Today the Storytelling Blog visits with author Christopher X. Ryan. Last winter, Montag Press released Ryan’s first novel, Heliophobia. (Reviewed, here.) We talked via email about the book and his writing process.
Disclosure: I have a business relationship with Ryan’s publisher, Montag Press.
KB: How do you pitch Heliophobia to a potential reader?
CR: I warn readers that it’s dark and sad and hopefully the most hilarious thing they’ve read since the morning funnies. It’s a bleak book, full of misfits and losers (the people I find interesting) but zero heroes, and that the quasi-wisdom found therein is twisted and not to be banked on. It’s a very different work from my canon of published fiction, so I have to warn my faithful (twelve) followers that it’s not ultra-literary and will not have them reaching for the dictionary or artificial intelligence (AI) interpreter.
KB: What parts (scenes, characters, whatever) of Heliophobia were the most fun for you as the author?
CR: The twist or big reveal, along with the warmer scenes, changed the story for me, after writing so many scenes bereft of hope and joy. At the micro level, the snappy humorous moments were the most fun to write, since it takes so much patience and thought to get it right. I loved the ongoing gags involving the informercials and shows and all the fake bands and products.
But, to be honest, I loved writing the entire book, and I could have spent another decade working on it and adding new layers and characters. I came to know Murray like a part of my soul, which I suppose he is, and I didn’t want to abandon him. I made myself laugh every time I opened the file, but that probably says more about me than about the book.
KB: Did you study the anatomy of humor for your work? Such as why is the same situation funny or tragic, depending on the framing or differences in people’s sense of humor.
CR: I did, yes! The original story was Super Serious and Full of Big Themes rather than satirical and oddball. When I decided to lighten up the tone and scope, I had to relearn to be funny. I’ve published humorous stories and such in the past, but carrying humor all the way across a novel is a whole other beast. I tracked down as many humorous novels as I could, but, of course, it’s so subjective, and I found most to be irritating or lacking punch.
What was more helpful was to think cinematically. I watched the best TV and movies of the last decade or two and studied the jokes and tried to break down what’s funny. I also watched some videos and talks on humor in which the principles were broken down so that you can apply a metric to your gags and gauge whether they will work or not.
I also looked at a lot of cartoons—lots of dry-ass New Yorker funnies and such. You have to think visually when it comes to gags, then convert it to writing.
Literary humor is by far the hardest form of funny, way harder than cartoons and anything onscreen.
Christopher X. Ryan
Ultimately, though, you have to rely on instinct and personal taste, because what’s funny to me (scatological topics, communal puking, absurd fears) will surely not resonate with everyone.
KB: A sad (although ultimately redemptive) story with funny characters is very different than a joke book or amusing essay. How does the writer negotiate that distinction?
CR: That’s a great question. I had to find the sweet spot between everyday situations that give rise to farce and situations that are hilarious due to the collision of opposing forces. The difference lies in the organic-ness of the situation and how events unfold. It has to feel unprepared and like something just went awry due to the character’s inherent ineptitude.
For humor I consider two diametrically opposed forms of humor: standup and creative nonfiction.
I find most standup to be intolerable, with the plastic demeanors, fake-ass “How y’all doin’ tonight, Denver?” banter, and stiff and overly rehearsed jokes.
On the other hand, David Foster Wallace’s essay collection, A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, is the funniest thing I’ve ever read, and yet some people might read it as a straight-up essay peppered with a series of irreverent moments.
The irony is that the standup comedian and Wallace use the same material: mundane everyday situations. Those bring the deepest kind of humor, not grand follies involving massive setups and slapstick shenanigans. And yet both artists take wildly different approaches.
Nothing is more subjective than humor. You cannot pander; you can only write what you think is funny. Wallace wrote what interested him; stand-up comedians write solely for an audience. They even change the story based on reactions. That’s pandering. It’s kind of pathetic. Why is standup so popular?
KB: What’s next? More Murray? More phobias?
CR: I would love to continue with the idea of phobias. Maybe not center around Murray but around one of the many other absurd phobias that keeps people like me indoors. My next work, however, is radically different and quite serious.
I do want to return to humor. Life is pretty bleak right now on Earth, and humor helps us cope. Plus, since humor is so hard to get right (even for me), there’s a dearth of truly funny literature out there.
KB: What is your writing process? Does it differ for short stories and novels? Have other types of work you have done had an impact on your process?
CR: I wrote the first draft of my previous novel (which was cancelled during the pandemic) entirely by hand, and I’ve written stories by hand, too, before typing them up. I find that to be the ideal method, but that takes time and can slow down the process, especially for us working folk. Ideas can gestate in my mind for months or years before I get around to them. I have to keep a separate notebook just for all the ridiculous concepts that come up in my insomniac moments.
Mostly I work in Scrivener, in a split-screen.[Ed note: Me, too!] I write in one panel and keep track of notes and cuts in another panel. It’s by far the best software out there for writers. If only it tracked changes like Word and had better spellchecking, there’d be no reason to use anything else.
I have published many stories without any input from readers or editors, but I now use a beta reader/editor/friend who reviews everything and puts it through the wringer. Novels go through that wringer too, but on a much longer time scale.
I also work as a ghostwriter, a job that all comes down to training the writing muscles, just like in any other endurance-based endeavor—and after dozens of novels and novellas, it becomes second nature. When you have eager clients and solid deadlines, you get it done or you don’t get paid. I try to transfer that work ethic to my own writing, but, of course, I treat my own material with a particularly cruel hand.
KB: How does living in Finland affect your outlook on life and writing?
CR: I was afraid you’d ask that.
Life here has definitely had an impact on my mental state and thus my writing.
First are the bipolar extremes of summer with its white nights, when there’s nowhere to hide or be anonymous other than inside your home. All that sunlight feels oppressive and demanding. That greatly informed Heliophobia and inspired its madness.
In winter, by contrast, we sometimes only have a few hours of light. That doesn’t bother me at all, since that cover of darkness is ideal for the writerly mindset. I know many foreigners here struggle during the winter, but that’s because they’re not writers. The swing of the seasons is pretty extreme, but it makes for good noir and moodiness.
I’m also an outsider here, and always will be, and that (privileged, i.e., white) marginality reinforces my notions of the writer as an observer of society and not always a participant. That informs my characters a great deal, for sure.
KB: What does storytelling mean to you?
CR: Storytelling is a means for processing the world and making sense of our existence, be it a seemingly minor incident (e.g., the death of a small bird one morning) to an incomprehensibly devastating one (like loss of biodiversity). To do that, the writer has to discomfit the reader and push the limits of sense and language.
Edward Abbey said he wrote to unfold the folded lie and record the truth of our friends, and I always liked that, the idea that we get to the heart of something by bending language around imagery like weird form of light. But he also wrote to “entertain” his friends and “exasperate his enemies.” A lot of my writing is borne out of similar sentiments. Sometimes my intentions are dark, and I’m okay with that.
Christopher X. Ryan was born on the island of Martha’s Vineyard and now resides in Europe. His debut novel HELIOPHOBIA was published by Montag Press in 2022, and his stories have appeared in dozens of journals, including Grist, Baltimore Review, Pank, and Copper Nickel. He can be found at www.christopherXryan.com.
If you enjoyed this author interview, you might like to hear about dystopian humor from Charis Emanon.
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