Press Kit
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| Chris Crutcher chats on "A Novel Idea with Rosemary Manchester" on KRCB radio, taped September 9, 2005 for air the next Wednesday. Many thanks to Richie Partington for this wonderful photo. |
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NEW!
June 2007
300dpi
Photo Credit: Kelly Halls
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About Chris Crutcher
CLICK HERE FOR CRUTCHER BIO
CLICK HERE FOR CRUTCHER FLYER
CONTROVERSIAL AUTHOR TALKS TO TEENS
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Jan. 20, 2006
TEEN READS: PARENTS GUIDE TO THE BEST BOOKS & AUTHORS
Romantic Times Book Club, Apr. 2005
CONTROVERSIAL WRITER, TALKS WITH TEENS
Detroit News, March 14, 2004
WRITERS WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE AWARDS
The Writer magazine, January 2004
COOL OLD GUY by Nancy Pate
Orlando Sentinel, June 3, 2003
THE BENCH WARMER by Tom Bodett
The New York Times, May 18, 2003
WRITING IT REALLY REAL by Billy Manes
Orlando Weekly, May 1, 2003
EYES WIDE OPEN by Betty Carter
School Library Journal, June 1, 2000
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More Press Links
New York Times Book Review, 5/18/03
Washington Post, 5/25/03
St Petersburg Times, 10/20/03
Teacher Librarian Magazine, Oct 03
Writer's Market, Jan 04
The Writer, Jan 04
Diversity Matters, Jan 04
Detroit News, 3/14/04
St Petersburg Times, 6/21/04
Suite 101, 8/01/04
Harper's Magazine, Sept 04
Children Today, Sept 04
The Writer, Oct 04
Salon.com, Oct 18, 04
Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov 1, 04
St. Petersburg Times, Nov. 8, 04
The Advocate, Nov. 12, 04
Iowa City Press-Citizen, Nov. 16, '04
Iowa City Press-Citizen, Nov. 17, '04
Quad-City Times, Nov. 17, '04
Iowa City Press-Citizen, Nov. 19, '04
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CHRIS CRUTCHER LINKS
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| Courtesy of the Spokesman Review. |
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| Author Chris Crutcher at home in Spokane, WA |
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
(AND CC'S RESPONSES)
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...About CC as a Person
DO YOU FEEL DIFFERENTLY NOW, AS AN ADULT THAN YOU DID AS A TEEN?
Chris Crutcher: I feel older, of course. I have experiences I didn't have then, so I have a different perspective on what was happening to me. But I have a good memory for feelings, and generally feelings are pretty much the same at any times in our lives, though they may diminish or intensify over time in response to events.
DO YOU THINK CHRIS CRUTCHER THE KID WOULD HAVE RESPECTED CHRIS CRUTCHER THE TEACHER?
Chris Crutcher: I don't know that I would have respected him for his pool of knowledge, but I think I would have respected him for his ability to hear me.
WHAT WAS THE FIRST CAR YOU EVER DROVE? BOUGHT?
Chris Crutcher: First vehicle I drove was my father's Volkswagen van. In Idaho you could get a daylight driver's license at 14, so it was a long time ago. The first car I ever bought was a 1964 Plymouth Barracuda.
YOUR CHARACTERS SOMETIMES CHALLENGE AUTHORITY. DID YOU DO THE SAME AS A TEEN?
Chris Crutcher: At one time or another I squared off with almost every authority figure in my life. I didn't make a huge habit of it, but I had a pretty quick and not-so-pretty response when I felt I was being pushed unfairly. In spite of that, I was well liked by most authority figures.
WHAT WAS AN AVERAGE DAY LIKE FOR CHRIS CRUTCHER AT 16?
Chris Crutcher: I worked in my father's service station from the age of nine so I always had plenty of money. I was pretty funny; or at least I thought so, so I had a lot of friends. Not enough girls were in love with me which was really a pain, given my hurricane hormones. I think things were pretty "normal" for a sixteen-year-old.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE YOUR HIGH SCHOOL SELF, IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME?
Chris Crutcher: I'd tell myself to quit fighting it and learn something.
WHAT TRENDS FROM YOUR TEENS WOULD YOU BRING BACK FOR MODERN TEENS?
Chris Crutcher: I liked the weekend dances at the Legion Hall. There was a certain simplicity to them... go and stand around and fantasize about asking a girl to dance. There is a sweetness to my memory of my thoughts back then.
WHAT MODERN TRENDS WOULD YOU SEND BACK IN TIME?
Chris Crutcher: I wish there had been more sports for girls back in my time, and that girls had been treated as first class citizens, which they weren't. I think I would have done better on the teenage relationship scene if things had been more equal.
