1) Where are you from? Why?
Geographically I’m from NJ, FL, CA, MA and now NY. I’ve spent years in all those places. Philosophically I’m from someplace that doesn’t seem to value capitalism quite as much as many of my American counterparts. Structurally I’m from a loose constructionist point of view (I think). Physically I’m from a land of toothpick people. Spiritually I’m from a thick soup.
2) Generate a relevant formula.
This is a superb question. I’m working on a book right now which has taken the form of a manual of style. I don’t know whether you’d consider it fiction or poetry but at some point there is a declaration about mystery and a formula is used:
complexity x (fatigue + unwillingness) = mystery
visibility
This formula isn’t necessarily accurate or even reasonable.
3) Please finish the following sentence with as many words as you want: “A good story must…”
I must borrow inspiration to answer this from my cousin, Shawn Donovan, a musician/writer/filmmaker. These are my words but the ideas are a cobbling together of a discussion we once had:
First, a good story must affect me first and foremost emotionally. I’m less concerned with concocting structural, thematic, genre standards that are easy to make but strangle innovation. Instead, I’ll read anything. If it affects me emotionally, I’ll be more apt to like it.
Second, stories that stay with me for a long time have an intellectual effect in addition to the emotional effect. They make me think of the world, what happens within it, what happens without it. I don’t even mean idea-driven stories. Just stories that make me feel AND think. Something like Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” is a good example. On second thought, good stories don’t have to do this second part, but the stories that stay with me longer often do both.
4) React to the following word: Literature.
Capitalized, it’s a full word. Of meaning. If I do the reaction game of you say “blank” and I don’t think about it and say “blank” I’d have to say my reaction to Literature is Fun.
5) What is there, and what should we do about it?
There is every conceivable thing in existence. I’m starting to believe that more and more. In response, we should take an extra minute when we get mad or frustrated because things aren’t going our way or because we’ve been pushed from our comfort zone. Take that minute and think of how intricately things exist. Sometimes they seem wonderful. Sometimes they seem terrible. Sometimes, for some people, the terrible things last an entire lifetime. That is heartbreaking. By wonderful I mean you can eat, sleep, exercise, create, be entertained, and see the people you love when you choose. Is this not wonderful? Of course, a wonderful life is not without its heartbreak, but the struggle is meaningful. For those of us whose lives seem relatively wonderful (I suspect it is many if not most reading this) I hope we can figure out ways not to give each other the finger on the interstate.
6) Is anything eternal?
I wish I knew, but I suspect that something somewhere probably is eternal based on the start of the answer to the previous question. What that thing might be, I don’t know. Soul? Energy? (Wait are those the same thing?) Anyway, it feels right to think something is eternal. That’s good enough until I get closer to death.
7) Describe your favorite series of sounds in onomatopoeia, the longer the better.
I find this question extraordinarily difficult. So, I’m going to cheat and say that the Guided by Voices album “Bee Thousand” is the best onomatopoeia for a feeling that I’ve ever heard.
Brian Mihok edits matchbook (matchbooklitmag.com) and is also an Assistant Editor at Tarpaulin Sky. His work has appeared in or is forthcoming from Hobart, Johnny America, notnostrums and Invisible Ear among others. He is about to collect an MFA in fiction from UMass Amherst. He now lives in Buffalo. Yes, that Buffalo.
