August Hill | Interview Q&A

We sat down with author of the upcoming humour-fiction novel The Sushi Prophecies to talk process, inspiration, music and a bunch of chickens.

What’s the story behind your latest book?

The Sushi Prophecies is a sort of bitter love letter to the city of Vancouver. This particular story was born out of patio-hopping, bikes and beaches, all the summer-drenched prickly people and places unique to Vancity. You can’t walk a block without building a character so rich it stinks of the town itself. Like an L.A of the north, there’s some grit to this place, particularly when the sun makes an appearance. The setting lends itself to mischief and creepy crawlies served alongside shiny people doing shiny, good-looking things. The Sushi Prophecies suggests a reality that could be, if you were to sprinkle some otherworldly mysticism over the top.

What inspires you to get out of bed each day?

A cheeky dog tongue darting into my personal space. A big, nasty cup of hot, dark magic. Playing with my little guy at the piano while the chickens blast out from the yard. Getting into some nature as the sun is just getting started.

Who are your favorite authors?

I’m a huge fan of Christopher Moore, Carl Hiaasen, Neil Gaiman and the ilk. Find me a silly-billy with some dark genius and a splash of mischief, and I shall lend you my eyes. I would also contest that stand-up comedians are a rogue breed of author that writes in a very specific way, on a surprisingly rigid cycle. You would be remiss to not study the greats as well as this new golden age of The Comedian.

Describe your desk

I found a really weird piece at a really weird furniture shop a few years back. It’s like a giant butcher’s block atop forged iron legs. My laptop is hooked up to an absurd screen on the wall, so there’s really not much on the desk itself outside of a hot beverage and some rotating books. I’m consigned to the coach house above the garage, but luckily a dog called Quest comes for a visit to hang out by the fire in the afternoons. The important bit is that the desk is at the window where we can check the tides and listen to the seals bark their little hearts out. There’s always a rooster in the mix complaining about something.

Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?

Ha, of course! I was the ripe old age of seven or eight. It was called The Skeleton, a love triangle wrapped up in some sort of thriller horror-scape-mansion-adventure. I recall filling three spiral notebooks to the edges with all-caps multi-coloured Bic pen ink. I truly wish somebody finds those pads someday. Smithsonian.

What motivated you to become an author?

I’ve always written, and I will always be a writer, but something happens when you choose to publish and clear the ‘author’ tag. While different authors are surely motivated by different things, I admit I’m moved by simply sharing the laughter and vibes I feel when I create a world full of scoundrels. I feel the need to share all the magical moments that I got to have when I combined this-or-that strange combination of words. It is definitely selfish, however, because damned if it doesn’t bring a smile to my face to get a reaction.

What is your writing process?

For me, I write completely and fully in the moment, believing (incorrectly) that what I’m writing is true and final. Then, in the next session, I’ll go back halfway through the two thousand words or so and edit for language and voice so as to get warmed up and running for the next two thousand. Two steps forward, one back. This route allows me to nitpick the characters and dialogue, re-empowering or shifting the initial course.

In terms of getting the creative juices going music is absolutely key to me, I go deep, playlisting on Spotify like a mad man. I’ll make note of a song as a theme to a scene so I can edit to it later. I’ve even assigned songs to characters so I have a trigger to get into their head immediately.

On the more technical, literal sense of process, I’m old school and use Word and Excel. Word is the creative sandbox, always dynamic, always evolving. Whereas spreadsheets are the beast of moveable bits; everything is documented from quotes, ideas, character development, story arc, research, themes, settings…every…thing. This creates an artifact full of gems that might not even make the story but are pivotal in building the world. It also acts as a template that only gets better for each new project, offering a jump start to the next ‘first blank page’.

Basically, I need to keep the writing space separate and clear from the drafting space. That’s my own OCD thing, and I can’t kick my journalism roots.

Are you aware when you’re in your flow state, and how it feels before/during/after?

This is a fun one, it’s rarely spoken about, but this may just be one of the dirtier secrets of the true writer’s life – flow state is a drug. I am not present for quite some time when it hits, and I only realize it’s been happening when it’s on its way back out the door. In those fleeting moments there is a unique high, with some blended sense of pride, relief, euphoria, and fatigue.

Can you manipulate anything to get you there again/faster/longer?

I definitely take note of what I was doing, or what was happening in my world before or during that time. What was the music or podcast I was listening to? What kind of workout or wilderness did I get into that morning? It’s not always exactly repeatable, but you build pathways faster by recalling the route you took last time.

What are you working on next?

I’m having a blast writing my next novel The Sauna of Knowledge at the moment. It’s a fish out of water, almost literally, where transitioning to a small seaside fishing town becomes an absolutely hilarious – and treacherous – endeavour. Where a divorcee club combats the golfing community; industrial fishermen confront surfing culture; geriatrics explore murderous rage, and all other manner of plotting and secrecy unfolds in the local pubs and saunas around the fledgling town. It’s a sweaty romp with dozens of creeps that exist in the same world as The Sushi Prophecies.

Author Q&A