1. Please tell readers about your current book.
The Water Thief is about a man searching for his place in a world run exclusively by corporations. When he catches a woman stealing rainwater, he sells her out, and to goose his reward, spins a story of her as a traitor and seditionist. But when she vanishes, he’s wracked with guilt, and decides to track her down.
2. Who or what inspires your writing?
Massive, catastrophic structural changes to the world which go un-noticed by almost everyone (like the “Citizens United” Supreme Court Decision).
That any story which speaks to a larger picture.
3. When did you know you would be a writer?
Never did. But as a boy I loved telling stories. Before I could write I’d tell my stories to my parents, and when they had enough, to my aunts and uncle, all of whom would patiently take dictation on Cray paper for me. I love anything that lets me tell a story—drawing, acting, screenwriting, debate, even teaching—,writing simply gives me the most control to say what I want, how I want. And I had no talent for drawing.
4. How long did it take you to write your first novel?
I wrote it in high school, it took about two years to get through four drafts. My first non-fiction book, simply about a month spent at summer camp, took me about four weeks to write.
5. What is the hardest part of writing for you?
It’s a tossup—pacing myself and finding enough time to get all my ideas down on paper in a way that says all the things I want, and the final few drafts where I’ve said all I have to say and now it’s just about the craft of whittling it down—making it easier to read, tightening it as much as I can.
6. Do you have any writing rituals?
Not for writing… Well, occasionally I’ll roll a wine cork or a pipe around in my mouth. But for editing, I’ll play a song, usually an instrumental, over and over and over, a thousand times or more, just let it keep repeating while I work.
7. Have you written any thing else?
Seven or eight full length books, a bunch of essays on politics and the social sciences, some short stories. I’m working on two follow up novels right now. I hate to do only one project at a time. Keep three or four going, different themes, different skill levels, and I’ve got something to work on no matter what mood I’m in.
8. Any advice to aspiring writers?
A writer is someone who can’t stop writing. Write a minimum of 10 minutes a day, every day, on any topic, for a year, don’t miss a single day for any reason, and you’re a writer. That’s all (it’s a lot harder than it sounds).
9. Who are your favorite Authors?
Golding, Hemmingway, Hitchens.
10. What are your favorite books, or which book has impacted you the most?
Probably lord of the flies. A microcosm for the whole human race in that one.
11. What are you currently reading?
Mostly non-fiction research for the next book, and a few classics. I’m dying to read “The art of racing in the rain”.
12. How do readers find out more about you?
My website, NickSoutter.com
CHARLES THATCHER is a private citizen, which is to say that he's the private property of the Ackerman Brothers Securities Corporation. He's got problems: the cost of air is going up, his wife wants to sell herself to another corporation, and his colleagues are always trying to get him tossed into the lye vats.
But when he discovers a woman stealing rainwater, he sees his chance to move up in the world, maybe even become an executive. He reports her, spinning a picture, not just of a thief, but of a seditionist and revolutionary, someone who believes in that long-dead institution called "government."
Then she vanishes
Overcome with guilt, he tries to track her down. What he discovers is an underground movement every bit as seditious as the one he had imagined.
But as he becomes enamored with their cause and with life outside his corporation, Charles must contend with a larger truth; in a world where everything is for sale and lies are more profitable than the truth, even a group of revolutionaries can have something to hide.
But when he discovers a woman stealing rainwater, he sees his chance to move up in the world, maybe even become an executive. He reports her, spinning a picture, not just of a thief, but of a seditionist and revolutionary, someone who believes in that long-dead institution called "government."
Then she vanishes
Overcome with guilt, he tries to track her down. What he discovers is an underground movement every bit as seditious as the one he had imagined.
But as he becomes enamored with their cause and with life outside his corporation, Charles must contend with a larger truth; in a world where everything is for sale and lies are more profitable than the truth, even a group of revolutionaries can have something to hide.
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READ THE TERMS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE FORM
Intriguing book premise
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway, Freda. I just wanted to say that Racing in the Rain is pretty good and it's a quick read too, not tremendously deep. I think Nicholas would enjoy it.
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