Name: Ben Olson
First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: There was never any “first clue.” It was just something I had inside of me, since I could remember. I would always listen to older people complain about their jobs, their lives, their bills, their frustrations. I got the sense that there were so many people out there unhappy with their lives and their mundane careers. I didn’t want to be that way. I wanted to make a living doing something I loved, on my own terms. I never wanted to punch a clock or push a rock. I just wanted to tell stories. The first time I really thought it was possible to make it as a writer was when I dropped out of college and moved to Los Angeles. I spent several months roaming around the littered, jaded street corners; broke, hungry, desperate, and lonely. I began to write and suddenly it was good. My life experiences were a story that was ever unfolding and worth reading. I knew, then and there, that I could never do anything else in my life. I was going to be a writer. Anything else would never match up.
Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: I wrote a screenplay in high school. It was terrible. I knew it was terrible the whole time I was writing it, but I also knew that I had to write it. I had to finish it. I had it inside of me and couldn’t write anything worthy until it was out. It was like I had to clear the tubes of all the gunk. I didn’t get anything published until my friend Zach Hagadone started an indie newspaper called The Sandpoint Reader and I began submitting articles. Every time I saw my name in print, it would further my desire to keep going.
What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? Reading books. Lots and lots of books. Not the mainstream bestseller rags that you see in grocery stores. Bestsellers are worthless to me. When I was living in Santa Cruz one winter, I had nothing to do after work, so I looked up the 100 Greatest Works of Fiction from the Harvard Library and read every single one of them. I would type chapters of books by certain authors that I identified with – Henry Miller, Jack Kerouac, John Steinbeck, Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Wolfe – just to see how their words fit together. College did nothing for me. Creative writing classes did nothing for me. It was mostly regurgitated nonsense that I already knew. Every writer’s style is an amalgamation of the styles of those they’ve read before and identified with, as well as the experiences they’ve had and the region in which they’ve been raised. I was born in the West, in a small mountain town full of change and soulless progress. My writing reflects that; both the bitterness and the hope that something will happen to halt the American migration toward the middle.
Who influenced you most along your way and how? Myself. I knew that the only way I could function in America would be to write and find someone that could pay me for it. Nobody ever really understood what I was doing with my life. My parents wished I would “settle down” and “find a real job.” My friends wished me luck, but resented the fact that they had to buy all the drinks when we met at the bar. Nobody ever really pushed me like I pushed myself. I sent off hundreds of query letters to publishers, magazine editors, literary agents and was met by constant, steady, indifferent rejection. But I kept going. Rejection is surprisingly motivating.
Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: My first novel, Wanderlost. It’s not the best thing I’ve ever written, but when I finished the last paragraph after 37 days of straight writing and sent it to the publisher, I felt more accomplishment and worth than ever before. I had written a book. Nobody could ever take that away from me. It didn’t matter if it ever sold any copies or made me rich… I had no control over that. I cared more about the fact that I somehow got a contract to write a novel, and finished it.
Your publications or venues for writing: I write occasionally for The Sandpoint Reader and am currently working on a second novel which a few publishers in the Midwest are interested in. I’ve also been published in several literary journals and a couple of magazines.
Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: Keep a daily journal of thoughts, actions that occur, observations and happenstances. It works the muscle of writing, but it also gives you a cache of material to use later. I’ve pulled out whole sections from old journals and put them into a current piece of work. Write in the moment, and try not to write for any audience. I know that goes against conventional wisdom. To hell with conventional wisdom… just write. And experience. If you don’t experience life, it’s hard to write anything interesting
