by Chris Steib
A few days ago, I sat down for a little GTalk with my old friend, fellow writer, and man of many digital hats, Adam Maxwell. In our interview, he shares his insight on such things as: the effect a new bundle of joy has on one’s writing; the importance of the author website; the influence of place on writing; and — of course — monkeys.
Adam Maxwell is the author of the cult phenom short-short fiction collection, Dial M for Monkey. His self-designed website, www.AdamMaxwell.com, is currently nominated for the North East Digital Award (UK) in the best podcasting campaign category. Check out his site here, and vote for it to win the Award here.
Chris
Hello good sir. You ready to kick this thing off?
Adam
Sounds fine to me.
Chris
Ready…now.
Adam
For some reason this feels like I am playing the Secret of Monkey Island…not sure why.
Chris
Um…not sure I know that game. Did you just make that up in your head?
Adam
It’s possible, although if I did I’m pretty sure George Lucas is gonna sue. It was from ‘back in the day.’
Chris
Ah, I remember that day. It was a good one. And don’t worry, I know a good lawyer.
So. Last time we talked…I think more than a year ago now – we chatted about “Dial M for Monkey,” flash fiction, a forthcoming baby, and most importantly “Smokey and the Bandit.”
Since your delightful, eminently enjoyable, and available-online-for-purchase [link] book was published, what have you been up to?
Adam
Shortly after the book came out I became a father for the first time so up until very recently I have mainly been doing that! My daughter Nina pretty much decided that sleep was something for the weak and that she wasn’t going to allow us to have any of that any more. It’s only very recently I have managed to reason with her…
Chris
Nina’s now…18 months?
Adam
Yes – as a parent you kind of live your life in fast-forward.
Chris
So I guess you lucked out having flash-fiction as your chosen genre. That is, good thing you’re not into writing epic poetry, or doing translations of Faust.
Adam
Quite right – with Flash it meant that I could start to get back into it although you may recall mention of a novel…that will have to wait. I think it’s pretty difficult to ‘turn it off’ so the ideas kind of backlog and now I’m finding it pretty easy to just sit down and blurt them out.
And – unsurprisingly – have started to write some things that will eventually be read by my daughter.
Chris
Some of your earlier stuff isn’t exactly rated E for Everyone (I’m remembering a shotgun being fired into Jell-O, etc…). Has a new bundle of joy affected the style of your writing?
Adam
Yes – I didn’t want her first words to be expletives. As you say – the subject matter was questionable, so I decided to do the two side by side.
After all, the last piece of research sitting next to me on my desk is from a post-mortem in a case of morbid obesity. That’s not something I want her to take with her to ‘show and tell.’
Chris
But you can’t exactly abandon your old style, right? I mean, it was so unique and obviously came from the gut, like those tough-guy, hard-boiled writers from the 1930s.
Adam
I think it would be impossible for any writer to change their style completely, but the core idea remains – my stories tend to stem from the absurd or surreal, and kids love that.
Chris
Shel Silverstein, anyone?
Adam
Why sir, you flatter me.
Chris
Isn’t that the root of all good interviews? So now that you’ve had time to look back on it, what was the general response to ‘Dial M for Monkey’? Public, critical, friends & family, etc…?
Adam
I think I would call it a “cult success.”
Chris
Like, creepy emails and stuff? Because what’s a cult without creepy emails from readers?
Adam
The press loved it, my friends loved it, and although it hasn’t sold in huge numbers, I have walked into a bookshop that sold it!
As for creepy emails: not really. Although a few weird ones. Most people are quite complimentary.
Chris
That’s outstanding. Everybody I bought it for last Christmas went bonkers over it, for what it’s worth.
Adam
That’s good to hear – it’s odd because the stories in it seem so old now. I suppose when you start writing the next one that happens.
Chris
Does it? I’m still stuck on my first novel, so I wouldn’t know. Is this next one a huge change of course for you?
Adam
Time will tell but I think it will be a small move forward but more of the same.
Chris
The same what? Are we talking Noir? Or more hoards of angry chickens?
Adam
I enjoy writing in that style and don’t really have any literary pretensions; so that means I write what I like to read and that doesn’t change quickly. I have got a new story called ‘Along Came a Chicken,’ but I do like to experiment.
Chris
I hear Chicken is the new Monkey…any truth there?
Adam
Those damn monkeys… I can’t get rid of them.
Chris
I noticed – you made a monkey reference as soon as we got online earlier.
Adam
Did I really? I can’t help it! Perhaps chickens could be the way to go, although I could never really wish to rid myself of monkey-hood forever.
Chris
See, you’ve got monkey on the brain and don’t even know it!
Adam
I really have.
Chris
Okay, so there are chickens and monkeys…what else can you say about what you’re working on? And is this a novel, or another collection, or what?
Adam
At the moment it is just writing for writing. But it will probably move into more of a collection as time goes by. I kind of realized that, much as I love novels, I love short fiction more right now. There is the sniff of a novella in the air as it happens.
Chris
How much have you accumulated so far? Because one could infer, based on your website, that you’re pretty prolific.
And, sub-question, has baby Nina influenced your writing of shorter work?
