Whether I’m being interviewed, or I’m actually interviewing another writer on stage, it’s always a little surreal. Frankly, being on stage at any time for almost any reason is not natural or easy for most of us. Public speaking is a primal fear for much of the human species—always has been, always will be. One can become comfortable giving a book talk at a library to 14 people—some of whom were just there to return a book and learned of the author talk at the last minute—or even appearing at a big festival in a theatre with a few hundred in attendance. But it does require thought and effort and practice, and of course, preparation.
Book talks
For each of my novels, I work up a talk with very visual PowerPoint slides (yep, PowerPoint) and then, like a comedian test-driving and refining a new routine in small, regional comedy clubs before hitting the Comedy Store in LA, I give that book talk dozens of times in various venues, making small adjustments—and sometimes big adjustments—with each iteration. After the first several times, I grow comfortable with the material. I come to know what works and what needs tweaking—often it’s all about timing. And by that stage, I’ve heard and been able to respond to most of the audience questions on the new book. So by the 20th time I’ve given the talk, I like to think I’ve hit my stride and am settled into a familiar rhythm of sorts.
I use no notes, but let each slide trigger my talking points, stories, and the transition lines I often use to ease me into the next slide. Slide-to-slide transitions are important so your 23-slide talk feels like a single, cohesive whole, and not 23 mini-presentations. The idea is to make the talk feel casual and conversational, almost off-the-cuff, when in fact it’s carefully constructed, refined, and delivered.
What about on-stage interviews?
But the on-stage author interview, whether you’re asking or answering the questions, is a different ball game. You have less control. You don’t always know what questions are coming your way, or if you’re the interviewer, how the author might respond. So you tend to be a little more nervous and on high-alert. That’s the typical anxiety that comes with not being fully in command of the situation as you are when you’re simply giving your 34th solo talk about your latest novel.
I’ve done far more book talks than on-stage interviews, hence the slight increase in anxiety.
Being interviewed on stage
I’ve now come to enjoy being interviewed on stage and am far less nervous than I used to be in the early part of my writing life. I’ve finally realized and accepted that no one knows more about the novels I’ve written and where they’ve come from than I. So I just let the questions come, pause briefly to assemble my often disparate and disjointed thoughts, fashion some kind of a response, and try to deliver it without stumbling over my words or falling out of my chair. I often get the same, or at least similar, questions and have developed responses that have been somewhat refined over the years. Of course, I still fumble lots of answers, and often, when I’m driving home from the event, come up with the perfect response that of course I never remember when the same question is asked at a future event. Sometimes it takes me a minute or two of mindless babble—needless filler—before I discover the right narrative path to my eventual answer. Still learning after 15 years.
Here’s an on-stage interview I did back in 2014 at the Toronto Reference Library with then Canada AM host Marci Ien (who, incidentally, is now the Federal Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth). She’s a pro and really made me feel at ease. I was nervous before it all started, and then relaxed when the questions started.
Sometimes, you’re asked to participate in interviews with a slightly different format, that may delve a little deeper. Here’s a recent example of that. This was recorded before a live audience in Midland last summer. Again, the interviewer, Fred Hacker, with whom I’d had dinner just before, made it easy. Getting to know him and talking with him for an hour or so before the interview made it—and me—much more relaxed when the main event started. This interview covered more than my current novel, or for that matter, my previous books, but also exhumed my upbringing and influential events in my life that might have helped shape me as a writer. I haven’t done many of these, so it was an interesting and instructive experience.
And during the pandemic, the author interview took on a different feel as the world migrated to Zoom. I’ve done many Zoom events in the last two and half years or so and they pose different challenges. (I also teach in the UofT Creative Writing program via Zoom.) But you get the hang of it. Here’s an “on-stage” virtual interview I did around the launch of my latest novel, Operation Angus for the Ottawa Public Library and the Ottawa International Writers Festival.
Interviewing other writers on stage
I’m not sure how or why it unfolded in this way, but over the years, I’ve often found myself on stage interviewing other writers at festivals or book launches. I find having the tables turned so I’m asking the questions to be a little more stressful because I’m kind of in charge of the on-stage proceedings. It requires you to listen carefully to the writers’ responses and at least attempt to make it appear as if we’re having a conversation rather than simply reciting a series of questions and waiting until the authors finish their answers. I do enjoy it but, perhaps ironically, it takes more time and more work to do it well than if I were the writer being interviewed.
It certainly helps if you know the author you’re interviewing, but I’m not always that lucky! I really enjoyed my on-stage conversation with my pal, Joe Kertes, at the University of Toronto around the launch of his wonderful 2020 novel, Last Impressions. We’re great friends so I think there was a warmer rapport between us and that made for a a very comfortable yet enlightening session.
As you may have picked up from earlier posts, I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing the Swedish literary rock star, Fredrik Backman twice now. He wrote A Man Called Ove and many other international bestsellers. Given his stature—he’s only sold 13 million books worldwide!—I was quite nervous and spent quite a bit of time preparing my questions after reading the two novels we discussed in those two interviews. He was gracious, funny, open, fascinating, and we seemed to get along well—hence the opportunity to interview him a second time.
Here’s an interview I did earlier this year with Eliza Reid, First Lady of Iceland, the founder of the Iceland Writers Retreat, and the author of Secrets of the Sprakkar. She’s also a friend and was kind enough to invite me on to the faculty of the Iceland Writers Retreat back in 2018. Her new book is wonderful and earned rave reviews and a blurb from none other than Hillary Clinton!
I think my most intimidating on-stage interview may have been back in 2017 with Mary Walsh, the famous Canadian comic who made us laugh each week as a founding cast member of This Hour Has 22 Minutes. She had just released her first novel, Crying for the Moon, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I need not have been worried. She was lovely and it all went well.
Giving talks and the occasional on-stage interview is a critical part of any author’s writing life. They help you build your profile and promote your books so you might sell enough copies to be blessed to publish another. So it’s well worth the effort to push yourself outside of your comfort zone to—through repetition—make yourself at least appear as if you’re in your comfort zone (if that’s not too confusing a concept.) In the end, the writer’s job doesn’t end when the book lands in bookstores. No, in fact, it’s really just beginning.
Yes, I know. Looking at these photos, it’s clear I need a few more authorial outfits beyond my two blue blazers and jeans. I’ll work on that! In the meantime, thanks for dropping by—or in this case, opening your email. Do subscribe if you haven’t already and stay tuned for another newsletter post in a week’s time. If all goes well, it’ll be about my recent trip to Paris to confirm some details around my ninth novel that’s partly set in the City of Light.