VL: My next book to hit the shelves will be I MISS THE WORLD, published by King Shot Press of Portland, Oregon. It's different because I hate plays, but this could more easily become a play than anything else I've ever written. It's one long dialogue between a brother and a sister chatting as they stroll the grounds of Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles. Technically, nothing happens in the hour they're talking, but you know that's a lie. It's my attempt at a Nicholson Baker novel.
Do you listen to music when you write, and if so, what? Is it different than what you listen to when you're not writing?
VL: Some stories hit their groove once I find the song that greases their creation, but some are best written in silence.. I've written stories to “Amplifier” by the dBs, “Baby's On Fire” by Brian Eno, and “Amerika” by Rammstein. In fact, I only permit myself to listen to Eurythmics's “Somebody Told Me”, “I Could Give You (A Mirror)”, “Jennifer”, and “This Is The House” when I'm writing. All my non-fiction deadlines are to the tune of “In Motion” by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. I like all of the above in my non-writing life, too.
Have you traveled outside your home country, and if so, where? Where would you like to go that you haven't been yet?VL: I’d like to see a true desert – maybe the Australian outback.
What are your 3 favorite comic books (standalone novels or ongoing series) of all time?
VL: Alan Davis's run on Excalibur, Bill Sienkiewicz's run on New Mutants, and Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud.
If you could be reincarnated as a sentient but inanimate object, what would you like to be?
VL: The Japanese believe than any object that reaches one hundred years old attains a soul. Since one hundred years puts us at about a 1915 birthday, I'd like to be a well-protected reel of nitrate film.
What is your writing environment like? (Are you out in public or in seclusion? Is there noise? Is there coffee? Do you type on a laptop or write longhand on lined notebook paper?)VL: I sit on a couch with a laptop on my lap, with the wifi turned off because it's not good for your groin. I write in the early morning, sometimes as early as 4 am. That hour is precious because I can be left alone, and I can do the most important thing in the day first. Of course, sometimes I sleep at 4 am, too.
What's your secret?
VL: Without privacy there's no secrets, and without secrets there's no mystery, and without mystery there's no magic. I'd tell you, but if I knew where it comes from in myself there wouldn't be any pleasure in uncovering it, manuscript after manuscript.
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Violet LeVoit is a writer and film critic whose work has appeared in numerous film, horror and bizarro anthologies. She is the author of the short short story collections I AM GENGHIS CUM (2011) and I'LL FUCK ANYTHING THAT MOVES AND STEPHEN HAWKING (2014, both Fungasm Press). Her film criticism has appeared in the Baltimore City Paper, PressPlay.com, TurnerClassicMovies.com, FilmThreat.com, Allmovie.com, and THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK: MOVIES (Cassell Illustrated) among others. Originally from Baltimore, she now lives in Philadelphia.
Check out Violet's work here:
I'll Fuck Anything That Moves And Stephen Hawking @ Amazon
I Am Genghis Cum @ Amazon
Slave Stories: Scenes from the Slave State @ Amazon