Adam
Yes – no doubt that’s true. But no -I’m pretty far from prolific – in fact I am sprawled out right next to the sign that says ‘lazy’. But I do like to write and I would say I am around 25% into a new collection and maybe 4 chapters into the novella.
Chris
That’s some good headway.
So on the topic of your website, you recently redesigned (which I believe is something you do professionally, right?), and it’s chock-full-o-goodies. In fact, you’re up for some fancy-pants UK award right now, aren’t you? Do tell.
Adam
Yes indeed, for a while now I have been – I believe the term is ‘podcasting’. Of course, back in the 80′s and 90′s we used to just call it ‘taping’ but now it’s podcasting and I have embraced it wholeheartedly. I’ve been trying, around once a month, to record a reading of a short-short story and post it on the site. Fast forward (as we used to do with tapes) a few months and it’s nominated for a North East Digital Award (UK) in best podcasting campaign category. The only catch is that I need to get votes to win… as many votes as possible… nudge, nudge, wink, wink…
Chris
Does this take up a lot of your time? Or does it eat into your writing at all?
Adam
Every writer has something they do when they SHOULD be writing. And building my website is usually that thing for me. But yes – I kind of wanted it to showcase the words and had been looking at a lot of circus playbills and posters and thought – that’s what I want…
Chris
It’s a helluva site. Most big-name authors don’t have sites this interesting — most likely because they don’t get the importance of it. How’s your traffic? Do you think the site helped in your “cult following”?
Adam
It’s great to have the ability to just decide that tomorrow I will start podcasting or post a story or do whatever I want on the site without some publisher who doesn’t understand the medium dictating to me how it should work. I got an email today from a guy saying he had just subscribed to the podcast and he was looking forward to it. As far as traffic goes I get over 3000 people a month coming to the site, which is amazing although I wish every one of them had bought a copy of the book!
Chris
That’s great traffic for an author site. You must be doing something right. Do you record the podcasts at home?
Adam
Yes, all the new ones I am adding are recorded in my front room, but some of the older ones are from different places: radio interviews, a live reading, etc. I’m kind of a compulsive self-chronicler.
Chris
Technology makes it so easy to be DIY, right? What’s the point of a bookstore when someone could get everything they need to know about Adam Maxwell from the website?
Adam
Yeah and I think the tragedy of a lot of authors as you said is that they don’t do that. There’s more info on dead writers – like Hunter S. Thompson, Charles Bukowski, Richard Brautigan – than most living authors. Although Neil Gaiman and Elmore Leonard have pretty good sites.
Chris
Because living writers need book sales, and they think this new-fangled interweb is eating into their profits.
Adam
They’re probably right!
Chris
Well, it’s true if you’re not monetizing it. There’s potentially more money on the web than in publishing.
So what about e-books? Could you see yourself publishing a digital exclusive now that Amazon’s sold tons of the Kindle?
Adam
eBooks? I haven’t really thought about them too much but mainly because I wasn’t sure what the demand in the market was for them, and I haven’t read any yet.
Chris
Well, isn’t an eBook just a web article with a different screen? I’ve got a Sony Reader, which I don’t use much, but I can’t say I don’t read digital books. I just read a handful stories on your site the other day.
Adam
That’s the next thing I’m working on – getting the site working on mobile phones and other mobile devices. Well that and, of course, writing more.
Chris
Oooh, a WAP site. You are a rare breed of author.
Adam
WAP – old hat 
Chris
Ha. So then what’s the point of trying to get your work printed on paper when you’ve got 10x (or more) of the distribution through your site and other digital platforms?
Adam
It’s a good question but probably the best answer is: Isn’t that what every author wants?
You do it because that is what has gone before.
Chris
I thought every author wanted to be read?
Adam
And to be paid occassionally?
Chris
My perspective may be skewed, but if someone I knew got published on NYTimes.com, and not in the print edition, I’d think them both to be equal accomplishments. Why is it not the same for fiction writers yet?
Adam
I wish there was a way of comparing it but I think you’re right – there isn’t. An online publication may get more people reading it, but at the moment the writers won’t get the same acceptance
Chris
I’m being deliberately obtuse here, I see the difference…but particularly given the venue in which this interview’s being published, readers have not yet embraced the ebook.
Do you see the web as more empowering for writers, or ultimately as a detriment?
I mean, you’re a good writer, but had you not reached out I might never have found you because of all the static and bullshit online. (Though that’s not entirely true…something tells me I would have picked up your book since I’m a total whore for a great-looking book jacket, especially one that features a monkey with a gun.)
Adam
Incidentally the cover of my book was done by a very talented designer friend called John Hardy (hi John!).
I think the web is as empowering as you make it. Some friends and I set up a site (www.jigsawlounge.co.uk) some years ago and from nothing with no money spent we went from nobody coming to tens of thousands every month.
And I think this is the other thing about the net: design. Just look at MySpace…it looks awful! People don’t know how to make their space look good, and the public judge you on that before they read a word.
Chris
But there’s no way to find a great-looking page unless someone pings you with it, or you spend hours trolling the garbage.
