Interview with Tony McMillen [mcmillen]

Tony McMillen [mcmillen]

WRITING

What did you first read? How did you begin to write? Who were the first to read what you wrote?

Before I ever wrote anything down as a young boy I would act out stories, entire freakin' sagas of my own devising. The first ones I still remember were an action filled romp about dinosaurs attacking modern day Ohio(5 years or so before Jurassic Park) and a sequel to Robocop in which he fought a robotic dinosaur. I would sometimes even get other kids in the neighborhood to go along with it. There we would be, a bunch of 7 year olds with makeshift cardboard swords and toy guns attacking trees and pretending that the parking lot security guard of our apartment complex was an ogre. This continued well into my early twenties. After the parking lot security guard finally got a restraining order on me someone thought it wise to get me a computer. I haven't looked back since.

What is your creative process like? What happens before sitting down to write?

Usually, pacing around the room, talking to myself. Sometimes envisioning a movie trailer for the story. Quick flashes and soundbites, sometimes a particular song that helps paint the tone I want for the piece or scene I'm writing. Then I usually have to have a drink nearby. Water or chocolate milk. Then I put my claws to the keyboard and see what comes out.

What type of reading inspires you to write?

Sometimes, lyrics, sometimes novels, sometimes behind the scenes featurettes on the making of a movie gets me going because it's creative people talking about the process. Sometimes I'll just pick a random page from Burroughs' 'The Soft Machine' and just soak up the language. Sometimes I'll re-read a comic book by Alan Moore or Garth Ennis, other times a novel by Vonnegut. Sometimes I'll read a Sears catalogue and the truth of the universe will spill open to me like a fluttering jellyfish.

What do you think are the basic ingredients of a story?

Basil, garlic, red pepper, and baking soda. Also, Sodium Benzoate to retard spoilage.

Are you equally good at telling stories orally?

I also do stand-up comedy and I find that being able to tell a story to a crowd of strangers does help in realizing how to sustain interest with an audience. That being said, for all the similarities between the two, I still find enough differences to say that one does not have to be a skilled orator in order for one to be a skilled writer. Some folks have clumsy tongues but nimble fingers.

Do you participate in competitions? Have you received any awards?

I have won a prize for fiction at Coq and Bull Press for a short story entitled 'Exhibit'.

What are you working on now?

Very happy to inform that my current creative state feels very potent and I have several things on the slate. I've just gone through and done some minor tweaks on my finished novel 'Nefarious Twit', a work of transgressive literary fiction which I'm still real happy with. I just finished my first short story for children called 'The Floater', which is a Shel Silverstein sorta yarn. Complete with illustrations. I'm in the middle of a short story which is a psychedelic fantasy tale involving a completely fabricated mythology. And then the big one, I'm ready to restart my novel 'Higher Climbs The Fire'. Something about a year ago I got 70 pages in and said, "No, this should be different. This should be better." So I took a step back, reworked a bunch of stuff and now I feel like I'm ready to dive back into it. If I don't screw it up it might be the best thing I've ever written. On the back-burner are two other novels, one is pretty fleshed out, the other just a skeleton; albeit a handsome one.

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