Big Hollywood: First off, thank you for doing this. When the opportunity to write “The Last Thing I Remember” (available April 28th) came along, you told me about the motivation behind what the publisher and you wanted to do with what you’re calling “The Homelanders Series.” It’s a fascinating idea and about time.
Andrew Klavan: Well, to begin with, you know how much I love video games… I wanted to write a story such that, if a kid had my book in one hand and a video game in the other, he’d choose the book-it’d be that exciting. And Thomas Nelson publishers and I are offering a guarantee that if you start this story and aren’t completely swept away, John Nolte will personally come to your house and sing the entire screenplay of Hondo to the tune of “Fella with an Umbrella.” So you can’t lose. But of course, if you want to tell a story that cool, you can’t preach and you can’t hammer people with your point of view, so I decided, okay, I just want to change the rules of the game, that’s all. Instead of the usual alienated teen, or the wimpy guy who finds a magical sword, I’m gonna make my hero the kind of hero I like to read about: a manly guy who loves America, believes in God and is ready to fight for liberty if he has to. I thought, in the current climate, that alone would be revolutionary.
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BH: For the record, people should know that either the Thomas Nelson Guarantee can bring me to your home to sing the “Hondo” screenplay to the tune of “Fella with an Umbrella,” or $10.
Anyone who reads fiction is used to protagonists with leftist viewpoints, especially from teenage characters. This has become the default position and accepted norm, but I hadn’t really realized how common this was until I met your protagonist Charlie West. It shouldn’t be a shock to meet a fictional high school kid who loves his country and believes in God, but such is modern-day pop culture.
AK: Exactly-and what people don’t realize is that an enormous system is in place to make sure such heroes are not the norm. It’s not a conspiracy, it’s a created climate of opinion, a sort of critical consensus of what is and is not acceptable to say, what’s cool, what’s realistic, what’s entertaining. Cross that line and-no matter how entertaining you are, how thoughtful you are, how much fun your book or movie is-you’ll be slammed, denounced, ridiculed and generally not allowed to sit at the cool kids’ table. Luckily, I don’t have to worry about that, because WHEREVER I sit is the cool kids’ table. Mostly because I sit next to you, but still…
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BH: Who was your model for Charlie? Not to declare you un-hip, but modern, teenage culture; how they communicate and all the gadgets available to them felt very real.
AK: Yeah, well, I know I don’t look like it, but I actually do pay attention. I have a teen-aged kid and I’m involved in his life and know his friends, plus it’s very easy to do research because real life kids are all on line telling everything to everybody. But mostly, it’s this strange thing that happens to me when I write: suddenly I know things I never really realized I know. My wife always teases me that I can’t find a fork in our kitchen, but I sit down to write someone cooking a souffle and I get it just right. It’s kind of weird actually and raises an interesting question: where DO we keep the forks?
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BH: One of Charlie’s heroes and inspiration throughout is Winston Churchill. Was it the quote Charlie lives by that brought you to Churchill, or did Churchill bring you to the quote?
AK: Oh, definitely Churchill to the quote. As you know, I lived in England seven years, and he became one of my culture heroes. You know, it’s easy to look at these historical guys and forget that, when they took their stands, when they showed their courage, history wasn’t a done deal, they didn’t know how it was going to come out, that they were going to win through and be the hero. There were a lot of people then, as there are now, who wanted to move softly, softly. Don’t let’s be beastly to the Germans. Don’t insult Hitler and he’ll go away. Churchill was in political exile for years but he didn’t compromise. He stood his ground. And that’s the kind of integrity, the kind of courage in the face of self-doubt, that my hero, Charlie West, is searching for.
Andrew Klavan
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BH: Obviously the book’s emphasis and primary goal is to tell an exciting story. The first page hooked me immediately and the pages didn’t stop turning from there. So how would you describe the book? Not just the story, but what you want people to get out of it.
