Today’s interview is with Lamar Neal, author and poet.
LQ: Tell me a little bit about yourself.
LN: I like to think of myself as an absentminded author and poet, who writes to stay sane. So many thoughts and worlds are floating around in my head that I have to write to make sense of everything. I started writing when I was 11 or 12, creating stories for my toys. Every day I had 2-3 “TV Shows” that had commercials and everything. When it is all said and done, I do not care if I was rich, as long as I inspired others to dream and create. I never saw too many stories with characters who looked and thought like me. I feel like there are so many people out there who aren’t being represented.
Other than that, I love music and I would live off of ice cream and popcorn if I could. I’m all over the place and very jovial. The world is already serious and depressing that I like to laugh and joke to feel human.
I feel like I’m on a dating app 🙂 I am always bad at talking about myself. I don’t think I’m interesting. Oh, I am a horrible texter. I have over 400 unread text messages. Getting a text is overwhelming. I don’t purposely ignore people. My brain cannot process replying to a text and holding a conversation so I crash like an old computer.
LQ: What does your writing process look like?
LN: My writing process is a lot of binge writing, locked in my room with water and snacks. I will write until my eyes feel like they are about to melt out of my head. I won’t do anything else but write. I’ll barely eat, sleep, or hang out. I’ll eat and sleep because I have to, but I will cut out anything else that is non-essential until I finish the story. It is so all over the place. I make crazy notes that have random thoughts, fragments of chapters and unfinished dialogue in untitled documents. I will act out scenes, pace through the house and talk to myself during long and hot showers. Nothing is in one place. Instead of having one document, I have several. By the time a novel is done, I have to merge several dozen documents together to get the whole thing.
There is no in-between with me. Either I’m not writing at all for long periods of time, or I’m writing every day all day. I’m very mood-based. Everything has to feel right. When it does, everything from the plot to the characters to entire scenes play out in my head. If the mood isn’t right, you wouldn’t even think I’m a writer because I don’t talk about anything writing or editing related.
It is not rare for me to start a story with a skeleton of a plot. I let the character take me to their destination. I just hope people enjoy it. Great storytelling helped me get through a tough time in my life, and I hope I can do the same for others. I want to inspire others to write, to live, to dream.
Sorry, I am off subject.
LQ: What was your favorite book to write so far?
LN: I think of all my books as my children. I raised them into adults, and now they are in the world, making lasting impressions. I can’t say I have a favorite because I love them all. They have a piece of me in them, but the book I had the most fun writing hasn’t come out yet. It’s entitled A Different Type of Song. It’s about a young boy who becomes popular at school after his mother and sister die in a car accident. Like a lot of my novels, the backdrop is sad, but I like exploring the theme of finding happiness even when you don’t think it exists. They start sad but end happy, or in a more comfortable place than the beginning.
I don’t know if anyone will ever read the novel, but I love everything about it, especially the main character.
LQ: Who is your favorite character to write about?
LN: Ugh. I can’t pick a favorite, so let’s go with the character I had the most fun with my baby Adam. He’s the main character in my first published novel, A Misc. Eden. He’s this naïve and sweet kid who believes his mother is a Goddess.
The entire story is off the wall and bizarre. It was fun watching him navigate through all these different situations. He’s my sensitive baby that I have to protect from the world—the one who can do no wrong because he didn’t know any better.
LQ: Who are your favorite authors? Have any of them influenced your work?
LN: Honestly, musicians inspire me more than authors. When I hear music, I see and hear stories. People like Kanye West, Michael Jackson, JPEGMAFIA, Poets of the Fall, and Parliament influence my work. Music inspired me to start writing novels.
But to answer your question, I would say Ernest Hemmingway or James Joyce. I like to see myself as loyal. I like to commit to someone or something. When that happens, you have me forever. Hemmingway and Joyce were some of my first introductions to literature, and both have my heart forever. No one will compare them either. I remember reading “For Whom the Bell Tolls” or “The Dubliners,” and I was losing my mind. Both of those books were my bible. I would read chapters from each before I wrote anything for inspiration.
My writing style used to be a carbon copy of Hemmingway. I saw his style as the “right” way to do things. It was bad. If I read a book and it didn’t have that Hemmingway flare to it, I hated it. It took me years to unlearn everything I believed and to step out of his shadow.
LQ: How are you doing during the current pandemic?
LN: Great. I have always been a hermit. Being in the house doesn’t affect me at all. Back when I lived at home, my family wouldn’t see me for days. I would hunker down in my room with water and food and only came out to use the bathroom.
I’ve convinced myself this is the world’s way of slowing us down. We move at such a fast pace that we lose sight of so many aspects of life and ourselves. I’m using this time work on projects I always put on a back burner.
LQ: What are you currently working on?
Nothing. This is one of my dead periods. I have no desire to write. I do want to start editing a romance novel I wrote a few years back.
LQ: Anything else you would like to share?
Yup, Three things.
1. If you like poetry, download my new chapbook, Pale, free at Lamarkneal.com. I have three other books available for purchase-two poetry books and one novel.
2. Thank you to anyone reading. I always feel blessed whenever someone decides to listen to me or read my work. Time is the most valuable resource we have, so the fact someone spared a minute or two for me, is always an honor.
3. Thank you for your time and for everything you are doing. Continue to bring joy into this world. Please stay safe 🙂