Andrew Winston and Adam Langer

Ron Hogan's latest Author2Author segment at Beatrice.com features Chicago authors Andrew Winston (Looped) and Adam Langer (Crossing California).

I tend not to outline when I write, and I only knew Crossing California was set in Chicago when I typed the words "California Avenue," only knew what period about which I was writing when I typed the words "It was 1979." Which sounds like hocus-pocus when I think about it, but that's pretty much how it happened; when I outline, I lose interest, but when I don't know what's happening next, I keep writing to find out.

I feel pretty much the same way about outlining. It seems to destroy the creative impulse for me.

Part Two

I had other inventions--like a beer called Snap! that came with a toy inside, targeted at Gen X drinkers who bemoaned the passing of their cereal box trinkets--but that, along with 400 other manuscript pages, had to go by the wayside.

Meanwhile, a marketing executive at Anheuser-Busch is beginning to drool. Andrew, I hope A-B gives you a cut of the action.

Part Three

I really like your title and the multiple definitions the word "looped" implies--the dictionary one, the Chicago Loop, of course, the synonym for "schnockered," and so forth. And, given that you start out with the image of a Ferris Wheel, and, toward the end, at State and Madison, you have a character offering a statement that speaks to the circularity and/or looping quality of life ("It is here. The end. The beginning. The beginning of the end"), it seems that you were working with a particular shape in mind as well.

All this geometry and genetics talk is starting to make my head hurt. I've pondered the cover photo of Looped, as well. It seemed to me an odd choice, given the suburbanite-tourist-hell aspect of Navy Pier which is far from the "real" Chicago that Winston apparently depicts. But if it fits with the circularity theme that Langer describes, then I guess it's an appropriate image after all.

Part Four

Since I wanted Looped to have the feeling of a cohesive work created out of many threads, I created a sort of literal tapestry for plotting the novel. I took the various stories and plotted them out over a giant wall calendar, each story with its own color, trying to see the movements and patterns of the whole book.

Fascinating idea, one which I'll attempt once I finally set up a writing office at home. The giant wall calendar would be rather unwieldy crammed into the shoulder bag which currently serves as my office.

Part Five

I'm not sure how being a parent has affected or will affect my writing, other than the facts that I seem to have less time to do it and that I now know for sure that whoever compared writing a novel to giving birth was so wrong it's scary...Whatever readers and critics have said about the supposed cynicism of my work or the negative feelings I'm supposed to have about some of my characters, I can honestly say that I try to like all of them equally and, even when they behave poorly, to understand why. I hope these qualities will make me a better parent.

Ditto on the giving birth idea...after what Julie went through delivering Maddie, writing my novel is the proverbial walk in the park. And, like Langer, becoming a father has made me much less cynical and much more tolerant as well. And hopefully a better writer than I would have been otherwise.