AK: Well, Charlie is this fairly ordinary, straight arrow kid who goes to bed one night and wakes up strapped to a chair being tortured by terrorists. He hasn’t lost his memory-he knows who he is-he just doesn’t know what happened between the time he turned out the light and now-and how he’s gonna get out of it before they kill him. The themes develop sort of naturally out of that. Charlie has been put in a position where a lot of the beliefs he was certain about when his life was comfortable have now been suddenly thrown open to question in a very immediate and terrifying way. His faith, his loyalties, his liberty are all under assault, and he’s not only got to keep himself from getting killed, he’s got to rediscover the reasons for what he believes so he can defend those beliefs. Now that’s something that I think a lot of young people know about because they often go into a period where they question everything they were taught. And it’s something I know a lot about too because I had to completely reshape my belief system and identity somewhat late in life. So basically I wanted to allow readers to experience that journey with Charlie in the most exciting way I could think of.
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BH: After a time, I thought of Charlie as the anti-Jason Bourne (at least the film version of Bourne). Charlie is on the run trying to unravel his past, but unlike Matt Damon’s character, he is not a moody, rank narcissist hoping to get in touch with his feelings and sort out personal issues. I guess this is the difference between the hero and anti-hero.
AK: The whole purpose of the anti-hero is to assert man’s individuality in the face of a conformist society. But where’s the conformity now? It’s political correctness, it’s easy ungrateful radicalism protected by the might of the US Marines, it’s artists pretending to speak truth to power when what they’re really doing is kowtowing to powerful left wing critics and producers. Charlie stands for the truth as God gives him to understand it, whether that makes him popular or not, whether it endangers his life or not. The ancients had a word for that: they called it manhood, and Charlie’s got it. The whole thing about Bourne is that he was created in the 1970’s and so was the antiquated worldview of today’s so-called radical artists. In truth, they ought to be wearing big sideburns and bell bottoms. They think they’re cutting edge, but they’re really just Saturday Night Fever.
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BH: There’s a Readers Guide at the end of “The Last Thing I Remember.” Is the idea to get this in classrooms or in the hands of teenagers in some structured way?
AK: Well, that’s something publishers do because it helps teachers discuss the book with kids, helps kids learn to think about what they’re reading. But I’m not involved in it except to give my approval. My job is to write the story. And to pose for the picture of the young man on the cover. All right, I’m lying.
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BH: There’s also a preview of the next chapter in the Charlie West series, due in February of 2010.
AK: Yes, and I’m glad to say the book is already done. Charlie has to go home in the sequel to try and clear his name. I found it a very moving story to write, because everything and everyone he loves is right nearby but he can’t reach out to them for fear of bringing them into danger with him.
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BH: I loved “Don’t Say a Word,” which was adapted into a terrific feature film starring Michael Douglas. One of your “Last Thing I Remember” characters, Crazy Jane, seemed to be a nod to the “Don’t Say a Word” character played so well by Brittany Murphy.
AK: I’ve always been fascinated with madness, schizophrenia especially. I suppose it raises serious questions about reality and identity that are important to storytelling, especially the stories I write in which the search for truth is so central. There’s also something extraordinarily heart-wrenching about it because, I’ve worked with disturbed people, on hotlines and in shelters, and you get the powerful sense that the real person, the person God made them to be, is in there, but can’t break through the prison of their disease. You just want to rip the disease open with your bare hands and set them free.
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BH: When it comes to the creative process, how do you go about writing a story like this? It’s obviously structured meticulously and deliberately; is this something you outline beforehand or find as you go?
AK: Oh no, I’m a big outliner. I’ve written outlines almost as long as books. I’m obsessive about it. Because the plot is the frame of the house and, for me, it’s got to be more or less in place so you can do the richer, deeper things that make it spring to life, the characters, the themes, the emotions. What good is any of that, if the reader is thinking, wait a minute, that doesn’t make sense, that would never happen. So the plot has to work before I get started because I don’t want to be troubled by it when I’m supposed to be delving into a character’s heart. I don’t want to get to the moment of profound revelation and suddenly think, holy moley, Colonel Mustard’s supposed to be in the library with the lead pipe!
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In part two, which runs tomorrow, Andrew Klavan talks more about his writing and creative process, and what it’s like to be openly conservative in the world of publishing and Hollywood.
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