An interview with Bill Kitcher
What is, in your opinion, the best thing (or your favourite thing) that you’ve ever written? Tell us about it.
My favourite written piece is usually the last thing I’ve written, but that idiocy tends to fade after about a month... Many years ago, I wrote a one-act play, “Some People”, that did well. It had several productions across Canada, including at the New Ideas Festival in Toronto, and was published twice, by Blizzard Publishing and then by Playwrights Canada Press in an anthology called “Instant Applause”. The books are out of print now but still available on used-book sites like AbeBooks.com. I have 2 favourite short stories, “The Dawn” and “Hotel With Full Amenities.” I think what’s common to all 3 pieces is that they take you down a road and then turn you around with something you may or may not have seen coming. It also seems to me that there’s nothing extraneous in these stories, and I like that because too many stories I read have unnecessary parts in them. “The Dawn” was published by Worthing Flash and can be found here:
http://worthingflash.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-dawn.html.
“Hotel With Full Amenities” was published by Black Petals and can be found here:
https://blackpetalsks.tripod.com/blackpetalsissue74/id52.html
Who are your favourite writers, and what influences your writing?
James Tiptree Jr./Raccoona Sheldon (she’s the finest SF writer ever), Wolfgang Borchert, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Raymond Chandler, Dorothy Parker, Ray Smith, Harold Pinter, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, Stanislaw Lem, Terry Southern. I don’t, and can’t, write like these writers, but I’m influenced by great story-telling because I know telling a good story is paramount, and I do my best to put my own particular spin on how I tell a story. Also, when I’m reading something that has a germ of an idea that isn’t expanded on, I regularly take that idea and turn it into something of my own. Sometimes an image just pops into my head. I have a story being published soon in Brushfire Literature & Arts Journal called “The Hole Man”. An image of a guy sitting in a hole in the road just appeared in my brain, and I turned it into a story. I think my writing is also sometimes influenced by whisky.
What are your hobbies?
Writing! You don’t think I make money out of the stuff I write, do you? I read a lot, and I listen to a lot of music: rock, blues, jazz, classical – pretty well anything except hip hop, country, pop, and opera (I can’t stand those screaming sopranos). I watch TV, especially baseball, “Bob’s Burgers”, “Better Call Saul”, and other shows that begin with the letter “B”. I also walk and breathe a lot.
Describe yourself as if you are a character in one of your own stories / poems.
“Bill always wondered what the other people were talking about. He could never be sure if they were serious about some of the crap they were spewing.”
Tell us something crazy.
Donald Trump might become the next President of the U.S.
What’s the weirdest question you’ve ever been asked in an interview? And what did you answer?
I was once asked, “What are you reading right now?” Well, the answer was obvious. I was reading the question, “What are you reading right now?” I don’t know what the interviewer was thinking. I invented a title and author, and I hope some people are still looking for that book.
What is your writing set-up? (E.g. your garden shed, a café etc.) and are there any things you must have to get the words to flow, e.g. a lucky hat or a favourite shirt?
I usually write with pen and paper on the coffee table in my living room, listening to either blues or classical music. Because I’m hunched over the coffee table, I regularly have to sit up straight to stretch my back, or lie down on the sofa, and then I often fall asleep, which is a nice bonus. It’s only after I’ve gone over a story several times do I then type it out. It always looks “finished” on a computer screen so I prefer to write with a pen until I’m almost completely satisfied with it. The other reason I write longhand is that I have a lot of scrap paper I’ve accumulated over the years, so I’d like to use it up with stories instead of throwing it straight into the recycling bin. I don’t wear hats and my favourite shirt disintegrated a long time ago.
My favourite written piece is usually the last thing I’ve written, but that idiocy tends to fade after about a month... Many years ago, I wrote a one-act play, “Some People”, that did well. It had several productions across Canada, including at the New Ideas Festival in Toronto, and was published twice, by Blizzard Publishing and then by Playwrights Canada Press in an anthology called “Instant Applause”. The books are out of print now but still available on used-book sites like AbeBooks.com. I have 2 favourite short stories, “The Dawn” and “Hotel With Full Amenities.” I think what’s common to all 3 pieces is that they take you down a road and then turn you around with something you may or may not have seen coming. It also seems to me that there’s nothing extraneous in these stories, and I like that because too many stories I read have unnecessary parts in them. “The Dawn” was published by Worthing Flash and can be found here:
http://worthingflash.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-dawn.html.
“Hotel With Full Amenities” was published by Black Petals and can be found here:
https://blackpetalsks.tripod.com/blackpetalsissue74/id52.html
Who are your favourite writers, and what influences your writing?
James Tiptree Jr./Raccoona Sheldon (she’s the finest SF writer ever), Wolfgang Borchert, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Raymond Chandler, Dorothy Parker, Ray Smith, Harold Pinter, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, Stanislaw Lem, Terry Southern. I don’t, and can’t, write like these writers, but I’m influenced by great story-telling because I know telling a good story is paramount, and I do my best to put my own particular spin on how I tell a story. Also, when I’m reading something that has a germ of an idea that isn’t expanded on, I regularly take that idea and turn it into something of my own. Sometimes an image just pops into my head. I have a story being published soon in Brushfire Literature & Arts Journal called “The Hole Man”. An image of a guy sitting in a hole in the road just appeared in my brain, and I turned it into a story. I think my writing is also sometimes influenced by whisky.
What are your hobbies?
Writing! You don’t think I make money out of the stuff I write, do you? I read a lot, and I listen to a lot of music: rock, blues, jazz, classical – pretty well anything except hip hop, country, pop, and opera (I can’t stand those screaming sopranos). I watch TV, especially baseball, “Bob’s Burgers”, “Better Call Saul”, and other shows that begin with the letter “B”. I also walk and breathe a lot.
Describe yourself as if you are a character in one of your own stories / poems.
“Bill always wondered what the other people were talking about. He could never be sure if they were serious about some of the crap they were spewing.”
Tell us something crazy.
Donald Trump might become the next President of the U.S.
What’s the weirdest question you’ve ever been asked in an interview? And what did you answer?
I was once asked, “What are you reading right now?” Well, the answer was obvious. I was reading the question, “What are you reading right now?” I don’t know what the interviewer was thinking. I invented a title and author, and I hope some people are still looking for that book.
What is your writing set-up? (E.g. your garden shed, a café etc.) and are there any things you must have to get the words to flow, e.g. a lucky hat or a favourite shirt?
I usually write with pen and paper on the coffee table in my living room, listening to either blues or classical music. Because I’m hunched over the coffee table, I regularly have to sit up straight to stretch my back, or lie down on the sofa, and then I often fall asleep, which is a nice bonus. It’s only after I’ve gone over a story several times do I then type it out. It always looks “finished” on a computer screen so I prefer to write with a pen until I’m almost completely satisfied with it. The other reason I write longhand is that I have a lot of scrap paper I’ve accumulated over the years, so I’d like to use it up with stories instead of throwing it straight into the recycling bin. I don’t wear hats and my favourite shirt disintegrated a long time ago.