Interview with E. Van Lowe
Posted by: Allison on: September 11, 2011
When I email authors about interviews, I feel a little intimidated. After all, they have achieved what I still aspire to do. Some of them even have novels to their credit that have won awards or been on the best seller lists. This means they have many, many, many fans. E. Van Lowe is no exception, especially when you consider that he is also a successful television writer.
And so, I also always feel delighted with how gracious authors are about answering whatever questions I throw at them, no matter how many there are, and even when I send follow-up ones. E. Van Lowe has already interviewed a few times. It’s my pleasure to add to those interviews.
Allison: When asked what you wanted to do when you grow up, you have answered become a basketball player or become a writer. What happened to your basketball dream? Do you still like to play it?
E. Van Lowe: No, I don’t play basketball anymore. *wistful smile* My game is tennis now. I gave basketball a fair run. I don’t like talking about it, but I was a pretty good athlete growing up. Actually I was very good, but I’m not into bragging, and it’s way in the past. Baseball, softball, track, basketball and tennis.—I was good at them all. It must have been natural ability because I didn’t work at it, but from the 6th grade on, I was good at sports and a starter on all the teams. Imagine how hard or “interesting” it was being both a jock and an intellectual. LOL. I was definitely a puzzle to most of the kids, but I guess that’s where my perspective comes from.
Allison: You grew up in the South Bronx. (Readers can read a post about E. Van Lowe’s experiences at How Lucky I Am.) In your About, you also talk trying to hang out with “bad” kids as a teenager. How has this background effected who you are today? Do you ever use this background in your novels? LINK!
E. Van Lowe:One thing I am very fortunate to have experienced is how many different circles I walked in when I was growing up. When I wrote Cadillac Dreams, my Academy Award nominated short film, my wife actually said she was afraid of me. The people in the movie were scary, and she’d never seen that side of me. She asked where did the idea for all those dangerous people come from? I said “I grew up with them.” So while I’ve used my past, I haven’t used it in novels, aside from the fact I know how the jocks and the nerds and the popular kids think. I didn’t really fit in with any group, but I had the chance to fringe all of them.
Allison: You attended the Master of Professional Writing Program at USC in the eighties. What is one way the program helped you as a writer? What is one writing lesson you’ve learned as a professional author?
E. Van Lowe: The Program (as we called it) helped me in a number of ways. One thing the program did was give me confidence. When I left college in New York I was a bit of a celebrity. I’d won every writing award my college offered. When I got to SC everyone was so darn good I was intimidated. But my teachers and my colleagues thought I was good as well. I came to the conclusion that just because my style was rough and there was always that weird sense of humor, it didn’t mean I wasn’t good, it just meant I was different. This belief helped me get through school, because, honestly, the writers on the program when I was there were AMAZING.
One thing I’ve learned as a pro is it’s a business. If you want to be successful you need to do more than write a good book. You need to manage your business. I am still learning that part.
Allison: You had to write three theses in three different genres to get an MFA. How comfortable are you in writing in different genres? What is your favorite genre in which to write?
Allison: You sometimes teach graduate students. How did this opportunity come about? What have you learned about writing from teaching others?
E. Van Lowe: 1) I am very comfortable writing in numerous genres. This afternoon I was at a network pitching a TV show. I recently accepted a screen writing assignment. I am about to start a horror novel, while still working on The Falling Angels Saga (Boyfriend From Hell). For me, I guess, it’s just like jumping from sport to sport when I was a kid. I’ve been jumping genres for so long I don’t even think about it. 2) I like writing novels the best, and YA novels the very best. 3) Over the years I have been asked to teach on several graduate writing programs. I chose my alma mater. 4) Every time you teach it sharpens you. I can’t say how, but it does. It’s kind of like cheating, because I get as much out of it as my students do.
Allison: In an interview with independent publisher Christopher Meeks, you refer to a lot of shows that you wrote for. What was your favorite experience in working for television? What was your worst experience? (LINK!)
E. Van Lowe: I cannot talk about my worst experience. Those people are still alive. LOL. I have two favorites, Roc (with Charles Dutton) because it was live, and they don’t do live scripted TV anymore, and (of course) The Cosby Show, which was an amazing, life altering experience.
Allison: One of the lessons you learned while writing for Knight Rider is how to move a story without dialog. What are lessons you learned from other shows?
E. Van Lowe: I see your next question, so I won’t say humor. Dialogue. I was a fairly good dialogue writer before TV, but TV is all dialogue. I don’t want to say I am a master at writing dialogue, but because of TV I am pretty darned good at writing believable dialogue that pulls you in.
Allison: From writing for the Cosby show, you learned about how to write humor. What advice would you give to young people about how to be funny?
E. Van Lowe: “Don’t write jokes” is the great lesson I learned from Cosby. Humor is all perspective. You need to figure out what’s relatable, and find a funny angle. I recently saw this trailer for a new TV show about a couple raising a newborn. In it, they are hovering over a crying baby saying: “Please! We are trying to help you.” As if the baby is an alien. Which is how many new parents feel when their babies are crying and they don’t know why. The scene is relatable, and it comes at it from an interesting perspective. Funny.
