Hi Everyone: Here is a recent interview.
Dave

Interview with David Seaburn, author of 'Chimney Bluffs'

Tracee Gleichner

April 15, 2013


Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

Chimney Bluffs is about loss and grief; in this case, the tragic death of a young boy. Each character in the book, though, deals with some form of loss. What I hope readers will take away is that it is through relationships that we heal; relationships are the seedbed of hope, both of which are essential to going on with life, even if we are wounded as we go.

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

I do not have a writing mentor. I think of the thousands of psychotherapy clients I have worked with as the closest thing to having writing mentors. They taught me the importance of storytelling and story - listening.

Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?

I wish I could point to a eureka moment, but I canīt. I was the feature editor on my high school newspaper, but I didnīt really think of myself as a writer at the time. I was an ordained country preacher in the mid - 1970s and early 1980s. Writing sermons taught me that writing is a form of meaning - making. I became hooked on words and language then. I left parish work and eventually went on the faculty of a university medical center as a family therapist working in psychiatry and family medicine. In academics I published over sixty papers and two professional books. During those years, writing became critical to everything I did. I didnīt publish my first novel, though, until 2005. And it wasnīt until I was writing my second novel that I finally thought of myself not just as "someone who writes" but as a "writer," which is to say writing had become essential to my being, something I knew long before that, but was slow to admit.

Can you share a little of your current work with us?

I am well into my fifth novel which is currently entitled More More Time. The central character of an ensemble of six is a crotchety sixty two year old history teacher who starts hearing strange words after falling down his basement steps - - - endingtimeendingtimeendingtime. The issue of time, relationships and what we do with them will factor in the lives of each character in the story.

Have you ever had writerīs block? If so, what do you do about it?

I am very lucky. I have never had what I would call writerīs block. I have been stuck. I have experienced high anxiety. This seldom last more than a few days. Being patient and assuming that the process will work itself out make all the difference.

How did you develop your plot and characters?

When I was almost done with my third novel, Charlie No Face, I started thinking about my next project, something I like to do before I finish writing a novel for fear of never being able to write again! I came across an online story about a couple in England who had devoted their lives, including giving up their jobs, to making sure their son, who was disabled, had the best quality of life possible. Their son, though, was struck unexpectedly by a life threatening illness and died in a matter of days. They took their son home and a day later, after he had died, drove to a famous cliff and leaped to their deaths.

As if that wasnīt horrific enough, the couple carried two sacks with them; one had their son; the other had his favorite toys. It was the sacks and what was in them that I couldnīt get out of my mind. I thought about the story for weeks and wondered: How did the couple come to this decision? What would have happened if one of the parents had survived? I wrote Chimney Bluffs to wrestle with those questions.

I spent considerable time developing the little boy's parents, Kate and Mitch Duncan. I wanted them both to think differently about life; I wanted them to have their own distinct and differing beliefs; I wanted them to share an unbreakable commitment to their son. I wanted their differences to contribute to how they came to the decision about suicide.

When I started writing the book, I wanted to begin with the suicide jump at a cliff at Chimney Bluffs State Park. I wanted the reader to be there with the person who made the discovery of what had happened on the cliff. I wrote a character for that chapter named Clancy Brisco. He had an assistant, Bobby. They were supposed to merely serve as the ones who lead the reader to this sad discovery - - - two sacks, one with a dead boy; two adults, one dead. When I finished the first chapter, Clancy and Bobbyīs experience had been so emotional, so intense, that I realized they both needed to be developed into full characters. In the end, the eventual relationship between Kate, Clancy and Bobby forms the centerpiece of the whole novel.

What are your goals as a writer?

My goals are very modest. When I finish one book, I start another.

What dreams have been realized as a result of your writing?

I have developed a small readership, which is very rewarding. I love to hear what others think of my writing and how they interpret my work.

If you could leave readers with one bit of wisdom, what would you want it to be?

I think it is important to recognize and appreciate how utterly and completely connected we are to others; and that how we live those connections, what we make of them, is the most important thing we can do in life.

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/300246