HOW WAS YOUR CHILDHOOD?
Chris Crutcher: I didn't experience most of them. Certainly there were times I felt on the outside, but I was from a small town and I was okay in the jock culture. It was many years later when I realized how we treated some of the people who weren't and what a nightmare high school may have been for some of them. I always had an affinity for the outsiders... and I got in trouble for that a few times. My mother was an alcoholic - a pretty functional one - so I had some of the residue from that, but she performed her job fairly well in spite of it and the scars weren't all that deep. I think my childhood falls about in the middle. I was raised by people who loved me and did their best and sometimes their best was magnificent and sometimes it was a C.
YOU DIDN'T READ MUCH AS A TEEN. WHAT BOOKS COULD HAVE CHANGED THAT?
Chris Crutcher: Books about people like me. I would have liked to read about characters I thought could be my friends. I needed something more contemporary.
WERE YOU A JOCK? AND ARE YOU ATHLETIC NOW?
Chris Crutcher: I was a jock, but mostly because I came from a school so small that nearly every able bodied person played so there would be enough for a team. I still play basketball and run and swim on a regular basis.
WHAT OTHER YA AUTHORS DO YOU READ NOW?
Chris Crutcher: I read Terry Davis and Will Weaver and Terry Trueman... (I know those guys so I have to read them - they're also very good). I read Christopher Curtis, John H. Ritter. I just read a biography called "OF BEETLES AND ANGELS" by Mawi Asgedom, which is wonderous.
WHO WERE YOUR FAVORITE AUTHORS AS A KID?
Chris Crutcher: From my adolescence, Harper Lee, my one and only. From earlier, a guy named Clair Bee, who wrote the Chip Hilton series. Also loved Dr. Seuss. That's as far back as I go.
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE BAND?
Chris Crutcher: No favorite, but Beatles, Beach Boys, Lovin' Spoonful, Anything with Paul Simon. Dating myself... which I had to do a lot in high school.
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| Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher |
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...About Chris Crutcher's Books
WHERE DID THE TITLE "WHALE TALK" COME FROM?
Chris Crutcher: It's a metaphor for telling the truth. The main character's father talks about how, when a whale experiences anguish or joy, his "talk" or sounds can be heard for hundreds or even thousands of miles, and every whale who runs into those sounds knows the truth. That's pretty much the opposite of how humans do things.
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE "WHALE TALK?"
Chris Crutcher: I had written a novel about a school shooting that went into the toilet with Columbine. I still wanted to write about outsiders, but not focus on something quite so topical. I had the character from the earlier novel and I had the urge to portray where the outsiders really come from. I also had a bad feeling about ADULT understanding of outsiders and bullies and the whole adolescent experience. I guess those things combined to inspire me. Though probably the biggest thing was my editors saying, "ARE YOU EVER GOING TO WRITE ANOTHER BOOK?"
DID YOU ENJOY WRITING "WHALE TALK?"
Chris Crutcher: I did enjoy it. There are lots of heartbreaking things there and lots of humorous things, and to me the balance of those comedy and tragedy make a good story. The characters were ones that allowed me to tell the story the way I wanted to so in general I had a pretty good time.
WOULD A Crutcher NOVEL ON A SCHOOL SHOOTING BE WELL RECEIVED?
Chris Crutcher: It might be...but right on the heels of Columbine -- and it was RIGHT on the heels of it -- I didn't think there was any possibility my intent would shine through. There was too much craziness; too much backlash... and the Columbine shooting reduced the even in my book to a footnote; kind of changed the national consciousness. I did put a short story in Don Gallo's "ON THE FRINGE" that was drawn from the heart of that other book.
WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION FOR "STAYING FAT FOR SARAH BYRNES?"
Chris Crutcher: A desire to write about true friendship, tested friendship; a knowledge of an incident that really happened, very similar to Sarah Byrnes burning; the challenge to see whether or not I could tell it; a desire to talk about all those "issues" in a humorous way that gave them some dignity. And a desire to put a really scary bad guy into a good book.
WILL YOU EVER WRITE ANOTHER SHORT STORY COLLECTION LIKE "ATHLETIC SHORTS?"
Chris Crutcher I'm starting to put one together that covers the pre and post lives of the characters in "WHALE TALK." There is so much not known about those kids... Jackie Craig, etc. So there could be one. I'm still fresh with the characters...and I can go anywhere I want to with them.
WAS "STOTAN!" BASED ON YOUR TRUE LIFE?
Chris Crutcher: Yeah, there was a lot of "STOTAN!" that was based on my life. I went through Stotan Week in college. Many of the characters were based on guys I swam with. The racial stuff came from the north Idaho Aryan Nations fort. The death was just death.... every good story has it in some way or at least loss.
