AN INTERVIEW WITH LIAM CALLANAN, TEACHER, NOVELIST, BOOK REVIEWER AND FATHER

Interviewed by Byron Merritt

FWOMP: Your book, The Cloud Atlas, takes place in Alaska, quite a distance from your current Washington D.C. roots. Why did you decide to write about "the frozen North" versus a subject closer to home?


Liam Callanan: I thought my own backyard a little boring (I mean that literally -- though we've since moved to a home that backs onto a small, very unkempt park, which is much more exciting). So, then: Alaska. Fiction writers, especially ones just starting out, like me, are always told that trouble is an essential ingredient of any successful story. And there seemed plenty about Alaska that would cause my characters trouble: weather, wildlife, wilderness itself. Most of all, I'd always wanted to visit Alaska. This would give me an opportunity to do so, if only vicariously. And then -- but I see we have a question about research coming up, so I'll wait to talk about how much of Alaska I actually saw before I wrote the book.

FWOMP: You've done radio readings on NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO (NPR), written reviews for multiple publications (including the New York Times), published short fiction, obtained your MFA in creative writing and you're a teacher. Now you've written a novel. What "hat" do you like wearing the most (reviewer, teacher, novel writer, short story writer, etc.)?

LC: I don't really have a preference. I know it's sacrilege to say that -- a true writer would find anything other than sitting in his study, writing, distraction -- but I just don't do well if I'm on my own for too long a stretch. I like writing, but I also like getting out. Teaching is fun because it places you in a community of interesting people; you're forced to stay alive, alert (I've had students in 7:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. classes, however, who disagree with this). Though radio is more solitary (just me and the mike and the producer), I like it, too, for the way it lets you (encourages you) to tell a story orally, which puts you in touch with (though, in my case, not the same league as) an ancient tradition. (I've been using parentheses a bit too much, I think; I'll stop. Although I do want to add one more thing, about hats: my father is convinced they cause baldness, so I avoid them whenever possible.)

FWOMP: What does a typical Liam Callanan writing day consist of?

LC: With teaching and radio and most important, two daughters, there are few typical days. On days that are devoted solely to writing, though, I usually decamp to a local coffee shop. I hit upon this early on -- writing at home is too distracting for me: there's the phone, the internet, a dozen chores that need doing. When I tell people I work at a coffee shop, they often ask whether I get distracted there, but it's quite the opposite. I worked a variety of corporate jobs before quitting to write The Cloud Atlas, and there's something familiar sitting in a room full of strangers -- like being back in a cubicle. Also, I'm usually so afraid that someone will steal my laptop that I don't get out of my seat -- at home, it's always too easy to get up and go do something else.

FWOMP: Okay, I gotta ask! What's with the "tomato roses"?

LC: We should put this in a bit of context -- I mention tomato roses on the bio page of my website, www.liamcallanan.com . Here's the story: my mother used to be a caterer, and so all of us kids had our niche specialties (in addition to the more general tasks, like washing dishes and washing dishes and washing dishes and...). Mine was carving roses out of tomatoes. I once did a radio piece on this; it's archived at http://www.wamu.org/mc/tomato.html

FWOMP: Where did the title The Cloud Atlas come from?

LC: I got it from a real cloud atlas that I came across in the government documents room of the George Mason University library. It was a government publication -- a kind of field guide to clouds, what they looked like, where they appeared. But I took the title literally when I first saw it -- I thought there were government scientists out there mapping clouds, which struck me as preposterous, and also, poetic. Trying to pin down something so evanescent on paper: it's a theme that obsessed me while I was writing the novel.

FWOMP: The Cloud Atlas is quite complex in its detail. How much research did you have to do while compiling the story (bomb disposal of the times, Alaskan history, etc.)?

LC: I did quite a bit of research, but by necessity I did it here in DC -- we just couldn't afford for me to head off to Alaska for a few months. Fortunately, it turns out that DC was great place to research my novel. The Air and Space Museum archives, the Library of Congress, the National Archives are all right here. The Army's Ordnance Museum (yes, there is one) is just up the road. I also watched Alaskan web cams, and listened to Alaskan radio over the internet. It may sound goofy, but listening really did bring me up to speed on local issues, language and even weather. After the manuscript sold, I used part of the advance money to rush up to Alaska to confirm my facts. I ended up changing almost nothing -- except for the parts about the midnight sun, which really does have to be experienced. I also developed a number of generous email pen pals -- Alaskan experts, bomb disposal experts, medical experts. They all helped me get my story straight.

FWOMP: A lot of aspiring writers will be looking over such interviews as this, trying to glean any helpful information that'll assist them with their writing endeavors. If you could give these guys and gals some advice, what would it be?

LC: It's funny you ask this question, because I was exactly that sort of person -- in truth, I'm still that sort of person, given to reading such interviews and trying to find out just how it's done.

When I look back at the experience of writing The Cloud Atlas, I'm still not sure how it happened. We had two children in the midst of the writing; I had a day job for part of the time, and then didn't. One thing that's critical is a kind and loving spouse: though we'd saved up some so I could quit and try to write full-time, her staying at her 9-5 job was essential to keeping us in health benefits and a roof over our heads. Another critical thing is sitting down and doing the work. I know my bit about the coffee shop above sounded facetious, but it's true. There's something to be said for forcing yourself to sit and type...and stay seated, stay typing. The coffee place isn't perfect, but it works. (Except on the days it doesn't.)

One final thing that was true for me: the novel was stalled around draft 2; it was a little bloodless. Then I read an interview with a writer (getting a little meta-literary here) where he talked about how writing a novel was like burning down your house; everything of yours was gone, had to be gone, by the time you were done. (I remember this as a Rick Moody interview, but I once had the occasion to ask him about it at a writers' conference, and he said he didn't recall saying it -- so who knows who it was?)  I'd been holding back a bit on what of myself I would put into the story, and eventually, during the rewriting, I let more of myself leech in. I had to bleed a little. Okay, a lot.

FWOMP: Who were your literary influences? Have they changed over time?

LC: They change all the time. My professors at George Mason were all influential: Steve Goodwin, Alan Cheuse, Richard Bausch, Beverly Lowry, Carolyn Forche and Susan Richards Shreve. I first read William Kennedy in high school -- his Ironweed was like nothing I'd read before and made me realize what was, and what might be, possible in fiction. More recently, Chang-Rae Lee, especially his Gesture Life, was very influential.

FWOMP: Your book focuses on war and its inevitable consequences. Do you feel that war is a part of human nature (especially since we're still in a war with Afghanistan -- partially -- and Iraq)?

LC: I don't want to believe it's part of human nature; it's certainly part of human history. One of the disquieting things about The Cloud Atlas is how much of it -- weapons of terror (airborne, no less), germ weapons, the sense that basic rules no longer apply -- is topical today.

FWOMP: Do you have hobbies (outside of writing) that you enjoy and help keep you centered?

LC: Childcare.

FWOMP: Are there any more Liam Callanan items coming down the literary pipeline that we should be on the look out for?

LC: There's a second novel in the works, and some short pieces, fiction and nonfiction, also on tap.

FWOMP: Is there a website about you and your book that our readers could visit to find out more information?

LC: Absolutely: www.liamcallanan.com or www.cloudatlas.com

Interviewed May 2004