The Bookgeeks Interview: Mark Sarvas, author of Harry, Revised
Mark Sarvas is best known as the host of the popular and controversial literary weblog “The Elegant Variation” which has been mentioned in The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Guardian (A Top 10 Literary Blog), Forbes Magazine (Best of the Web), Los Angeles Magazine (A Top L.A. Blog), The Scotsman, Salon, the Christian Science Monitor, Slate, The Village Voice, NPR and numerous other fine publications (and we’re not jealous, oh no). His debut novel, Harry, Revised, was published in 2008 by Canongate in the UK and Bloomsbury in the US.
Mark lives the quiet life in Los Angeles, where he has been a newspaper editor, travel agent and bass player. He has written episodic comedy for HBO and Showtime as well as screenplays for Warner Brothers, producer David Foster, and the World Entertainment and Business Network.
We picked Mark’s brains about books, writing and whether or not he’s a grammar nazi…
Are you a bookgeek?
I’m a hopeless book geek. I try to be mindful of not fetishizing books too much – after all, they are not, finally, about the objects but about the content. But I assiduously collect signed first editions by my favorite authors (as well as galleys and other obscure materials), I treat books with probably excess care and reverence and I generally don’t write in them. I feel like I should, like I ought to be free enough to scribble with abandon in the margins but, other than when I’m reviewing and working with advance copies, I can’t quite bring myself to set the pen to the page. Probably the most geekish thing I’ve contemplated is ordering those library-style subject bookplates to affix to my shelves – Philosophy, Reference, etc. The only thing that’s stopped me is time, not shame of my unwholesome book love.
Do you consciously write about people you know? And do they notice?
Consciously, no. I certainly draw characteristics from people and deploy them as needed. But I don’t sit down and say, “OK, now this character is going to be my third grade teacher who scarred me for life.” And if anyone has noticed, they haven’t said anything yet.
When you read your own work, do you learn anything about yourself, your ideas, your obsessions, etc.?
I try to avoid reading my own work. Really, once you’re beyond the editing stage – when your attention is specifically focused on solving problems with the text and improving the work as a whole – there’s nothing attractive about going back to look at the thing again. Perhaps five years from now I’ll have a different answer for you on that one.
Is writing something that helps you to come to terms with the world?
Absolutely. I suspect most writers would answer similarly. It’s a place of working through, an opportunity to examine what we think about something, and then to challenge those assumptions and see how well they hold up. Writing Harry, Revised, I was primarily concerned with the question of change – is it possible? What does it mean? How does it happen? Now, with the book behind me, I’m asked, “Well? Do you think change is possible?” and I can answer “Yes” far more meaningfully than I would have before writing the book.
How important are grammar and punctuation to you as a writer and a reader?
It’s very important, indeed. But to me, it’s not usually about grammar for grammar’s sake. For me it’s – rightly or wrongly – an indication of care and seriousness about the work. I think an author should be at pains to be as clear, as precise, as correct as humanly possible, if only out of respect for the thing itself. It’s sad that grammar has become weirdly dispensable, viewed as the province of the finicky. I think there’s an incomparable elegance to a grammatically correct sentence.
When you are writing do you have an audience in mind? Is it a person, real or imagined, or a group?
Again, like most other writers, my audience is an audience of one – me. I write the things I would be interested in reading. It’s a pretty well-accepted truism that the minute you try to write for an audience, you become inauthentic, and the audience will smell that a mile away.
Have you ever used your dreams as a source of inspiration or resolution?
No. My waking life is interesting (and fraught) enough. But that doesn’t mean I might not one day …
Have you ever had an idea for your book, and enacted it out in the real world to see what the outcome would be?
No. But that sounds potentially entertaining. Maybe for the next book …
Have you got a first reader, and how much do you listen to them, and your Editor? Do their views on your work concur?
I have a small writing group, and they are my first readers. I trust them implicitly but also know when to stick to my guns. In between them and the editor comes my agent, who also reads closely and gives me his feedback. By the time my first novel got to my editor, it had been pretty well gone over a number of times, so his work was minimal. But all throughout the process, the thoughts about what needed to be improved were pretty consistent (and minor). It would have been very disturbing to get wildly varying responses but that didn’t happen the first time out. I hope to be as lucky next time.
What is the best piece of writing advice you’ve been given?
There are so many – treat it like work, don’t romanticize it. Be disciplined, and write every day. Keep your overhead low. (I wish I’d heeded that one more closely.) And I frequently return to E.L. Doctorow’s famous dictum about writing and headlights. But he didn’t give that one to me, he gave it us all.
-
Connect with Bookgeeks
Bookgeek Chic
3 Comments on The Bookgeeks Interview: Mark Sarvas, author of Harry, Revised
[...] Mark Sarvas interviewed at Bookgeek via Books Inq.: "I’m a hopeless book geek. I try to be mindful of not fetishizing books too [...]
[...] Harry Rent, recently widowed and struggling to deal with the loss, finds himself in an unfortunate conundrum. He finds himself in love. From Harry’s first hapless pursuit of Molly, the waitress at his local diner, we follow the transformation of one man (a little past his prime), who must embrace the future by finally facing up to his past. Harry, Revised is enormously funny and moving, a tale of love and its complications. You can read a review at our sister site Bookgeeks, as well as an interview with Mark Sarvas. [...]
[...] Harry Rent, recently widowed and struggling to deal with the loss, finds himself in an unfortunate conundrum. He finds himself in love. From Harry’s first hapless pursuit of Molly, the waitress at his local diner, we follow the transformation of one man (a little past his prime), who must embrace the future by finally facing up to his past. Harry, Revised is enormously funny and moving, a tale of love and its complications. You can read a review at our sister site Bookgeeks, as well as an interview with Mark Sarvas. [...]
Let us know your thoughts below