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TBP: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
AZ: I used to be a blond. I have evidence to prove it on my blog. http://allenzadoff.com/blog/
TBP: Describe My Life, the Theater, and Other Tragedies in nine words or less?
AZ: My title is seven words long! I can’t really do better than that. I’ll just add that it’s about a boy who loses his father and learns to live again through his love of theater (and a cute girl).
TBP: How long did it take you to write My Life, the Theater, and Other Tragedies?
AZ: It took a long time, over a year, because I had my own tragedy happening at the time. My mother was sick with cancer and eventually passed away from it. I put some of that experience, the emotional part at least, in the book. It’s a funny book, but it explores a serious question. How do you move on in your life when something bad happens? How do you keep going?
TBP: Both you and Adam, the main character in MLtTaOT, have the same initials, A.Z. Was that intentional and if so, what else do the two of you have in common?
AZ: We do? I’m shocked! You’ve discovered my secret. All my heroes have the initials AZ. Andrew Zansky in Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have and Adam Ziegler in Life/Theater. The next book for Egmont will have a more surprising variation on the theme. My books are what people sometimes call faction. That’s fiction + real life inspiration (fact). I feel very close to my heroes, their nervousness, self-consciousness, desire to impress, ability to transcend themselves and become truly heroic in moments. My heroes are like me and not like me at the same time.
TBP: Who would you cast to play Adam if My Life, the Theater, and Other Tragedies were to be made into a movie?
AZ: Great question. You need a sensitive, funny actor—a sexy geek. Who is your favorite sexy geek actor? I’d like readers to write to me and let me know who it should be.
TBP: Are you currently working on another book? Can you tell us a little bit about it if you are?
AZ: You’re a tough customer! The paperback of Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have came out in February and My Life, the Theater, and Other Tragedies in May. That’s two books from me that you can read this year. But yes, I’m working on a third book for Egmont-USA that you will see in 2012. A tiny preview: It’s my first book set in Los Angeles. Expect yoga, health food, cute girls in tights, Judaism, and a family crisis.
TBP: If you could co-write a book with any author, who would it be and why?
AZ: Instead of a book, I’d like to write a play with Chekhov. We’d hang out, drink port, bounce ideas off each other. I feel like we have a similar sensibility and could make something really great happen. And I’d like to learn from him beyond what he teaches from the plays he left behind.
TBP: Do you have a particular place that you love to write at?
AZ: I’m a fan of the coffee shop. In Los Angeles where I live, coffee shops are filled with screenwriters tapping away on their laptops, reading “the trades” (Hollywood Reporter and Variety) and talking about who they’re pitching and who is or isn’t reading their scripts. I take perverse pleasure in being a novelist sitting among them. A novelist is like a carpenter. I’m building something solid that is going to have its own life, whereas a screenplay doesn’t live until someone decides to make the movie. Sadly, that almost never happens.
TBP: Anything else you'd like to add before you go?
AZ: I just launched a new website at http://allenzadoff.com. Come and visit. And check out Getting Famous with AZ. People all over the country are posing with my book, some of them famous. There’s a contest that will be announced soon. I think it's pretty cool.
Website
Excerpt to my new novel!
Thanks a bunch Allen. I hope you all enjoyed the interview! If you haven't read My Life, the Theater, and Other Tragedies yet then you definitely should. And if you have email Allen with your ideas for who you think should play Adam if a movie were made.
My Review of My Life, the Theater, and Other Tragedies
Noteworthy Passages of My Life, the Theater, and Other Tragedies
Buy My Life, the Theater, and Other Tragedies
Amazon / B&N / Kindle / Nook / Book Depository
Buy Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have
Amazon / B&N / Kindle / Nook / Book Depository
"Expect yoga, health food, cute girls in tights, Judaism, and a family crisis."
ReplyDeleteNow THAT sounds interesting! (I like that Allen added Judaism riiiight after girls in tights, haha)
Thanks to the both of you for the interview! :)
Once I read this MLtTaOT, I plan on emailing Allen with my fancast for Adam. He's made me even more excited to read it, as well as the new book in 2012. I have a feeling Allen will become one of those authors who I just love to read. Great interview!
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