Interview: Chris Killen

by Sean McGahey

If I weren’t talking to you right now I’d be …

Trying to write a novel.

 

A phrase I use far too often …

 

I have recently had the ‘pleasure’ of hearing myself back in a couple of recorded interviews, and I was surprised by how much I say ‘erm’. I mean, I knew I said it a lot, but it was still surprising. Like I was unable to just ‘calm down’ and think quietly. I am nearly always panicked and nervous at the moment. I don’t know whether that had anything to do with it.

 

The most surprising thing that ever happened to me was …

 

Getting a phone call from Canongate, offering me a two-book deal.

 

You know me as a writer but in truer life I’d have been …

 

I don’t know. I’m not sure what ‘truer life’ is. Sorry.

 

What are you reading right now? Are there any authors (living or dead) that you would name as influences?

 

I just finished A Good School by Richard Yates this afternoon. I would name Richard Yates, Knut Hamsun, Richard Brautigan, Tao Lin, William Saroyan, J.D. Salinger, and lots of other writers as influences. I think I learn something about writing from most things that I read and enjoy.

 

What is it about writing that appealed to you?

 

I don’t know. I went through a phase when I was about 19-20 of thinking of writing as being ‘romantic’ and Bukowski-ish. I liked the idea of it. But obviously I also actually enjoyed doing it, or I don’t think I would have continued … I never really thought I’d actually be able to ‘make a living’ though.

 

What was the book that most influenced your life — and why?

 

The Catcher in the Rye. This was the first ‘grown up’ novel I read and enjoyed, when I was about 14, after maybe 4-5 years of not reading anything at all and thinking that reading was boring. It made me realise reading could be fun and engaging and sometimes even better than music and films.

 

What are your 5 favourite books —and why?

 

In no particular order: Pan by Knut Hamsun, Sombrero Fallout by Richard Brautigan, The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapese by William Saroyan, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, and Like Life by Lorrie Moore.

 

I have had a lot of fun reading these books and think that they’ve all improved my own writing in different ways. They’re also all books I’ve read more than once and hope to read again, unless something awful happens to me beforehand.

 

What are your favourite books to give — and get — as gifts?

 

To give: any by Lorrie Moore. They always seem to turn up in charity shops and most people don’t seem to have read/heard about her. Also I think her writing can appeal to people with very different tastes – there is ‘something for everyone’ in it, maybe. Or at least for the sort of people I hang around with and want to give occasional gifts to.

 

To get: I don’t know. I guess anything I haven’t already read. Something ‘thoughtful’ (as in, the person giving it to me thought I might like it). I don’t really read ‘epic’ things or ‘fantasy’ things, though, so mainly not The Lord of the Rings or a book like that.

 

What else do you want your readers to know?

 

I am somewhere between 5’8” and 5’10” tall.

I have brown hair and brown eyes.

I have bad posture.

I’m quite thin.

My email address is chriskillen@gmail.com

I live in Manchester.

I’m heterosexual.

I’m currently single.

 

your favourite ways to unwind — whatever comes to mind.

 

Recently I’ve been learning how to play the ukulele. So making up songs and learning songs on a small brown ukulele, called ‘Mahalo’. It has a warm, friendly tone. I like it a lot.

 

What are you working on at the moment?

 

I am trying to write a novel.

 

What do you think of the more alternative, cultural phenomenon of the Internet based lit-Zine scene? Is it a good thing? Or is it killing off the traditional paper based publishing industry??

 

I think internet lit-zines and writing blogs are really good. I don’t think they’re ‘killing off’ anything. I like how with online writing, if you like a story or a poem, there’s usually a link afterwards that you can click to take you to the author’s blog or website to read more of their work. Also, I like that it’s free, and not limited by print-runs or anything.

 

What role has the Internet played in your writing?

 

My novel, The Bird Room, mentions the internet quite a lot. I think it would be a different novel if there was no internet. Maybe it would be a better novel if there was no internet.

 

Also, I’ve met lots of nice people, emailed lots of nice people, and maybe increased sales of my novel by anywhere between 0 and 13%, all thanks to the internet.

 

Do you write a novel/short story for a reaction or do you write novels/short stories for personal reasons?

 

It is somewhere between the two for me, I think. I don’t write purely for ‘reaction’ but it’s certainly good to think that a few people in different places are maybe reading my novel and thinking about it. Even if afterwards they completely hate it and write a scathing Amazon customer review or something.

 

Is what you write about purely literary, or is it a depiction of a certain world you‘ve been a part of?

 

My writing is usually vaguely based on experience, but used as a ‘starting point’. Then I will write on from there, and often go back and edit out all the parts that are possibly slanderous or too close to the truth. My novel started out about 50% autobiographical. After three big edits and lots of small ones it is more like 5%. 

 

Favourite films?

 

I like most things David Lynch and Woody Allen. I like some Wes Anderson films and Noah Baumbach films, and also the things I’ve seen by Joe Swanberg and other members of the ‘mumblecore’ movement.

 

Favourite music?

 

I like quiet things like M. Ward and The Shins and louder things like Les Savy Fav and The Jesus Lizard. I also like a lot of Canadian bands – Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs, Frog Eyes, etc. One of my favourite musical things ever is a band/person called Frankie Sparo.

 

A common misconception of me is:

 

That I am Dennis the Menace if I wear a red and black stripy jumper that I own. Or that I am Buddy Holly or Woody Allen or any other famous person who wears glasses if I have my glasses on (which is most of the time). Or occasionally that I am Doctor Who, maybe because I’m thin and a bit weird-looking. These ‘misconceptions’ usually occur around drunken men, at parties and in pubs and chip shops.

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