard.

Keith: Thanks. Before I submit them I always ask that of people when they read my stories. I don't want the endings to be too obvious. I try to foreshadow the end as much as possible without ruining it.

Jay: I get stories submitted that go for the gross out, and that's like the only purpose of the plot. You did a great job of putting it a plausible context.

Keith: Thanks. I try.

JJ: You also did something else that really impressed me. Within the first few lines of the story, I got that the narrator was female. And you made the character feel real. When I got that vibe, I looked again to see the name of the author because I thought maybe I'd made a mistake.

Keith: She was real to me.

JJ: Was she based on someone specific?

Keith: No. I try to keep real people out of it. I try to keep the basic emotion and create something new and different from it.

JJ: The last time I read a story written by a guy but narrated very convincingly as a female was She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb.

Keith: Never read it, but I will. You've piqued my curiosity.

JJ: I'm not sure how common it is, but every now and then I read a story by a member of one sex, that's so believable in terms of character voice, that I am shocked when I learn the author if of the opposite gender.

Keith: Cool. I try to be the character, think like the character. For me it's easy to see into the female psyche. My parents were divorced and I grew up with women my whole life.

Jay: You did a good job with the first person characterization. It was very believable.

JJ: So what made you decide to enter that piece in the Writer's Digest contest?

Keith: My mother made me enter the contest. She thought I was being foolish, all the writing and no submitting. haha. I am so critical of my work, but she insisted. She gave me the form and everything.

Jay: That's great. Mom's can be very helpful at times.

JJ: Was that the first place you'd submitted it?

Keith: Yes. It came in 19th out of about seven thousand.

JJ: That is awesome.

Keith: You owe me a beer.

JJ: LOL! Yes. I do. How long did it take you from when you first started it to when you decided it was ready to submit?

Keith: I'm not even sure. I have so many stories that I wrote at one point and then have picked up and reworked. My writing has matured a lot over the past few years, and I can usually identify what sucks about the older stories I have written.

JJ: Have you submitted anything else you've written?

Keith: I just submitted a short story titled "Portals." I should be getting some feedback soon, and a few more are almost ready to shoot the tube.

JJ: Have you started or completed any novels?

Keith: I wrote a novel about ten years ago. It took me about five years to write and was excruciatingly long. Basically it sucked for many reasons. I didn't want to take classes about writing. I wanted to discover my own voice. But in the process I made many mistakes. Anyway, I've learned from my mistakes and will give the story another shot. I know where I went wrong. I should be finished with it by the spring or summer of next year.

JJ: Tell us about some of the areas in which you felt you've improved in terms of writing technique over your early work.

Keith: Firstly, that story was too close to me personally. The main character was based on me, and that really limited the creative bounds of the character. There were also too many characters, and the story didn't adequately focus on the ones that were integral to the story. The story question wasn't very clear, and neither were many of the individual scenes. When there is a clear question and a clear answer the story writes itself.

JJ: You're speaking in reference to the novel?

Keith: Yeah, but it applies to any scene or story really.

JJ: Have you ever mixed your love of football or hockey into a story you've written?

Keith: No, but I will. I remember writing a fiction piece in fifth or six grade about hockey, and the teacher thought I plagiarized it. That was one of the best compliments I've ever received.

JJ: That is pretty awesome. So what authors do you like?

Keith: I was a much more avid reader in the eighties and early nineties, so I will have to go with Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Clive Barker, and of course any Shakespeare.

JJ: What are two of your favorite novels?

Keith: The Stand and Coldfire. Hell, I read the latter so long ago, but I remembered that Koontz actually scared me, whereas King was more entertaining, though somewhat scary.

JJ: Are there any television series or movies that you feel are particularly well-written or just really entertaining?

Keith: I don't have much time for television. But there are so many movies that I think are well-written. I loved Silence of the Lambs. I like creepy psychological horror flicks like that.

JJ: Are there any upcoming projects you're working on that you'd like to tell your fans about?

Keith: I don't think I have too many fans at this point, but I'm working on it. I'm still fairly new to the game, but I will have updates and links on my MySpace page. www.myspace.com/blacklabelstories.

Keith: I have a link to Midnight Times there.

Jay: Thanks!

JJ: Thank you!

Keith: You're welcome.

JJ: Lastly, tell us what you're long-term writing goals are.

Keith: I want to publish a few more short stories before or while I'm working on my novel, land an agent and see what happens. I'd love to devote eight or nine hours a day to my writing. I'd be in heaven.

Jay: That would be nice.

JJ: Keith, it's been a pleasure. Before we conclude, are there any shout outs you'd like to make to anyone?

Keith: I'd like to give a shout to The Chainsaw.

JJ: You mentioned a reference to visions of chainsaws in your biography and then again just now. What is that in reference to?

Jay: Is that going to make an appearance in anything you're currently working on?

Keith: That story is mine. Sorry guys.

JJ: All right. And with that, I think we're finished. Thank you for taking the time to meet with us today. We really appreciate it. And thank you for submitting such a great story.

Jay: Yes. Absolutely. Thanks a million for joining us for the interview, Keith.

Keith: Thanks for the invite. You will be hearing from me again...