"Peter Swanson Writes NOVELS?" -- An Interview With The Author

Apparently it's sorta well-known around here that Peter Joseph Swanson is a novelist. Huh.

Back when I first got to know him (in high school) nearly three decades ago (*sob*...we're so old), his thang was making movies, and as I've read his fiction over the years, that "filmmaker's eye" is evident in every paragraph that falls from his keyboard.

Although we haven't seen each other or even spoken since the early 80s, we've kept in touch through the wonders of snailmail and later email and now Gather, and it's time someone asked him some TOUGH QUESTIONS about his Tinseltown Trilogy.  Tough.  Ya hear me?  TOUGH.

1. Which book in the Tinseltown Trilogy (Hollywood Sinners, The Joan Crawford Murders, and Bad Movies) did you write first?

Bad Movies came first.  I rewrote it many times but mostly in three major versions.  First it was a mere faux movie star memoir.  Then for fun I decided to re-write it to add a grand whodunit murder mystery using characters that were mostly already there, anyway.  That added a new layer of drama.  And then for MORE fun, and because I loved Gore Vidal's book Myra Breckenridge (because it seemed so seedy "70s") I made my main character a male-to-female sex change (because Bad Movies is so seedy "70s").  That certainly added another huge layer of complexity to it.   

2. Did you plan the trilogy, or did you just realize, "oooh, lookie here, I wrote three books about Hollywood in different eras" after the fact and decide to call it a trilogy?

I realized I'd done a Tinseltown trilogy after the fact.  I wrote Hollywood Sinners last.  I wrote it just because I'd always loved those 70s movies that took place in the 30s. Growing up with them on TV, it became a part of my nostalgia.  Then I found out that real 30s movies were a hoot, too.  The Great Depression era seemed haunting to me and I just wanted to wallow there in a whole novel.  1939 is also such an iconic year in Hollywood history.  As Myra Breckinridge said, "There was no unimportant film that came out of Hollywood in 1939."

I wrote The Joan Crawford Murders because I'm a fan and wanted to get in her head, and give her a wild behind-the-scenes adventure -- because she seemed to be the star to do that with (Joan's real life seemed to be so much more involved than any one of her films).

I realized all three novels were very different in their tone and theme.  But they are very indicative of the time the stories take place in.  Hollywood Sinners was the desperate escapism, decadence and fatalism of the Great Depression.  The Joan Crawford Murders was 50s opulence in the last days of the powerful studio system - with some pop 50s psychology.  Bad Movies is the permissive 70s subculture with Roger Corman style filmmaking.

3. All three novels are written from a woman's point of view, and I'm pretty sure you're a guy.  Comments?

I have written novels from the point of view of straight men, but when it comes to Hollywood -- well -- gay men like me can sometimes be funny that way when it comes to classic movie queens.  

4. It's obvious you do a lot of research to add authenticity to your work.  What is your writing style?  Research first, then write, or research as you go?  Or is it all "up there" (taps head) and you don't need no stinkin' research?

I write first with the knowledge that I think I already have, and then along the way I realize there's things I don't know enough about. So I do research along the way.  That uncovers things I didn't know about in the first place. So it's a lot of fun, being full of discovery. I always make my novels up as I go along, anyway, so research steers the novel as I write. I look at magazines and catalogs from the era to see ads and how much things cost, and what was out there.  I read other novels from the era, and watch movies from the time, to pick up slang. For the Joan Crawford book I also read autobiographies from the other stars who worked with Joan in Torch Song. Joan really did bring prunes and Wheaties to Helen Rose the costume designer every morning.  Esther Williams really was down the hall and said Joan begged for her gay director. Liz Taylor really hurt her eye.  Michael Wilding really felt "out to sea". Joan really won a Photoplay award and then attacked Marilyn Monroe. Judy Garland really was pregnant and sang at Joan's HUGE backyard party.
 

5. Which of your heroines would you share a one-bedroom apartment with for six months? Karin/Carol, Joan, or Jilly?

I want to say Joan because she really was famous for being a great friend (according to her friends), and I think the Joan story has a few less bullets flying around so it might be safer for me in that way.  And I look NOTHING like Joan so the psycho in that story wouldn't be after ME.  Of course anything called a "one-bedroom apartment" for Joan Crawford would also be called a "dressing room" (or maybe her "pool house").  

But I bet it would be Jilly because she's in the 70s and I understand that time.  It would be fun to go with her to the big gay disco and hang out with her in the back dressing room with the drag queens.  I would have loved to be involved in that wild-and-crazy low budget filmmaking she was doing.

6. And what's next from the mightily faboo pen of Peter Joseph Swanson?

Merlin's Charge.  It takes place in 6th Century England and has Merlin, Arthur, some good witches and bad, looking for the holy grail to cure the land before he becomes King.

And there you go.  He did okay, didn't he, handling those TOUGH questions? Good thing too, because next time, I'm asking about boxed wine and cheese popcorn -- the gloves are comin' off, baby!!

[You can find Peter's novels for sale online at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Stonegarden.net, or ask your bookstore to order them.  They are also available via Interlibrary Loan from your library!]