by Cooper, Doug
Why did you choose Put-In-Bay, Ohio for the novel’s setting?
The beauty, history, and island characteristics provide an idyllic atmosphere for a novel. In addition, setting the novel in the Midwest in the middle of Lake Erie fit well with the theme that dreams don’t lie on the horizon; they lie within. It also contrasts the classic theme of Manifest Destiny by starting the journey of the lead character in St. Louis, the “Gateway to the West,” but rather than continuing west, Brad turns deeper into the heart of America.
Drug and sexual experimentation are critical themes in the novel. Why did you choose to take these on as subjects? Do you have strong opinions about these and American attitudes toward them?
In the context of Joseph Campbell’s archetype of the hero’s journey, I would consider this type of experimentation as part of The Road of Trials, a series of ordeals a person undergoes to begin his or her transformation. I wanted to write a modern myth that shows a group of characters confronted with the difficult choices of contemporary times.
Excess and instant gratification characterize our modern existence, and people respond by self-medicating to alleviate the resulting chaos and confusion. The problem is that we are attempting to solve the problem of excess with more excess. This is not a uniquely American problem; it’s just more prevalent and publicized here.
The supporting characters, with all of their individual foibles and sometimes stunningly bad advice, are a major delight in this book. How did you come up with these characters? In particular, have you ever known anyone like Cinch?
The four major characters surrounding Brad—Haley, Astrid, Cinch, and Caldwell—represent points on a compass that pull Brad in opposing directions: respectively, despair, hope, irreverence, and respect. They are all an amalgamation of various characteristics I have observed in people. But out of all of them, I would have to say that Cinch is probably the most inspired by one individual.
Many of the characters have philosophical advice for Brad that he chooses either to accept or reject. Do you have a personal interest in philosophy? How did that interest develop, and what roles do you see your personal philosophies as playing in the book?
I’ve always been interested in why people do what they do in an individual sense and also in a broader cultural sense. As a child, I was always drawn to adults, and I was one of those annoying kids who had a seemingly endless string of questions. This curiosity led me to the seemingly disparate paths of math education and a master’s degree at Saint Louis University in American Studies, which was interdisciplinary and incorporated a lot of philosophy. The characters’ views in the story are not my own, but collectively they tell a little bit about my views.
Have you ever actually played the Name Game the characters play in the book?
Because of the first person present tense point of view and because of the fact I was a teacher and spent some summers at PIB, some people who read Outside In assume that the story is autobiographical, which is not true. But I will say that some of the experiences are borrowed from real events. The Name Game is one of them. Don’t ask me to comment on the more incriminating ones [laughs].
How do you see your work fitting into the tradition of American literature? Are there particular writers whom you feel yourself to be strongly influenced by?
I would classify my writing as literary fiction, and more specifically in the subgenre of transgressive fiction. But overall I aspire to write modern myths that offer readers the opportunity to experience contemporary dilemmas and to learn vicariously from characters, rather than having to learn everything about those dilemmas directly with all of the associated risk and danger. I envisioned Outside In to be a cross between Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Catcher in the Rye, so I would have to recognize the influence of Hunter Thompson and J. D. Salinger. I wanted to tell a story of becoming like Catcher, but my story would be set ten years later, after someone had crossed the threshold into adulthood but still didn’t know who he was. I think this is very common today because of the abundance of choices, uncertainty, and a rapid rate of social change. I also wanted to incorporate the gonzo journalistic style of Thompson to capture the excess and instant gratification side of modern existence.
Given the sometimes grave subject matter of the novel, there are a lot of really funny scenes: the bar competition, the encounter with Meadow, and many more. What made you choose to blend this more humorous material with the serious underlying subject matter?
In my view, storytelling is like playing music. You have to use a variety of instruments, vary the tempo, and play different notes and beats to establish a good rhythm and envelop the readers in the flow so that they forget they are reading and lose themselves in the text. Humor is one way to do this and to balance the darker emotions: serious, sad, tragic, etc. No one wants to read a story that is all doom and gloom, just like no one wants to listen to a song that is the same note and beat repeated over and over. Also, we should never take ourselves too seriously. Regardless of the journey, a lot of funny stuff is going to happen along the way. That’s just life.
In a way, this story ends on a cliffhanger: Brad largely returns to his “normal life” at the conclusion, with the lessons he’s learned from the island. Have you ever considered continuing Brad’s story in a future novel?
One of the early titles of the novel was Conversations with Myself. At the time, I thought about following up with Conversations with My Wife and Conversations with My Kids to continue Brad’s development toward becoming a husband and eventually a father. For now, I am happy to leave Brad where he is and move on to my next project, The Investment Club, a novel about five broken people who meet at a blackjack table in Vegas and who discover that the greatest return is what you get from contributing to one another. But if Brad resonates with people and they want to see more of him, I would consider continuing his journey.