Name of fiction work? And were there other names you considered that you would like to share with us? My new novel is called Shoot the Moonlight Out. The title comes from a Garland Jeffreys song I love. I had to look back at my earliest notes to see if I had considered another title. It looks like briefly, at least—I’d considered calling it Youth Is Wasted on the Young (after a Tyler Keith song)—I still like that title, but I wound up feeling like it didn’t fit this as well.
What is the date you began writing this piece of fiction and the date when you completely finished the piece of fiction? I started the first draft on July 20, 2020 and finished it on September 18, 2020. There was a month of sketching out the story before I started writing in July and there were at least two or three months of edits and revisions after I completed that first draft.
Where did you do most of your writing for this fiction work? And please describe in detail. And can you please include a photo? I usually like to work at coffee shops, but I wrote this book all at home, at my dining room table, during lockdown. I worked in the early mornings, usually from five to eight a.m. before my kids got up. I often continued writing throughout the day, but I accomplished the bulk of the work in those early morning hours. The table was always crowded with books and movies. Overstuffed bookcases line the walls of the dining room. I love being able to look around and see stuff that inspires me.
What were your writing habits while writing this work- did you drink something as you wrote, listen to music, write in pen and paper, directly on laptop; specific time of day? I’m always drinking coffee as I write. Black. I listen to a lot of music too. Mostly instrumental. Max Richter, John Carpenter, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Harold Budd, William Tyler. I write on a beat-up old Toshiba Laptop. I like early mornings best for writing.
http://www.theloniousmonkmusic.com/
https://haroldbudd.bandcamp.com/
Please include just one excerpt and include page numbers as reference. This one excerpt can be as short or as long as you prefer. Here’s what I think of as a key sentence at the end of the book (page 306):
“The moon has settled over the neighborhood like the fluorescent entrance to a tunnel-of-love carnival ride, spilling its light on the blacktop, on the hoods of cars and the Virgin Mary statues in weed-strewn front yards, on all the damaged windows and doors, on the cracks in the sidewalks and all the cracked hearts, on the rooftops, on the order and disorder, on all that’s hidden and all that’s out in the open.”
Why is this excerpt so emotional for you as a writer to write? And can you describe your own emotional experience of writing this specific excerpt? It felt like I was painting my neighborhood in Brooklyn, painting all the pain and the love and every feeling I’d ever felt walking the streets there. It was one of those sentences that just poured out of me. I thought of a painting I admire Ralph Albert Blakelock’s Moonlight Sonata – as I wrote it.
Were there any deletions from this excerpt that you can share with us? And can you please include a photo of your marked up rough drafts of this excerpt. I don’t keep great track of what I delete. I also don’t really have any marked up drafts. Given the circumstances (and the fact that my printer was out of commission during lockdown), I didn’t really print anything up until I was working on the book with my editor. I have those manuscripts at home (but not with me currently, since I’m on the road). Most changes happen as I’m writing on my computer. I do keep a file with cut scenes. There is a significant scene I cut/changed drastically at the end of the book but I’m hesitant to share it because it’s essentially a totally different ending.
