Dan Brotzel describes himself as a “funny-sad author” and writer of novels, short stories, articles and other motley bits of content. The author of Hotel du Jack, a collection of short stories, and The Wolf in the Woods, a novel, he also co-wrote the brilliantly funny Work in Progress – a “novel-in emails” from award-winning publishers, Unbound.
Now, writing humorous prose is no mean feat. As James Parker wrote in the New York Times, “the future belongs to stern, hectoring bozo-prose, with no giggles at all. Because it’s easier”. Indeed, many authors are inclined to see comic writing as not only more difficult, but also more honest, more essential and even – in some ways – more serious than apparently serious writing. As Cath Crowley rightly noted: “it is easier to make someone laugh, than it is to make someone cry”.
It is a privilege, then, to have the opportunity to speak with Brotzel about his writing; maintaining your creativity under through Lockdown; and how writers can make something genuinely funny and humorous. While it should be noted that we here at Nothing in the Rulebook are huge fans of Work in Progress (fast-paced, witty and definitely one to put on your reading list), we are absolutely thrilled to feature Brotzel as part of our ongoing ‘Creatives in profile’ interview series, and bring to you, dear readers, the following interview…
INTERVIEWER
Tell me about yourself, where you live and your background/lifestyle
BROTZEL
I live in suburban north London with my partner and three children. After decades in journalism and content, I finally got down to fiction (always my dream and ambition) in about 2015. Since then I’ve been writing pretty much non-stop – about 100 short stories, which led to a collection (Hotel du Jack) followed last year by a novel, The Wolf in the Woods (both Sandstone Press). With a couple of pals from my writing group, we wrote Work in Progress (originally called Kitten on a Fatberg), a comic novel-in-emails about an eccentric writers’ group. It was crowdfunded via Unbound and also came out last year.
INTERVIEWER
Is writing your first love, or do you have another passion?
BROTZEL
I think reading was probably my first love, but the two are very bound up in my mind.
INTERVIEWER
Who inspires you?
BROTZEL
A lot of my work comes from things I see or hear in my daily life. My writers’ group is brilliant for motivation, support and constructive feedback. In particular I’m inspired again and again by my co-author Alex Woolf, for his commitment to writing and profound understanding of how fiction works. I learn from him all the time.
I like authors who take risks and follow their own voice. People I’ve really been enjoying and inspired by recently would be Ottessa Moshfegh, Binnie Kirshenbaum and Gary Shteyngart.
INTERVIEWER
How have you found the experience of writing under lockdown?
BROTZEL
Before lockdown, I got into a routine of starting writing every day at 5.30am. With lockdown, that went out the window. It was hard to fit writing in with home-schooling, and somehow everything turned to very slow-moving treacle. I did squeeze out a couple of longer stories but it always felt like pushing against an unseen current.
INTERVIEWER
Your most recent book, Work in Progress, brings to life the world of the creative writing clubs in such an authentic way that anyone who has any experience of such clubs – or university courses – will find instantly relatable (and perhaps the fact it strikes so close to home is what makes it so side-splittingly funny). How much of the book is drawn from your own experiences of these kinds of groups – and would any of your writing friends feel an unnerving familiarity with any of the characters?
BROTZEL
I think we imagined the characters as types, and then tried to make them more particular. We all drew on the sort of people you can find in these groups – Alex and Martin in particular are veterans of several groups – but were very careful not to base them on people we knew. If anything, they are based on aspects of ourselves more than anyone else.
I wrote a piece about writer group ‘types’, which takes you from “the crap dad”, through to “the sentimentalist” who repeatedly weeps as they read their very long short story about a baby dinosaur who has lost its mum.
INTERVIEWER
A lot of books will have the “humour” label attached to them; but it takes a special kind of book to make a reader laugh out loud. How do you write something genuinely funny?
BROTZEL
For me, writing funny is about taking risks – for example, daring to write the thing that everyone thinks but no one dares say aloud. It’s about close observation – humour often arises where a writer notices or articulates something about the way we think or behave that normally gets overlooked. Style and precision come into it – a well-told joke (and especially a punchline) often has a wonderfully tight structure and the economy of a poem. And I think it’s about not trying too hard. For me, humour isn’t a genre, it’s an element that can arise in any kind of fiction. Don’t try to force it, it will always come. I write more about this on my blog.
INTERVIEWER
You’ve now written three novels – could you tell us how you’ve found the writing experience for each of them? Is each writing journey completely unique, or do you have the same writing process you apply for all your books?
BROTZEL
All a bit different. With Jack, I started writing stories as a way into writing. Most were written in a blitz, and edited heavily afterwards. Many went through several different versions, were combined and cut etc. The collection contains things written over about 20 years.
Work in Progress was a collaboration. It’s a much more drawn-out process, with hundreds of emails exchanged and important pub conferences at key moments. We had a rough idea where we were going, but after the draft was done, there was a huge amount of editing (more about this here).
