Scott Blackburn
It Dies With You
DOSSIER: You wrote much of IT DIES WITH YOU by the seat of your pants, but your current WIP is more planned out. What are your plans for when that pesky Idea Fairy starts to dangle plot twists over your head, and you start thinking it would be a great idea for your male lead to join the cast of Oceans 11 in order to get the money he needs?
BLACKBURN: The plot for The Less You Know gets a bit wild, so much so, I felt like I had to give myself permission to write certain parts of it. Luckily, that’ll save me from the temptation of having my narrator, English teacher Ellis Turner, join the Oceans crew. Trust me. This dude gets dragged into something plenty wild as it is. However, if that crew of robbers needs to conjugate a verb, Ellis could lend a hand.
DOSSIER: Since a big goal for your writing is to win awards, which would bring more bragging rights in your home state? A North Carolina Book Award for Best Novel, an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay based on one of your novels, or a ceramic mug hand-carved by Wiley Cash with the inscription “Best Riter” across the bottom?
BLACKBURN: I want to sound noble here and pick the North Carolina award (which I think comes with the aforementioned mug), but give me that Academy Award! A screenplay means I’ve scored a portion of the production budget, and hot damn if I couldn’t use that. Have you seen what they pay teachers down my way?
DOSSIER: When and where do you write, and what kind of environment do you prefer? (Music/silence/the sounds of hunting dogs barking in the background?)
BLACKBURN: What I prefer is my couch, alone at night, two fingers of bourbon and complete silence. In reality, I’m usually writing at the kitchen table at 7:30 a.m. while my toddlers demand different color sprinkles on their cinnamon rolls. I think Abraham Lincoln once said, “Get it where you can fit it.” I try to abide by that in my writing process.
Err, maybe that wasn’t Abe who said that.
DOSSIER: Given your love for film, do you find it difficult to not write certain characters with a specific Hollywood actor in mind? I mean, did you picture Hudson Miller as someone like Mark Wahlberg from The Fighter?
BLACKBURN: With It Dies with You, it took me a while for my casting ideas to form. Now, I have a full spreadsheet of actors and actresses. I’ve essentially written casting Cliff’s Notes for whoever adapts it. And I do think it will be adapted.
For Hudson, I’m going with Logan Marshall-Green (The Invitation, Quarry). Cmon, Jeff! Marky Mark could never handle the NC accent.
DOSSIER: You’ve given away promo bookmarks from your website, but with IT DIES WITH YOU, do we really even need one? Most would say, “No.”
BLACKBURN: I’d need a bookmark because I’m a slow reader (I get ideas while I’m reading, and I often toss whatever book aside so I can go write), but I know several people who read my novel in one sitting. I can assure you, however, that said people had no kids at home or a full-time job. I’m pretty sure one of them was in prison.
Website: scottblackburnwords.com
Jeff Circle 