Q & A: Pie for Breakfast
An interview with author Dave Fymbo about his new book Pie for Breakfast [essays + confessions].
First of all, what is this book?
It's a collection of 30 essays that cover the first 30 years of my life. Previously, I've written a bunch of stories--many unpublished--, lots of poems and one novel. This is the first time that I've written non-fiction about my life.
What made you want to write this?
A lot of reasons. Many of my friends have said that my fiction was too dark or something that they didn't expect from me. And they encouraged me to write funny stories and even suggested that I write about my own life. I heard that and didn't do anything with it for a while. But then I gave it shot to see what the results would be.
Another factor is there were some stories that I wanted to preserve for my own memory and for my children. In case something ever happens to me, at least my kids will be able to hear about my life in my own voice.
And something that I only realized as I went along, writing this book was very cathartic. There are some essays that range from the embarrassing to the painful, some things that I haven't thought about in years, that I feel better about after getting them down on paper.
Why did you pick the topics that you did?
Mostly I was trying to be funny. Any chances to be self-deprecating I latched on to. So there's a bunch of failed romance stories and comical misunderstandings. But I also included things that wouldn't make people laugh because I wanted to include a full picture. Like "The Third Tuesday" that was something that I wanted to preserve for the future. And "Fandom" was one that I wanted my boys to have, particularly the rules section.
I tried to make them funny or interesting, knowing that some of them would only be fully appreciated by me.
So is this a complete story of your life to this point?
Nope. Some of my favorite people in this world barely get a mention. Even though there are a number of confessions listed, there were a few things that I wanted to keep to myself. And some things that were very special to me, I didn't think would be interesting to anyone else so they didn't make the cut.
When did you start writing this?
In October 2010, Brit and I went to Rio and Buenos Aires. And [spoiler alert] I was pickpocketed in Argentina, and it really bothered me. I couldn't get it out of my head. So I wrote about it. And I felt a lot better. So "Stupid Americans" was the first essay and that was late 2010. "Nine Days" was based on a blog post that I first wrote in 2006. About five essays were written by the end of 2011. So most of the book was written in 2012.
How did you land on Pie for Breakfast as the title?
The original title during the writing process was The Bidet Incident. And then I was super close to titling the book I Can't Swallow Pills. But it just never felt quite right. I was laying on the floor getting my son ready for bed when I thought of Pie for Breakfast. Which reminded me of the Thanksgiving tradition that wasn't in the book at the time. So I added that and moved forward with the title.
Do you have a least favorite essay?
There are some where I think I probably was too factual. "Midwest Pride", "Doughy", "Between Bread" come to mind.
What about your favorites?
I really like "Prom Night." But "Fathers and Sons" is by far the longest and heaviest. I think it's probably the best one. It's the true ending. "I Can't Swallow Pills" is almost like a hidden track.
What can we expect in the future?
Well, Autopilot was finished in May 2009 but I spent a good amount of time shopping it around instead of writing new stuff. I found out I could get on Amazon in February 2011 and it launched March 1, 2011. This book launched March 1, 2013. So It would be great if I could have something come out March 1, 2015.
Both previous books I set goals of finishing by a birthday. Autopilot was supposed to be finished by my 25th birthday, but I underestimated the editing process for a novel by six months. I wanted to finish Pie by my 30th birthday, but overestimated the process this time. I'd rather keep to an every two year schedule then an every five year, but my guess is that books come out when they're ready and it's hard to predict.
How did I get here?
I've always loved writing. Stupid songs in high school, short films in college, a blog after college. At the University of Illinois I took a short story class--and at the end was asked by the professor to never take any of her classes ever again.
In January 2006 I entered the real world with a full-time day job--an advertising copywriter. Now I was living and working in downtown Chicago.
In the October 2006, I wrote a piece of fiction for fun that was just a couple hundred words. This would be the first of any pieces of my modern (post-college) era.
I discovered Lulu.com and in March 2007 I was telling friends that I was going to self-print a collection of stories that year. I was so excited, I finished it a month later and was selling copies to my friends in May. I called it Roadside Attractions and the total length was about 20,000 words.
In July 2007, I decided that I was going to write my first novel. I didn't really have characters yet, just ideas. Throughout the fall, I kept brainstorming, working on the plot, crafting any interesting ideas into paragraphs.
Around December 2007, I started creating an outline. It was hard to know if I had too much or too little to work with, but it felt like enough to get started. And around the week of January 25th, 2008, I started writing the first chapter of Autopilot. (It wouldn't be until July 2008 that I landed on the title.)
It took over six months to write the rough draft, including some weeks where that's all I thought about.
My plan was to release it in November 2008, on my 25th birthday. But I didn't know anything about the editing process. It took a lot longer than my short story collection. I let it sit and then made some revisions. Then it was ready for my team of editors, who made some important suggestions.
Autopilot was finally ready for everyone in May 2009. Again I printed copies through Lulu and sold them to friends and co-workers.
In August 2009, I thought I would test the waters and started querying literary agents. I got some good responses, including requests for partials and fulls within three months. Nothing came of that and I came to accept that this novel wasn't going to published traditionally.
So it sat there for all of 2010.
And then in 2011, I discovered that I could self-publish it to the Amazon Kindle marketplace. So on March 1st it went live (which if you've read it, you know couldn't have worked out better as a date).
Autopilot ate up hours upon hours. And I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. I'm even glad that I didn't get picked up by a small press and was able to retain all my rights.
On March 1, 2013 I published Pie for Breakfast, a collection of non-fiction, autobiographical essays. I didn't think I could have a more personal project than Autopilot, but I was wrong.
