Drinks with Stuart Watson
craft beer, Lost Coast Brewing Co.
Via the magical properties of modern technology, this writer was able to reach across the vast distance of these forty-eight continental United States in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty three to share a drink with one of our earliest contributors, Stu Watson. His story “Ashes to Ashes” appeared in our very first issue, so if you haven’t yet read that, you can do so right here:
I sip a gin & tonic while Stu goes with a local craft beer from the northwest, Lost Coast Brewing Co. But we do keep coming back to how we wish we had a martini. Our conversation whips around and bounces across and dives into the various books and authors we love, our mutual fears on what cell phones are doing to us, and where do our stories come from, the kinds of people we like to read and write about. We both have scratchy throats, but when I apologize for my hoarse-ness, Stu graciously tells me that, seeing as it’s the first time we’ve spoken, he wouldn’t know the difference. Cue up Kim Carnes’ “Betty Davis Eyes,” pour yourself something smooth and easy, and enjoy.
What’s the last great book you read?
The Grapes of Wrath. I had never read it before, but this past summer, we were going camping, and I’d heard about it for years, of course. I wanted to read a big book. I was sort of skeptical about whether I’d like it, but I just loved it. I love how Steinbeck treats his principal characters—poor and disadvantaged and undergoing great hardship—with such dignity and insight.
Do you have any literary heroes? Like, who is in your personal literary canon? People who you feel have had a great influence of your style as a writer?
I don’t know. I read a lot and widely. I’ll be 73 in May, and I originally went into journalism, which I always tried to approach with great style. I wanted to elevate the prose in a similar way Tom Wolfe did. Now that I’m retired, I’m able to do what I want, which is go back to my first love of writing fiction and poetry. I’ve just been working my ass off writing and sending stories out.
But to your question, I don’t know. Roy Blunt Jr., Raymond Carver, Barry Hannah. All of those guys come to mind. Another writer I really admire is Joy Williams. It’s hard to say what about her is so distinctive, but her stories do captivate me in a way few others do.
What I love so much about “Ashes to Ashes” is your simple, straightforward prose coupled with this perfect ending that really just blows the roof off of the story.
That was the thought, the genesis of the story. I had this idea about funeral urns. What if two people got together, survivors of spouses who’ve been cremated, bringing those urns into the new relationship? I thought, what could we do with that?
Do you always know the ending when you start writing a story?
Rarely do I have an ending in mind. Stories I most enjoy come from an idea about a person or someone I’ve noticed or know something about in my everyday life. I might hear something about a neighbor or someone, and then, the thought stays with me, which I then fictionalize and create the story.
With the advent of A.I., where do you see the publishing landscape going in the next few years?
Oh man, I think you’re asking the wrong guy. It’s interesting to see what’s happening with it all and the pushback, too. Much of it that I have looked at seems very stiff and soulless. I think we, as readers, are always drawn to the much richer experience of works written by humans.
I recently listened to a podcast where a successful author was talking about how he now writes “for the phone.” That really just made my skin crawl. What do you think of that idea? Maybe I’m a Luddite or whatever, but the idea of writing solely for this contraption that has completely broken the brains of so many people just feels like an admission of defeat and irrelevance.
Interesting concept, but I’ve never thought about it. Like, I’ve never morphed my material to fit the phone. I’m very concerned about much of the cultural stuff that I think the phone has engendered. But no, I wouldn’t say I write for it, necessarily. Even though most of my stories do appear in newer, online publications, which I think are doing excellent work.
Stuart Watson wrote for newspapers in Anchorage, Seattle, and Portland. His recent work has appeared in Muleskinner Journal, Compass Rose Literary, Bending Genres, and many others. He lives in Oregon with his wife and their amazing dog.