Brian Nelson
The Great Unmaking
DOSSIER: Given your background as a Systems Engineer for General Motors and a creative writer, how does one go from working with one side of the brain to the other? Despite the apparent differences between the two disciplines, you found a way to make it work, didn’t you?
NELSON: Yes, the two sides of my brain have been in the grips of an epic battle for most of my life. That’s another way to say that I’ve always had “focus issues.” I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do with my life. In college, for example, I double majored in Economics and International Relations, but was taking as many philosophy and creative writing classes as I could. I was all over the place. (I’d honestly dreamed of being a writer but thought it was too impractical, hence the Economics degree). Right out of school I worked as stockbroker, then got into financial software at GM. I realized that while I often got excited about new things, I also got bored with them after a couple of years.
This led to my quarter-life crisis, which hit me when I was 29 (why wait until you’re 50?). By then, I’d been in business long enough to know it wasn’t for me. But I also knew I wanted to keep learning and exploring.
So, becoming a writer was a way to make a life out of an identity crisis. My thinking was that each book project would be about something different–something that would challenge me to learn and grow. Then, when each book was done, I’d move on to the next thing.
DOSSIER: Despite your decision to study creative writing at the University of Arizona, where do you fall now with the idea of people seeking an advanced degree in writing? Sounds like you could have used some Brazilian Jujitsu lessons instead. What’s that about?
NELSON: It’s funny that you should mention martial arts and getting an MFA together because, as you may know, the MFA workshop is the literary world’s equivalent of the Battle Royale/Octagon/All Valley Karate Tournament. A lone combatant goes into the workshop to be simultaneously attacked by 15 other combatants and their sensei. Many an aspiring writer—full of optimism fueled by dozens of well-meaning friends and high school English teachers—has had their literary dreams round-housed in the face by the no-holds-barred criticism of the graduate workshop. It is a brutal place. I credit my survival with my martial arts training (physical pain prepared me for the psychological pain) and knowing when to tap out.
Seriously, I’m still on the fence as to the value of getting an MFA. I see writing as similar to coding. If your code works, you’ll be successful. Keep in mind you can get a degree in computer science and still suck at coding. Or you can not go to college and sit in your mom’s basement and become awesome at coding…and be successful. At the end of the day your writing/coding works or it doesn’t work, regardless of if (or where) you went to school.
DOSSIER: When and where do you write, and what kind of environment do you prefer? (Music/silence/the peace and quiet of a Chevy stamping plant?)
NELSON: Whatever I can get! One of the things that I am most proud of is that I wrote this trilogy while being a stay-at-home dad for two boys. (My prolonged sleep deprivation probably explains some of the rather psychedelic action scenes and the torture sequences.)
But if I can get it, I prefer peace and quiet. Blinds closed. Earplugs in.
One quirky thing about me is that I write everything out longhand in art journals. Working on a blank page with a pen lets me be much more experimental. I feel like I can play around and fiddle with ideas. And it may sound counterintuitive, but in the long run it’s more efficient. When I’m sitting at a computer, I’m like a bird, I get distracted by everything (email, Facebook, the news). Writing in a journal keeps my ADD in check.
DOSSIER: After you wrote THE SILENCE AND THE SCORPION, a book that The Economist called one of the best books of the year, you turned around and wrote an acclaimed thriller novel trilogy. Was that first book about Hugo Chavez simply related to your Fulbright Scholar research in Venezuela or were you just destined to be a thriller writer?
NELSON: I actually nerd-out on the idea of mixing and switching genres. I love to experiment. In fact, the Course of Empire series was an attempt to recreate a classic Scientific Romance (early sci-fi) like the works of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.
And the inspiration for my nonfiction book on Venezuela was Mark Bowden’s Black Hawk Down. I wanted to create that extremely detailed, minute-by-minute account of Venezuela’s 2002 coup against President Chavez. That was a blast because I got to write nonfiction (and interview a lot of amazing people), but I also got to use all the tricks of fiction. So, in the end, it seems very different from writing a thriller, but there are a lot of similarities and I loved the challenge of it.
For me, it’s all about having range, and creating a diverse body of work before I die. I’m terrified of being one of those writers who does the same thing over and over again. I recently read all of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short stories. Now, I love F. Scott Fitzgerald and I’m not going to act like I’m a better writer than he is, but almost every one of his short stories was the same: young man falls in love with unattainable woman. That’s the narrative he was obsessed with for most of his career. Some of those attempts were amazing (“Winter Dreams” is my favorite), but I’d feel like I was wasting my time writing different versions of the same story year after year. There are too many interesting things out there to discover.
DOSSIER: The Dossier has deep roots in Ohio, as do you. Despite growing up here, graduating college from here, and getting swept up in the automotive industry, the big question is … how did you get out and are you ever going to leave Denver to come back?
NELSON: It’s funny that you mention this, because the best man at my wedding roasted me about this: the fact that I can never seem to fully escape from Ohio.
I’ve concluded that whether you like it or not, it always sucks you back! Luckily, I’m okay with that. I currently visit Ohio once a month. (It says something about me that the only airline where I’m an elite member is Frontier.)
My corner of Ohio (home of Miami) is still a very special place. It has lots of wonderful, generous people who helped shape my life. It’s also quiet and peaceful, and I love the small-town pace of life. (It’s much better for a writer than a big city.)
Website: Brian Nelson Books | Amazon author page
Jeff Circle 