Adam
Yeah, I agree. And there are many online mags I won’t submit to because they look awful. God, I’m such a snob.
Chris
Not at all! People should be pickier about aesthetic — there’s too much clutter to think you can get away with a poorly designed site (or book!) just b/c it has good content.
Adam
I have to admit the last version of my site was rubbish. It lacked what makes a good website a good website….
Chris
So what makes a good website?
Adam
Well, in the case of the last incarnation of my website it lacked content! The internet is no different from books – no one would buy an empty book or visit a site that isn’t updated and has no content. I think that there are three things a site needs – content is the most important but a close tied second would be a good design and easy to use navigation. The site before the last version had content but the design and navigation weren’t as good. I hope with the new site I have the holy trinity of website design.
Chris
So should authors be more focused on design than content these days?
Adam
No, but I think once you have jumped that hurdle you’ve got no excuse for bad content.
Chris
Do you think presentation is equally as important? For as far back as I can see, writers have gotten away with a lot — talk about entitlement, here, this chip on our shoulder that says our product can’t be touched by anyone, that we’re absolved from such trivial business things like sales and marketing and design.
Adam
Yeah I hate marketing.
Chris
But you’re doing it with AdamMaxwell.com. And you’re doing an interview on a popular blogging website.
Adam
I suppose you’re right but there’s just something so un-writerly about admitting it is actual marketing. Perhaps I’m a purist. Or a hypocrite.
The web is great for the part-time misanthrope in me
I like to write. I want people to read it. Lots of people. …Then I want them to leave me alone.
Chris
Really? You seem like a pretty gregarious fellow. You wouldn’t want to have any discussions or live author chats about your work? Engage your readers some more?
Adam
I probably would – but I think my gut reaction is always that I don’t. What I enjoy most is that feeling you get when you finish a story and you think “That’s it – it’s done!”
My wife and I lived in a city centre for many years then moved to a place in Northumberland called Newbiggin by the Sea. Other than the sea, it’s pretty much it’s pretty much in the middle of nowhere. And I like that.
Chris
Sounds gorgeous – how does that place influence your writing?
Adam
It’s absolutely amazing, and chock full of characters to write about – but mainly beautiful coast, right next to beautiful countryside. All very “wow.”
As my uncle once said:
“I must go down to the sea again
to the lonely sea and sky
I left my socks and knickers there
I wonder if they’re dry”
…Or was that Spike Milligan?
Chris
You got me. But your writing doesn’t strike me as pastoral. So does the place itself have influence, or does it just provide mental freedom to write? Could you write as well (or as prolifically) in, say, London?
Adam
I should imagine I could because there are just as many distractions here as in the village of London and I’ve written a similar amount in every location I’ve lived. I think you find a place to clear your head no matter where you live.
I’ve never really thought that where I lived influenced my writing as such but I think snatches of where you are make it in. I wrote something that was directly based on where I live, which is the first time I’ve ever done that. They were re-creating the beach by importing sand from further down the coast in Skegness, literally sucking it from the seabed then pumping it out onto our beach. This was filtered through my mind into a story about ninja-divers and kidnapped tourists – ‘Our Sincere Apologies to the Good People of Skegness’.
Chris
On the subject of Flash Fiction, it seems to be something borne out of the web, and then made it to print – but to the web it has returned (like on your site). Do you think this is a pattern, that new forms of writing will continue to be born and live on the web, which “traditional” fiction is published on paper?
Adam
I think there is a genre-obsession out there and even I can’t help pandering to it. You look at a story of any length and what you should ask yourself is whether or not you like it when in actual fact what you do is try to compartmentalize it before you read it.
I know Flash Fiction was around way before the internet, it just wasn’t called flash fiction then. I also believe that it is a great internet genre and great for people who, like me, have short attention spans and small chunks of time.
Chris
Which is why I’m perpetually shocked that people don’t read poetry and short stories that much – lengthy fiction far out-sells its more diminutive counterparts. Do you think (or hope) the web will be our savior?
Adam
I do, I really do. The only down side to it is that with the web people expect everything for free and as long as I give my stories away I won’t make a living out of it! There are certain aspects to the web that are tried and fail and other parts that are tried and stick. It’s half about talent and half about timing in any business.
Chris
Web advertising is a $20bn+ industry in the U.S. — why can’t writers get behind that concept? Everyone else has. Journalists have no problem publishing their articles alongside a banner for Monster.com – what makes fiction writers so special that we’re absolved from this?
Adam
The only thing that made my website any different was that monster wouldn’t pay to advertise on my site. The swine! Perhaps I need a marketing department. Me love the yankee dollar!
Chris
Democracy Whiskey Sexy! I’ll send you my resume for that Marketing role…
But the real – and final – question is: will there be monkeys?
Adam
Yes – monkey butlers. An army of them, trained by me, all wearing Burt Reynolds ‘stache and cowboy hat.
Chris
Now you’re talking. I’m glad we were able to wrap this up on the basics.
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Chris Steib is a writer and digital media product manager living in New York City. He thinks most things with monkeys are funny and therefore relevant to just about any conversation, especially this one.
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Originally appeared on Gather.com