In January 2006 I entered the real world with a full-time day job--an advertising copywriter. Now I was living and working in downtown Chicago.
In the October 2006, I wrote a piece of fiction for fun that was just a couple hundred words. This would be the first of any pieces of my modern (post-college) era.
I discovered Lulu.com and in March 2007 I was telling friends that I was going to self-print a collection of stories that year. I was so excited, I finished it a month later and was selling copies to my friends in May. I called it Roadside Attractions and the total length was about 20,000 words.
In July 2007, I decided that I was going to write my first novel. I didn't really have characters yet, just ideas. Throughout the fall, I kept brainstorming, working on the plot, crafting any interesting ideas into paragraphs.
Around December 2007, I started creating an outline. It was hard to know if I had too much or too little to work with, but it felt like enough to get started. And around the week of January 25th, 2008, I started writing the first chapter of Autopilot. (It wouldn't be until July 2008 that I landed on the title.)
It took over six months to write the rough draft, including some weeks where that's all I thought about.
My plan was to release it in November 2008, on my 25th birthday. But I didn't know anything about the editing process. It took a lot longer than my short story collection. I let it sit and then made some revisions. Then it was ready for my team of editors, who made some important suggestions.
Autopilot was finally ready for everyone in May 2009. Again I printed copies through Lulu and sold them to friends and co-workers.
In August 2009, I thought I would test the waters and started querying literary agents. I got some good responses, including requests for partials and fulls within three months. Nothing came of that and I came to accept that this novel wasn't going to published traditionally.
So it sat there for all of 2010.
And then in 2011, I discovered that I could self-publish it to the Amazon Kindle marketplace. So on March 1st it went live (which if you've read it, you know couldn't have worked out better as a date).
Autopilot ate up hours upon hours. And I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. I'm even glad that I didn't get picked up by a small press and was able to retain all my rights.
On March 1, 2013 I published Pie for Breakfast, a collection of non-fiction, autobiographical essays. I didn't think I could have a more personal project than Autopilot, but I was wrong.
My writing philisophy
I like to write things that I would want to read. So that means keeping it short, no filler. That also means that every sentence should be important. Often I find myself reading books where you could skim entire pages and not miss anything. My goal is that you have to be engaged with every line. I want to be able to tell you something important and know that you're going to read it and not skim through it.
So I hope that you find Autopilot (and every one of my future works) engaging to read, easy to finish because of its length, but complex enough that you might want to read it over and over again to see what you missed.
So I hope that you find Autopilot (and every one of my future works) engaging to read, easy to finish because of its length, but complex enough that you might want to read it over and over again to see what you missed.
How to read Autopilot
Think of this as the director's commentary.
I designed each chapter to be short enough that anyone could pick it up and get through a chapter, even if they only have 10-15 minutes per day to read. But if you read it that way you do lose some of the flow and perhaps some of the references if it doesn't stay fresh in your mind.
On the other hand, some people are likely to carve out a few hours on a Sunday afternoon and finish it in one sitting and I'm not sure that's the best either. Sure it's fresh in your mind, but you don't get a chance to absorb and reflect on what you've read.
If you asked me, I look at it like a season of 24. They have six DVD's with four episodes each--watching four episodes in a night engrosses you in the story. Any more than that and it will all blend together.
Here are the six parts of Autopilot, as I see them:
Part 1: Chapters 1-4
Part 2: Chapters 5-8
Part 3: Chapters 9-12
Part 4: Chapters 13-15
Part 5: Chapters 16-18
Part 6: Chapters 19-21
So I would recommend reading one part per day, and finish the whole thing in a week. Personally, I love parts 4-6 the most. And I think parts 1 and 2 are better the second time around.
I designed each chapter to be short enough that anyone could pick it up and get through a chapter, even if they only have 10-15 minutes per day to read. But if you read it that way you do lose some of the flow and perhaps some of the references if it doesn't stay fresh in your mind.
On the other hand, some people are likely to carve out a few hours on a Sunday afternoon and finish it in one sitting and I'm not sure that's the best either. Sure it's fresh in your mind, but you don't get a chance to absorb and reflect on what you've read.
If you asked me, I look at it like a season of 24. They have six DVD's with four episodes each--watching four episodes in a night engrosses you in the story. Any more than that and it will all blend together.
Here are the six parts of Autopilot, as I see them:
Part 1: Chapters 1-4
Part 2: Chapters 5-8
Part 3: Chapters 9-12
Part 4: Chapters 13-15
Part 5: Chapters 16-18
Part 6: Chapters 19-21
So I would recommend reading one part per day, and finish the whole thing in a week. Personally, I love parts 4-6 the most. And I think parts 1 and 2 are better the second time around.
Easter eggs
It's no secret that there is one author who I've been most inspired by: Chuck Palahniuk. In every one of his novels he includes a reference to the color "cornflower blue" and Missoula, Montana.
Well, I've written some stories and then one complete novel. And I noticed there are some things that I've repeated in Autopilot from my original stories. Some were techniques or descriptions that I considered a little nod to anyone who read my first book. Others might become "easter eggs"--little things that will appear in everything I write.
Here's what I've found so far:
Well, I've written some stories and then one complete novel. And I noticed there are some things that I've repeated in Autopilot from my original stories. Some were techniques or descriptions that I considered a little nod to anyone who read my first book. Others might become "easter eggs"--little things that will appear in everything I write.
Here's what I've found so far:
- refined white flour
- "U-S-A! U-S-A!"
- pregnancy tests
- arabica beans
- barbecued ribs
- someone alone in a rowboat
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