Chris Adrian / Features / Untitled Books

"I think “world’s most exciting writer” may be burdensome. But I get a gigantic thrill out of everything that William Trevor does."

Photograph: ©Gus Eliot

Chris Adrian

Selected by the New Yorker as one of their '20 Under 40' to watch, Chris Adrian lives in San Francisco, where he is a Fellow in Paediatric Hermatology/Oncology. He usually writes in Hello Kitty notebooks, and shares ideas with his dog.

Where are you right now?
San Francisco, California.

Where do you write?
All over the place. I usually write longhand and then copy it into an electronic file. It makes it easy to just hang out on a park bench, which can be lovely sometimes.

How do you write?
In little notebooks first, often Hello Kitty notebooks.

What keeps you writing?
I think mostly the idea that I've failed to describe what I mean to in any one project. And that's a reason to try again with the next one

Who do you write for?
On some level for myself, to satisfy or settle my own particular and weird obsessions. But also for a nebulous ideal reader and a discrete reader who's been different for every book, and who usually shows up on the dedication page.

Do you discuss your work with anyone?
I have readers who have kindly stuck with me since grad school. And I mumble things to the dog sometimes.

How do you know if your work is good?
I often wonder about that, usually between three and four in the morning while I'm chewing on my fingers.

Do you have any unwritten characters in mind?
Yes. Though they are often very amorphous during the trapped-in-my head phase, and the actual writing turns out to be a process of discovery about them.

Which book do you wish you'd written?
I would settle for a walk-on line in Moby Dick.

What is your literary guilty pleasure?
Edgar Rice Burroughs. But it's a lovely, elevating sort of guilt.

Which writer made you want to write?
Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Who's the most exciting author writing today?
I think "world's most exciting writer" may ultimately be as burdensome a designation as "world's sexiest writer". But I get a gigantic thrill out of everything that William Trevor does.

If you weren't writing you'd be...?
Much more consistently depressed!

What next?
I'm moving to New York for a year to do a research fellowship at the New York Public Library. I think it means I can stay in the library after hours, and I hope to play Ghostbusters in the stacks.

................................................................................................................................................
The Great Night by Chris Adrian is published by Granta.

Read one of his short stories.
...............................................................................................................................................

Tuesday, 5 July, 2011