Allison: Boyfriend from Hell allowed you to explore themes that are important to you: mother/daughter relationships and dating bad boys. Why are these themes important? What are other important themes to you?
E. Van Lowe: The mother/daughter theme is important to me because as a single father my son and I were best friends… until we weren’t. It kind of snuck up on me. Dating bad boys is something I enjoy writing about because I can’t figure out why so many women want to date dangerous guys. I think writing about bad boys is a form of therapy for me, since most of the girls I liked growing up were into the bad boys. LOL. Other themes I enjoy are the fragility of friendships when you are a child. This shows up in much of my work; Father/son relationships; prejudice; can a bad person become good? My lack of trust of authority. There are too many to mention. These are just a few.
Allison: First, did you do any research for Boyfriend from Hell?
E. Van Lowe: Yes, believe it or not, I did a lot of research. I wanted to give Satan a fresh, interesting spin, so looked at movies and read parts of books dealing with Satan. I also watched “Rosemary’s Baby” again, because they were Satanists. It gave me lots of ideas. I also did research on mathletes and AP students. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I can tell you the subject I researched most isn’t really in this book, but is up front in the next book in the series, Earth Angel.
Allison: What are your favorite young adult novels in your genre of comic horror?
E. Van Lowe: I don’t have favorites in this genre, which is why I write it. I am trying to carve out a niche. However, the Dead Is The New Black series by Marlene Perez is close in its ability to blend humor with the paranormal. I also like Meg Cabot, who in my mind, is the best at being funny and yet relatable, although she rarely writes paranormal.
Allison: As your alter ego Sal Conte, you wrote horror. Why do you like horror? Do you ever cringe about putting your characters into ghastly situations? Are there lines in horror you will not cross or does anything go?
E. Van Lowe: 1) When I was a kid my brother and I used to watch old horror movies on TV—well, he watched, I covered my eyes. I’ve been into horror since I was very young. I love horror. I don’t know why. 2) Yes, of course I cringe, but mostly I’m trying to come up with things that will make you cringe. That’s the fun of it. 3) I won’t do child molestation, or incest. When I was younger and wrote Child’s Play I wrote a scene that I wouldn’t write today. You’ll have to read Child’s Play to see what it is. That’s a shameless plug. I am rereleasing my old Sal Conte titles for Kindle only around Halloween.
Allison: When you get an idea for a horror book, how do you decide whether to turn it into a book for young people or whether to write it for adult? How do you balance writing clean comedic horror for youth, while also writing graphic horror with foul language for adults? Why did you stop writing adult horror? Why did you return for it?
E. Van Lowe: A four-parter. Okay. The idea itself pretty much dictates where it belongs. Usually when I get an idea I know right off what genre it’s for. Sometimes I get ideas for thrillers or mysteries. I put those aside. I am thinking of writing a detective series about weather lady. Don’t look for anything soon. I’ve been thinking this for a few years. *smile*… As you know, I spent most of my career writing for TV. TV is very clean (unless it’s HBO or Showtime) so staying clean is easy. Sometimes I might push the envelope a little far, but my editors will always bring me back (damn them!). The smutty stuff is like a guilty pleasure. After many months of writing clean, many of us (writers) want to get dirty…I stopped writing horror when I started working in TV. I wrote Child’s Play in college and The Power right after. Once I went to work in my career, I had no time for anything else. The TV life is grueling. I returned sort of by accident. When I realized the rights to my early novels had reverted back to me, I thought I’d put them out on Kindle. But I also thought, ‘those books are so old, I need something new to go with them.’ I wrote the short: The Toothache Man. That started me back on the path to writing horror. I am now at the early stages of starting a new adult full-length horror novel.
Allison: Why do you promote your novels with games, contests, and merchandise? How do you balance promotion with writing?
E. Van Lowe: The games and contests are not to promote the books. I do these things to stay in touch with my friends and fans. I like interacting with friends and fans in cyberspace, and if I didn’t hold contests between books, I wouldn’t have a reason to reach out to them. Most of my time is spent writing, though. Currently, the Hollyweird Tuesday Trivia Challenge is the only contest I hold. I will hold three or four challenges between now and the end of the year. It takes up very little time, and a certain group of fans love it. When I held the cover contest it was because I really wanted to get the fans involved in choosing the cover. I’m sure it was good advance promotion for Boyfriend from Hell, but I did it because I wanted to bring my friends along on the journey.
Allison: What are you working on next?
E. Van Lowe: I recently turned in the sequel to Boyfriend From Hell, Earth Angel. I am really excited about the book. My publisher says it’s even better than the first. It’s coming out in December, which is fairly quick for a sequel. I am also working on an illustrated zombie project, and most recently I am making notes for my next Sal Conte horror novel.
Allison: Thanks for your time!
E. Van Lowe: You’re welcome. I’d like to add that the the first four chapters of Boyfriend From Hell are available in PDF for free right now on my website. And, if any of your readers are horror fans, Sal Conte has his own page on the website. I hope some of you will drop by. Peace.
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