It’s such a joy to bring you my interview with Chuck Palahniuk. It’s nearly impossible to summarize Chuck’s incredible life and career, so I’ll do my best here, which will come up short, and point you to his must-read bio on his website, The Cult.
Thanks for sharing this, I love the points about switching off the comments... especially on fiction. Unless you are looking for feedback obviously. I know the salad lady here has a great saying about the comments.
The Invention of Sound was actually the first novel I read by CP this past year. I found it on an Amazon ad and thought "this writer is pretty good." Then I googled him to find out he'd also written Fight Club. He writes like such an underdog so I thought I had stumbled upon some well kept secret of the underground literary world. (lol nope) Can't wait to read his next book, he deserves the success! Very interesting interview and takeaways here. Thanks for writing, Sarah Fay.
Sarah, congratulations on a really cool interview!
I remember reading Choke on a plane, which was doubly funny. Awesome to see the Substack platform's specific tweaks being discussed here. Kinda threw me for a loop at first too, but I really like the way the format works now.
"And, no, I didn’t tailor the story to reader response. In that direction lies the liquor cabinet." That is a fantastic quote!
Sold on serializing my memoir! Will keep in mind Chuck's caution on comments as "leading to the liquor cabinet."
I love that.
This was so good! There’s a reason he’s my favorite author!
Right?
A great interview, Sarah. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you! It was a great opportunity.
Another great read, Sarah! And thanks to Chuck for the heads up on the Substack formatting.
I know! So helpful.
Thanks for sharing this, I love the points about switching off the comments... especially on fiction. Unless you are looking for feedback obviously. I know the salad lady here has a great saying about the comments.
Yes! The salad lady. If you're not looking for feedback, turn them off. Everyone wants to tell us how to write our memoir or novel.
Love the comparison with serialized novels in Dickens's time. History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes.
A really insightful interview on the creative process. Thank you.
You're so welcome. Great to hear from a pro like Chuck.
The Invention of Sound was actually the first novel I read by CP this past year. I found it on an Amazon ad and thought "this writer is pretty good." Then I googled him to find out he'd also written Fight Club. He writes like such an underdog so I thought I had stumbled upon some well kept secret of the underground literary world. (lol nope) Can't wait to read his next book, he deserves the success! Very interesting interview and takeaways here. Thanks for writing, Sarah Fay.
That's such a good way of putting it: He writes like an underdog.
This was perfect for me. I just started serialising a novella every Friday, so this was so encouraging!
Great! I’m so glad.
Sarah, congratulations on a really cool interview!
I remember reading Choke on a plane, which was doubly funny. Awesome to see the Substack platform's specific tweaks being discussed here. Kinda threw me for a loop at first too, but I really like the way the format works now.
Yes!