Interview with Wred Fright, Textnovel Author of Blog Love Omega Glee

 

Meet Wred Fright, a published author who is currently serializing his apocalyptic novel, Blog Love Omega Glee, on Textnovel.  

Textnovel.com: Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Sure, here are a couple random facts of note:  I used to play in garage rock bands, and still enjoy playing music.  I am currently rereading my comic book collection, a comic a day, and discarding most of it.  I am currently on F, and reading The Flash.

Textnovel: When did you start writing?

As a child.  I was an only child and lived in a neighborhood without many other kids, so reading and writing were ways I learned early on to amuse myself.

Textnovel: Have you published anything yet?

Yes, in addition to my academic research publications, I've been a freelance journalist on and off for years, publishing articles in various newspapers and magazines. However, I enjoy publishing more in independent media, including my own zines and blogs because of the creative freedom they offer.  My first novel, The Pornographic Flabbergasted Emus, which is a comedy about a garage rock band living in a college town, was originally serialized in a zine of the same name, before being published as a book by ULA/Out Your Backdoor Press in 2006.  My latest novel, Blog Love Omega Glee, which is a dystopian comedy about two bloggers who fall in love while the world falls apart, is currently being serialized on my website Wredfright.com, as well as on Textnovel.

Textnovel: Have you tried submitting your work to agents or publishers? 

Only at one point thus far.  When Emus had finished being serialized, I was unemployed, and since I was looking for a job, I figured the novel could too, so I sent it out to a few agents.  Soon, I had a job though, and didn't need the money so I didn't send it around as much, and shortly after that, Jeff Potter of Out Your Backdoor told me he wanted to publish it as part of his new imprint devoted to the zine writers in the Underground Literary Alliance, which was a group I belonged to at the time.  So it worked out pretty well.  I'm not adverse to working with larger publishers though.  They just happen to be far more interested in money than literature, and I'm the reverse, though I do like money as well, just not as much as large corporations do.  As long as they paid me and left me alone on the creative side, I could see doing business with them possibly.  But I remember one comment by one of the literary agents I sent the Emus to was that he liked the book but wanted me to rewrite it from the perspective of just one character since those kind of novels sold better.  But the whole point of the book was to tell the story of the life of a band and tell it through the various members (first person, multiple perspective).  I wasn't going to change such an integral part of the novel just because it would make the novel more commercial.  So, from a commerce point of view, the agent was probably offering me good advice, but alas I'm more interested in the literary side of things.  However, I'd like to see the new novel collected in print as well so I'm currently looking at publication possibilities.  I might send it around to a few agents and see if anyone's interested.  As long as the creative side is left alone, the publisher could pretty much market it however they want.  I must say though that mainstream publishing seems to be falling apart at the moment due to the economy and technological changes, so I'm glad that there are other options for publication such as Textnovel.

Textnovel: Where did you go to college?

I went to Bowling Green State University and graduated with a B.A. in English and minored in Creative Writing.  Then I studied for a summer at the University of London, before going to graduate school at Kent State University for my M.A. and Ph.D., both in English.  I apparently liked college so much that I never wanted to leave!

Textnovel: Where do you live now?

I live in Lakewood, Ohio, near Cleveland, in the US of A.

Textnovel: Do you have children?

No, but I am married to Claudine and we have two cats, Antigone and Elektra.

Textnovel: Do you have a day job?

Yes, I teach at a college for a living.  Writing whatever one wants to is fun but not financially viable.

Textnovel: Have you written more fiction? If so what stage is it in?

My only current project is Blog Love Omega Glee.  Other examples of my work can be found on my website and in the anthologies Punch and Pie (Gorsky Press, 2003) and The Bukowski Hangover Project (Poison Candy/Sisyphus Press, 2003).

Textnovel:  What’s the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you?

Many, many embarrassing things have happened to me.  They're uncomfortable at the time but they make for great stories afterward so I sometimes wonder if I don't unconsciously steer myself into such situations so I'll have fodder for new literary material.  One of my favorite embarrassing moments was in college in the cafeteria and I was getting a drink.  I couldn't find a paper cup though (yes, we were environmentally wasteful in those days of the1980s--please forgive us).  I looked around and around and finally spotted some stacked up wedged into a corner between the soft drink dispensing machine and the fruit juice dispensing machine.  So I reached for the stack but I couldn't reach them, so I jammed my head into the corner and stretched my arm.  I did indeed reach a cup but not before triggering the Sprite dispenser with my head, and a torrent of lemon-lime soda soaked my hair and face. Fortunately, there weren't many people watching, but those who did no doubt got a good laugh.  I quickly grabbed some paper napkins and toweled off, and, of course, while doing so saw the easily reachable stacks of paper cups on the other side of the soft drink dispenser.  How I missed seeing them before I'll never know, but I did smell nice and lemony the rest of the day.  Also sticky, but nice and lemony.

Textnovel: What's the worst thing you've ever written?

I'm fond of generally everything I've written, but I have made some stupid mistakes in earlier writings.  My favorite was a story called "The Naked Guy" which is set in the patio section of a discount store in the springtime.  After spending the first part of the story describing how the main character soaks the plants for sale due to the insistence of his manager, in the climax the plants get thrown around and I describe a vast dust cloud of dirt as a result.  A friend reading the story noted that since the plants were very wet, then there probably wouldn't be such a dust cloud.  Oops!  The story was published in a literary journal and everything and for years no one pointed that out.  If I ever republish the story, then I'll have to revise that scene.

Textnovel:  If we could make one change to Textnovel, what should it be?

I like Textnovel.  I find fascinating the whole concept of reading novels on a cell phone.  I read about the Japanese phenomenon so I was delighted to find textnovel trying to do that here.  Alas, I was already in the midst of Blog Love Omega Glee, or I would have written a more text message friendly novel just to experiment with the format.  And maybe someday down the road I will!

Comments

[Keree Moles]

um.................
u really like to type and write
and personally at the beginning
it doesnt really turn girls on if
u read comic books
i mean seriously
do u have a girlfriend well
if u do then ask her if she thinks wat i do
well if the girl is in to that type of thing
then shes a dork too.

[Keree Moles]

ok im sorry man
i only read the beginning.......
well it seemes that u have a life
so im not going to b mean or torture u anymore