Episode 08: Andrew Blackman (On The Holloway Road; A Virtual Love)

10-02-2020 • 48 mins

Charlie and Andrew Blackman (On the Holloway Road, A Virtual Love) discuss life on the road, following in Jack Kerouac’s footsteps, offline and online identity, writing an entire book about a character but never giving them a voice, current climate change activism, and withholding – for very good reason – the endings your readers expect.

Some podcast apps do not show description links properly unless the listener subscribes to the podcast. If you can't click the links below and don't wish to subscribe, copy and paste the following address into your browser to access the episode's page on my blog: http://wormhole.carnelianvalley.com/podcast/episode-08-andrew-blackman

Andrew's round up of his travels in 2019
A list of selected articles written

Question Index

00:57 You’ve been travelling for quite a few years now, can you tell us more about this?
01:57 You sold your books…
02:33 Where can we read your articles?
03:22 What was your journey to publication like?
11:07 When did you first read Kerouac’s On The Road?
11:59 Had you made a journey of the sort Neil and Jack go on?
13:34 Were you ever tempted to emulate Kerouac’s writing style?
15:42 What’s the relationship between your own characters and Kerouac’s?
17:28 Why the Holloway Road?
18:51 The ending – what did you want readers to take away with them? [vague spoilers]
21:18 How much did your experience of blogging influence A Virtual Love?
22:52 Was Jeff’s granddad inspired by your own relationship with a grandparent?
24:47 Why doesn’t Jeff have a voice in the novel?
34:38 Is there a way we can be more social in our current age?
37:40 Where did the environmental activism stem from?
40:01 How important is a sense of silence?
41:20 [Spoiler question] Can you talk about your choice not to have a big reveal?
44:27 What’s next?