Next Big Thing

My dear former professor and friend in poetry (and disc golf!) Mark Neely (his newest book, Beast of the Hill, is sooooo awesome) was tagged for “The Next Big Thing,” a self-interview for writers with recent or forthcoming books. Then Mark tagged me to answer some questions about my next chapbook.

What is the working title of the book?

48 Pornos

Where did the idea come from for the book?

I was writing this whole series of short prose poems/monologues that all started "Get this:..." and a bunch of them ended up being porno-esque, so I jogged around with that. I wrote nearly 400 of the "Get this:" pieces, 150(ish) of which ended up being "pornos." 48 of them seem to "twinkle" enough to fit into this mss.

What genre does your book fall under?

Pornos!

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Depending on the "porno," of course, but some good fits would be: James Deen, a Garth Brooks look-a-like, Lisa Ann, some guy that owns a lighning bolt costume, and Lethal Lipps. Oh and the Statue of Liberty would play herself.

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

It's me pitching a bunch of porno ideas to an experimental, up-and-coming director.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

I wrote the whole "Get this:" series in the course of a couple months, then I cut it down to about 200 over the course of a couple weeks, then I pulled out the "pornos," and worked on/added more of those for another couple of weeks. All in all, let's say 3-4 months?

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

First stage: The "Get this" series started as a Twitter series. People seemed to like them.
Second stage: I saw a contest advertised on The Rumpus for writing pornos. I started texting ideas to my girlfriend, Layne.
Third stage: I sent a few to my movie-making (not of the porno variety...YET) friend Dave, and he was super stoked about them.
Fourth stage: As I started getting more and more of them, I kept thinking of Safety Third Enterprises. Leader of that pack Matt is a fearless dude, totally into whatever literature gets him psyched, no rules. I knew of only one place I wanted to send it.
Fifth stage: Matt got psyched on the book!

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

STE will turn this thing in a totally beautiful object. The cover will be silk-screened. The pages will be mighty crisp. The whole thing will be wrapped up like a present. Oh and there will be a postcard of me naked (censored a bit, of course, sorry) taped to the front. 

Here's an example porno:

Get this: A milf rubs two dildos together and nothing happens. The video lasts for over an hour.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Safety Third Enterprises is gonna textually broadcast this thing out in August.

My tagged writers for next Wednesday are:

Layne Ransom

Jayne O'Connor 

Dave Mcdermand