I made a point of not starting Wolf till I had really worked through the idea, and had an outline that broadly made sense. (I got lots of help with this by sharing with a couple of pals.) My nature is to plunge in and start writing so it was hard to make myself wait, but I know from bitter experience that without a plan things I will just quickly fall over. Once I got started, the first draft went very quickly, most done in the early morning. But again, lots of editing and rewriting afterwards.
INTERVIEWER
You published Work in Fiction through the crowdfunding publisher Unbound. How did you find the experience of crowdfunding, and the overall Unbound experience?
BROTZEL
It’s a wonderful idea and I think it has great potential for authors as a model. Unbound continues to publish a wonderfully eclectic list. It’s great fun to start with, but of course there is a lot of money to raise in pre-sales, so you do need to have a bit of stamina and patience (along with your supporters) and be prepared for the hustle.
I wrote about the experience in great detail here.
INTERVIEWER
Any tips you can share with writers thinking of submitting to Unbound?
BROTZEL
Go for it! Probably good to think in advance about who the ‘market’ for the book might be, and how you might reach them. Everyone has a network of friends and family who will offer support, but to get a book published you need to go far beyond that and it usually takes many months, sometimes years.
INTERVIEWER
Looking around at current trends in publishing right now, what are your thoughts and feelings on the state of the industry as it is and as it has been in recent years. And what has your personal experience been of trying to break onto the ‘literary scene’?
BROTZEL
I used to think that just getting published would be the answer to everything, but in many ways it’s just the beginning. These days authors have to be prepared to do a lot of the marketing and promotional hustle themselves. You have to find a way to embrace that and see it’s all part of the bigger piece of finding an audience for your work.
INTERVIEWER
When writing, what do you think is most important to keep in mind when writing your initial drafts?
BROTZEL
Have a plan before you start. The plan won’t survive contact with the enemy, and it doesn’t have to be incredibly detailed and long, but it gives you a framework to hang your scene and chapters on. Without it, it’s very hard to finish anything.
For me it’s just about getting it down. Just having a first draft done, with a rough start, middle and finish, however crap you might think it is, is a huge milestone. Then you can start editing, which is in some ways the most fun part.
INTERVIEWER
Do you have a specific ‘reader’ or audience in mind when you write?
BROTZEL
Not really. There are so many things I feel I couldn’t write, I just have to go for things that feel doable to me. I tend to prefer domestic everyday life and comic themes to building worlds and imagined futures, for example – not because they’re better or worse, they’re just things I feel I can write. I like writing about relationships and everyday things and small, unglamorous feelings – pettiness, jealousy, frustration, narcissism. Lots of comic potential – and we can all relate to them! I just wouldn’t have a clue about how to go about writing a historical novel or a sci-fi saga.
INTERVIEWER
How would you define creativity?
BROTZEL
I don’t know. To me it feels like a sort of constructive play. The times I feel most creative I’m not even really there any more – it’s just a feeling of absorption in the scene at hand, a sort of happy trance. There’s an element of performance in there too, which is a good thing: you can’t just write for yourself, you have to communicate to others. (Another reason a writer’s group is such a godsend.)
INTERVIEWER
Could you tell us a little about some of the future projects you’re working on?
BROTZEL
I’m working on An Awareness Almanac (working title). I’m going to observe a different awareness day every day for a whole year – World Turtle Day, National Paper Airplane Day, Equal Pay Day, International Talk Like A Pirate Day, World Dairy Goat Awareness Week – and document what that does to my head. (I’m a month in and it’s already changing me radically!)
I’ve also drafted a new novel, The Earth Husband, about a man who is married to a psychic and finds himself in a love triangle with her and her first husband (now deceased).
Quick fire round!
INTERVIEWER
Favourite writer?
BROTZEL
Changes all the time. At the mo, probably Ottessa Moshfegh.
INTERVIEWER
Favourite book?
BROTZEL
Under the Volcano
INTERVIEWER
Who is someone you think more people should know about?
BROTZEL
Mason Currey’s Daily Rituals and Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones are wonderful books about writing and process.
INTERVIEWER
If writing didn’t exist – what would you do?
BROTZEL
Read. Run.
INTERVIEWER
Do you have any hidden talents?
BROTZEL
I am good at catching small morsels of food in my mouth thrown at some distance
INTERVIEWER
Something you’re particularly proud of?
BROTZEL
Winner, Asda Christmas Cracker Gag Writing Challenge, 2004
INTERVIEWER
Could you write us a story in 6 words?
BROTZEL
Give me a couple of years.
INTERVIEWER
And finally, could you give your top 5 – 10 tips for writers?
BROTZEL
- Start with the main course. When you sit down at your desk, start by doing some writing that matters – don’t get side-tracked by doing lots of little jobs or reading the football reports first.
- Learn to love rejections. They’re all part of the game. The more you submit, the less you care.
- Get it done. Every time you finish something – however much you hate it – you grow your writing muscles a little.
- You don’t have to writing to be writing. Simply reading a book, watching a film or talking to someone about things relevant to your idea are all a hugely valuable part of the process.
- Ignore all writing tips, unless you like them. There are no rules, only things that work for you.
nothing in the rulebook 