Jesse Edward Johnson is the author of the new novella The King of Nothing Much. He also has written the novel Yearbook. Also an artist, he lives in the Pacific Northwest.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for The King of Nothing
Much, and for your character Weldon?
A: The idea for this book came to me almost 10 years ago, in
the middle of the night. It was one of those moments when you have no choice
but to get out of bed and start making notes. By the time I’d finished, I had
four handwritten pages of a proto-novel or story (or novella, as it turned
out).
Those pages got lost in a big stack of papers for a few
years. When I came across them again, I found that I was still interested in
the character and the story, and decided to start writing it and see where it
took me.
The first draft ballooned to 60,000 words, at which point I
knew I didn’t have a full-length novel on my hands. So I tried to turn it into
a short story. But it didn’t want to be that short. So here we are: a novella,
one of the world’s loveliest forms.
Though I got the idea for the book years ago, the main
character, Weldon Tines, has always been 41 years old. And now that the book is
coming out, I too am 41 years old. So I suppose I just had to wait for my
circumstances to catch up to his.
Q: The Kirkus Review of the book called it “a funny, tender,
but indulgent study in modern masculinity.” What do you think of that
assessment?
A: Those first two words—“funny” and “tender”—are highly
gratifying. I think they encapsulate exactly what the book is trying to do
(that is, it’s trying to take readers on an emotional journey, with plenty of
laughs along the way).
But I must confess I’m a little perplexed by that last word!
I suppose the act of fiction writing is always “indulgent,” to the extent that
you are making the extravagant assumption that anyone is going to want to read
what you have written.
But I’ll have to leave it up to readers of the book to
decide just how indulgent they find it to be.
Q: Did you know how the book would end before you started
writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?
A: As I suggested above, the skeleton of the story came to
me almost in its entirety.
That said, my writing process never moves in a straight
line. We made a lot of changes along the way, and the closing pages of the book
didn’t take their final form until the very last stages of editing.
I think that’s how it should be: you have to have a plan
(for the sake of your own sanity), but you have to be willing to abandon it
(for the sake of the work).
Q: How was the novella’s title chosen, and what does it
signify for you?
A: When I wrote that phrase—“the king of nothing much”—it
immediately became the working title of the book, and it never got dethroned
(forgive the bad pun!).
To me, it speaks to the complicated view of masculinity
addressed in the book. Weldon is a kind of “king,” but his realm is
rather small and undefined. But in the “nothing” that is the scope of his
authority, there lies a something quite profound.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: Lots of different things! When I’m not writing fiction, I
work as a textual artist. I’m currently figuring out my next series of visual
poems.
As for fiction, I’ve got a number of different ideas
brewing: a historical novel set on Vashon Island (where I live); a middle-grade
fantasy novel based loosely on Dante’s Inferno; another young adult novel;
and (yes) a potential sequel to The King of Nothing Much.
Which one will bubble to the top first? Who knows! Maybe
something else entirely….
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: It feels strange to have a book come out during these
difficult times. But there is also something reassuring, I think, in the
persistence of culture in the face of mass adversity. I try to take solace in
the small comfort my work may be able to provide others as the world struggles
to get back on its feet.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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