WHY DID YOU WRITE ABOUT THE "IRONMAN?"
Chris Crutcher: I've done some triathlons so I knew the territory, and I thought, and think, the athletic metaphors there worked.
WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR STYLE OF WRITING LIKE IN "CHINESE HANDCUFFS" WHERE HE HAS NOTES TO HIS BROTHER?
Chris Crutcher: I did that in both "CHINESE HANDCUFFS" and in "IRONMAN." It's just a ploy to let me tell part of the story in third person, and the other part in first. It gives me some of the advantages of both.
DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE BOOK OF THOSE YOU'VE WRITTEN?
Chris Crutcher: I don't really have a favorite of my books. Most of them did what I wanted them to do and you can't ask much more than that. "IRONMAN" was a lot of fun to write because Bo had my temper. "WHALE TALK" was very much fun once I finally got on track with it.
ARE ANY OF YOUR CHARACTERS BASED ON YOURSELF?
Chris Crutcher: Louie Banks is probably most like me as a teenager... first book, staying close to home. Philosophically I'm a lot like Mr. Nak, Dakota, Lemry, the people at OMLC.
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON NOW?
Chris Crutcher: I'm working on three things. One will float to the top, I think. One is the short stories; one is a novel about a teenager who has about a year to live, and has to make more out of high school than he planned. One is an unauthorized autobiography called "BAWL BABY," which will give me a chance to talk about my life a little, and the lives of others who have had some kind of influence on me a LOT.
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR BOOKS BEING BANNED?
Chris Crutcher: I have two responses really. The first one is just an adolescent response and I feel proud because I've made someone think, or gotten some emotional response. The second is that I'm sorry people are afraid of talking about things. I don't necessarily think the things I have to say are all that important and I don't expect everyone to agree with me. OBVIOUSLY. But when people can't sit down and talk with folks about what they're afraid of... that's sad.
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...About Writing
DID YOU ALWAYS WANT TO WRITE?
Chris Crutcher: I didn't always want to be a writer, but I knew I was good with words...and I knew I liked to express myself. Actually I wanted to be a stand-up comic, but didn't know how to go about that. As I got older it just became clear that I wanted to tell stories.
WHEN DID YOU BECOME A WRITER?
Chris Crutcher: I started making those little "e's" with the Palmer Method when I was about five or six. But I started writing novels when I was thirty-five.
WHAT MADE YOU WRITE THE KINDS OF NOVELS YOU WRITE?
Chris Crutcher: I write what I know, and because I've been a child and family therapist, working mostly with child abuse and neglect for the past twenty or so years, those stories are the kind that pop up.
HOW DO YOU WRITE SUCH REALISTIC TEENS? IS THERE A TEENAGER LIVING IN YOUR HEAD?
Chris Crutcher: That's exactly it. I usually end up dragging the 1964 Chris Crutcher, or parts of him, into the era in which I'm telling the story. At least I drag out his sensibilities. I also spend a lot of time with teenagers and with parents of teenagers in my work.
DO YOU AVOID WRITING "EASY" STORIES?
Chris Crutcher: I don't consciously avoid anything. I try to tell the best story I can tell. I get the idea, start working on the characters and go where it takes me. Most of the "evaluation" about whether it's uplifting or not comes after the fact. While I'm writing, the story is the only thing that matters.
DO YOU WRITE ABOUT THINGS THAT HAPPENED IN YOUR OWN LIFE?
Chris Crutcher: Fiction for me IS like fact reshaped... fact run through my imagination. But that doesn't mean the stories are about my life. They are about my life to some degree, more about my perspective. They are about a lot of lives that I have been invited into for one reason or another... either as a therapist or a friend or an observer.
HOW DO YOU COME UP WITH CHARACTER NAMES LIKE IN "WHALE TALK?"
Chris Crutcher: Well, I've been waiting to use The Tao Jones for a long time... one of those puns that comes up over one too many beers. And Tay Roy Kibble, my second favorite name in that group, was a kid I knew in elementary school. The others can come from names I sign in books, etc.
DO YOU OUTLINE YOUR NOVELS?
Chris Crutcher: No outline for me. I'll get a character or a plot and then start fleshing it out asking myself "What if... what if... what if... and letting the answer to that question take me in the direction it takes me.
DOES THE WAY YOU TRAVEL EFFECT THE WAY YOU WRITE?
Chris Crutcher: It does in that I get a lot of feedback on the road both from kids and adults. I can't tell you the number of people who have come up to me with a book and just burst into tears... and I know it touched them... and those touching parts get my imagination going... so in that regard I think it probably does. I can write in the hotel as well as I can write at home so in that regard it doesn't, though it slows me down some.
HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU SPEND PROOFING YOUR MANUSCRIPTS?
Chris Crutcher: No one proofs it; I read it out loud for response. I allow different amounts of time on different days depending on what else there is for me to do... I keep my hand in the therapy and child protection business, so each day is different for me.
WAS IT HARD TO GET PUBLISHED THE FIRST TIME?
Chris Crutcher: For me it was WAY easier than it should have been. Terry Davis already had an agent, and he pushed my story to her. She liked it and agreed to represent it... she was a very well established agent and sold it within a couple of months. I have heard from far better writers than I, that it wasn't so easy because they had such a hard time getting their material into the hands of someone who appreciated it. So it can be hard. There is a lot of competition... but it's not by any stretch of the imagination, impossible.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE NEW WRITERS?
Chris Crutcher: Read a lot of the kind of stuff you like to write... . Write as often as possible; think in terms of "story." Be patient... enough to tell the whole story. Understand that getting there is as important as being there and never let anyone tell you you can't do it.
WERE YOU INVOLVED IN WRITING THE SCREENPLAY FOR "ANGUS?"
Chris Crutcher: I had no involvement in the screenplay of "ANGUS."
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...About Being a Therapist
CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT BEING A THERAPIST?
Chris Crutcher: Sure. I've worked in child abuse and neglect for about twenty years, mostly as a therapist, trying to help put dysfunctional (I'll promise to use that word only once) back together. Because of that I have been allowed a view of people's lives that most people don't get. I have come to love things I used to hate; have been pushed to back up and back up and back up and not judge... to look at any given thing from a different perspective than I used to look at it. My life as a therapist has had a tremendous influence on my writing. People don't know how scary it can be for people in hard times to trust someone enough to tell their stories. I've been lucky to be in a spot to make that happen.
HOW DO YOU HANDLE THE FEELINGS YOU MUST GET DOING THERAPY? IS IT TOUGH?
Chris Crutcher: Not really, and that isn't to say that sometimes I don't think I'm going to have a broken heart... but I'm tremendously curious about the human condition, and I have trained myself to accept the world the way it is; and the world contains some pretty tough stories. I used a sort of throw-away line with a minor character in Ironman; "When you want to see how something works, look at it broken" which is what I get to do hearing these stories. Look at broken lives. Pat Conroy said in The Prince of Tides "You can't fix a broken childhood, but you can make the sucker float" which I think is true... and helping people make their lives float seems like part of what I'm supposed to do when it comes to giving back.
WHAT PROGRAMS DO YOU THINK HELP TEENS TODAY?
Chris Crutcher: I think the most helpful things COULD be schools that were more inclusive of teenage reactions to things...schools that believed in expression as much as they believe in behavior and who added the artistic to the academic. The more we do with and for teenagers that doesn't include judging them the better off we are with them, and the more chance we have of keeping ourselves on that short list of people to turn to in a crisis.
YOU ONCE SAID ADULTS SHOULDN'T TAKE THINGS PERSONALLY WHEN DEALING WITH KIDS. DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR KIDS DEALING WITH ADULTS?
Chris Crutcher: Yeah, but they probably wouldn't take it... I would tell them to remember that adults aren't always doing it right, and that we have some of the same baggage they have...but that for the most part we are doing our best in trying to keep them safe and trying to give them a clear look at their options. I would also tell them they don't need to respect anyone who doesn't respect them, but that sometimes it's a good idea to let things lie rather than have a meteoric response to something they don't like.
DO THE KIDS YOU WORK WITH EVER ASK TO BE IN YOUR BOOKS?
Chris Crutcher: They ask that all the time. They want me to tell their stories and use real names of the bad guys so they can get even. I tell them to write an unauthorized autobiography.
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| CC (rt) with Terry Davis in the '70s when CC was a working educator. |
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...About the Educational System
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS?
Chris Crutcher: I don't mind that it gets attention. I mind that it's elevated above other activities that take just as much talent and dedication, and I mind that in so many cases athletes are given second and third and fourth chances when other students aren't. In most cases, all students deserve second and third and fourth chances.
WITH SHRINKING EDUCATION BUDGETS IN MIND, CAN YOU SEE WAYS TO GIVE KIDS SECOND, THIRD EVEN FORTH CHANCES TO SUCCEED?
Chris Crutcher: I don't see ways not to give them chances. Even with all the craziness about so-called accountability, we still have relationships with every student who comes into our spheres of influence.
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Chris Crutcher in '05
Banned Books Week 2006
Available now in hardcover. Paperback release: 8/30/06. Paperback on sale: 9/19/06.
Paperback
From the Random House First Amendment First Aid Kit. Click the image for a link to the printable pdf poster.
Courtesy of Books, Inc. in San Francisco.
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