Railing Against the Algorithm Gods, by Josh Stallings

 

Q: Tell us about your ideal reader. For whom do you write and why don’t they ever leave reviews or tell you how you’re doing?

A: I never want to feel like I’m walking the same writing path twice. My ideal reader is someone who is flexible in their literary taste to join me on my journey. 

I have never been really good at following rules. Not because I see myself as a rebel or an iconoclast, but mostly because I’m not wired to remember illogical rules. My creative process as both a writer and a film editor is to stuff my head with facts and thoughts and feeling and research. Then I toss it all out the window and trust the good stuff will stick and the unnecessary will drift away. 

Side note: I see lately how connected my process is to my voice. I just looked at my latest WIP I have 37,000 words in my research file. I doubt I will reread any of my notes, but the act of writing them says to my brain, “Pay attention, I might need this info.” By not doggedly adhering to my original thoughts I allow myself to wander down side tracks chasing ideas that I’ve only seen from the corner of my eye. Some readers like my flow, others are irritated by it. But the fact is that flow is my voice regardless of the genre or sub genre I happen to be playing with at the time.

My ideal readers are curious, and willing to go into places that feel unfamiliar and even confusing, trusting the writer will get them home. I just described myself as a reader. So my ideal reader is me I guess. That is also who I write for. 

I write for me as a way of making sense of the world. A way of understanding myself and my life. I write because even at its most difficult it brings me joy. 

As for readers leaving reviews, it is not their responsibility to take any action just because they bought my book, or checked it out from the library. I understand it is about sales. They say that reader’s reviews matter to the algorithm gods at Amazon. That’s the A10 algorithm that replaced its predecessor A9. Okay I have zero idea what that means. I Googled algorithm to figure out how to spell it and found out how much I don’t know. 

Sales matter. If reader reviews convince the algorithm to put my book in front of more readers that is a good thing. Or maybe it’s not. I’m not just looking for readers, I’m looking for readers who will be predisposed to dig my books. 

How do you choose what to read next based on Amazon’s suggestions?

For me it is almost always a personal recommendation. I read Rachel Kushner’s THE FLAMETHROWERS because Charlie Huston said he thought it would be in my wheelhouse. He was correct, it ripped the lid off what I thought could be done with a novel. It felt familiar to how my brain works and yet also excitingly foreign.  

I’m reading Adam Rapp’s WOLF AT THE TABLE on a recommend from my agent Amy Moore-Benson, she said it reminded her of my work. And so far I love it. It is a hard book dealing with broken folks trying to make it through this life. It also has a technique I really dig. Every chapter jumps forward in time. Things have happened and you aren’t sure why or how. This builds suspense without needing a ticking time bomb. Adam Rapp’s command of withholding information and knowing when to tease it and when to deliver is masterful.

None of this is to say I don’t love hearing from readers, I really do. Writing is solitary by nature so when when someone tells me that my books have meant a lot to them, it helps fuel my inner writer. Novels like all art forms are conversations between the creator and the viewer. I was at a bookclub in Idyllwild where they discussed TRICKY, it took the “conversation” to a new level. 

My feeling on readers writing reviews? If it brings you joy, or if it helps you clarify your thoughts about a book, do it. If you love a book, shout about it. Or think of who you know that might love it as well, and tell them about it. We readers are a community that depends on each other to find our way through a massive stack of books to the ones that are right for us. 

There are no wrong answers. There are no books you shouldn’t read or write. In these tech driven days we are reminded, nobody knows nothin. And if they do, it will all change by tomorrow.

Here are some words that made me smile;

“I was going 145 miles an hour. Then 148. I was in an acute case of the present tense.” — The Flamethrowers: A Novel by Rachel Kushner

 

*****

What I’m reading right now:

WOLF AT THE TABLE by Adam Rapp