An interview with...
Pat Partridge
Tell us one of your first experiences where you realised that language had power.
I think it snuck up on me. When I was in high school in the U.S., I participated in Debate, Oratory, and Persuasive Speaking. I succeeded or failed based on the words I used. But I think it was later, in college, as I engaged with amazing plays (particularly live performances) that I could literally feel the impact of language.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would you say?
“Damn it, Pat! Write more often!” I started writing plays and bad poetry toward the end of my college years, then wrote little during large gaps over the decades as my family and career took up more time. I coulda, shoulda made writing a higher priority.
Have you ever written under a pseudonym?
Yes! I’m the author of a book of political jokes called You Know You’re a Republican If / You Know You’re a Democrat If now in its third edition. I wrote it under a pen name, Frank Benjamin, because I worked for a university that had LOTS of U.S. governors on the Board of Trustees. It probably didn’t matter; several of the governors and U.S. Senators shared the book with colleagues.
What kind of research do you do for whatever it is you’re writing?
For long works, such as novels, I research before and during the writing process using reference books and the internet. For a cross-country road-trip novel, Fast on Fifty, I spent a lot of time on Google Earth “driving” virtually along U.S. 50. (It was weird seeing cars pass me online, only to see them again farther down the virtual road.)
What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters of a different gender to you?
I like writing female characters. I’m sure I see them from a male perspective, but I’ve known (not biblically) a lot of women and try to treat each character as an individual, not a “gender.” It worked for Shakespeare, right?
Do you believe in the dreaded Writer’s Block?
Mostly, no. But I definitely believe in Writing Avoidance Syndrome. That’s when almost anything else—doing the dishes, reading Reddit jokes, shopping online for socks—somehow compels me more. If I (metaphorically) slap myself awake and sit down to write, usually something good happens. Go figure.
I think it snuck up on me. When I was in high school in the U.S., I participated in Debate, Oratory, and Persuasive Speaking. I succeeded or failed based on the words I used. But I think it was later, in college, as I engaged with amazing plays (particularly live performances) that I could literally feel the impact of language.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would you say?
“Damn it, Pat! Write more often!” I started writing plays and bad poetry toward the end of my college years, then wrote little during large gaps over the decades as my family and career took up more time. I coulda, shoulda made writing a higher priority.
Have you ever written under a pseudonym?
Yes! I’m the author of a book of political jokes called You Know You’re a Republican If / You Know You’re a Democrat If now in its third edition. I wrote it under a pen name, Frank Benjamin, because I worked for a university that had LOTS of U.S. governors on the Board of Trustees. It probably didn’t matter; several of the governors and U.S. Senators shared the book with colleagues.
What kind of research do you do for whatever it is you’re writing?
For long works, such as novels, I research before and during the writing process using reference books and the internet. For a cross-country road-trip novel, Fast on Fifty, I spent a lot of time on Google Earth “driving” virtually along U.S. 50. (It was weird seeing cars pass me online, only to see them again farther down the virtual road.)
What’s the most difficult thing about writing characters of a different gender to you?
I like writing female characters. I’m sure I see them from a male perspective, but I’ve known (not biblically) a lot of women and try to treat each character as an individual, not a “gender.” It worked for Shakespeare, right?
Do you believe in the dreaded Writer’s Block?
Mostly, no. But I definitely believe in Writing Avoidance Syndrome. That’s when almost anything else—doing the dishes, reading Reddit jokes, shopping online for socks—somehow compels me more. If I (metaphorically) slap myself awake and sit down to write, usually something good happens. Go figure.