Jason Herman
ORP: What does success as a writer or artist mean to you?
Jason Herman: This is a complicated question for a writer. On one level, success is just getting into the place where art can be made. Writing is a very spiritual act for me, almost indistinguishable from prayer, so in one sense it is an end in itself. At the same time, as writers we want to reach out and communicate something of ourselves to others, and that requires an audience. So success on another level means reaching an audience, and that's where the tricky part of publication and the business of writing comes in.
ORP: Who do you consider to be your creative ancestors and contemporaries for your art and/or writing? How does your creative work converse with theirs?
JH: I am moved by many different writers and kinds of writers, and I have written in several genres, each of which has its own sources of inspiration. For example, I've written a historical novel, for which the sources of inspiration were Frederick Buechner, Hilary Mantel, and Marilynne Robinson. More recently, I've been working on an autobiographical novel that draws inspiration from the writing of Karl Ove Knausgaard, Jon Fosse, and Mircea Cartarescu.
ORP: What books have you read many times?
JH: Marilynne Robinson's Gilead, Mrs. Dalloway, John Garner's Grendel, Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, Knausgaard's My Struggle, Fosse's Septology.
ORP: What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing or creating? What advice would you give to another writer or artist?
JH: I'm a devotee of John Gardner's The Art of Fiction. The idea of fiction as the creation of the "continuous fictional dream" had a significant influence on my writing, and the book is packed with useful insights and advice. Mostly, though, the important thing has been to just keep writing. In order to do it well, you must be willing to do it badly at first. You can't let being disappointed with the quality of your work stop you from continuing to write.