Episode Details

“You have to think about the shelf-life of the tension you’re creating. There should be a bigger mystery on the other side of that expiration date.” – Benjamin Percy

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Benjamin discuss the idea that all fiction is essentially genre fiction (3:30); the movement of narrative and the idea that structure underlies all stories (15:00); learning “story math” (31:00); and research processes and work habits (42:00).

Benjamin Percy (@Benjamin_Percy) is the author of four novels, including The Dead Lands, Red Moon, The Wilding, and The Dark Net. His other work includes numerous comics, his writing-craft book, Thrill Me, and his story collection Suicide Woods, out this month. His work has appeared in The Paris Review, The New York Times, and GQ. He currently writes the audio drama Wolverine, now in its second season, and is a regular on the lecture circuit, including at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference, the Tin House Writers’ Workshop, Aspen Summer Words, and the Paris Writing Workshop. Find more about Benjamin at http://benjaminpercy.com/.

Notable Links:

• Refresh, Refresh, by Benjamin Percy
• Suicide Woods, by Benjamin Percy
• Stephen King (author)
• Stan Lee (comic book writer)
• The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien (novel)
• Alice Munro (author)
• Flannery O’Connor (writer)
• James Baldwin (writer)
• Lost (television show)
• Dungeons & Dragons (role-playing game)
• The Sandman, by Neil Gaiman (comic book series)
• Preacher (comic book series)
• Scalped (comic book series)
• Transmetropolitan (comic book series)
• What we Talk About When we Talk About Love, by Raymond Carver (short story collection)