THE WRITER'S EDITION: Brian Allen Carr

Age: 29

Hometown: McAllen, Texas

1. What inspired you to write "the cyclops"? To write in general?

I wanted to write a story about a man who was afraid of losing an eye. "The Cyclops" came out. It's not really about fear at all. Or eye loss for that matter. It's about selfishness. So I suppose I missed the mark. But missing the mark is generally all the inspiration I need.

2. How do you develop characters?

With ink and paper. And a keyboard. And words.

3. Who is your favorite author? Why?

God wrote a pretty good book called The Bible. I can't say that I always abide by it, but it's a pretty good read. I'm fortunate to be surrounded by some amazing writers at UTPA. The fiction of Eric Miles Williamson and Jose Skinner is superb. I don't really have a singular fave. There are so many good writers: Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Albert Camus, John Steinbeck, Kurt Vonnegut, Cormac McCarthy, Denis Johnson, James Joyce, Tomas Rivera, Fyodor Dostoevsky, George Garrett, Larry Fondation, Flannery O'Connor to name a few. I like fiction that is fearless. That takes chances. That hurts feelings. To me that is important. Feel-good fiction is pointless. If you want to feel good take a bubble bath. If you want to experience life then drag your eyes across a gutsy story.   

4. What makes writing good? What makes it unreadable?

Like I said before, I like guts. In fiction you can do anything. Shoot an orphan in the face. That's exciting. Don't take the orphan into your home and teach it to read. In real life, sure. Save every lonely child that walks the Earth in real life. That makes sense. It's the right thing to do. But in fiction-land it's your job to kill orphans and maim puppies.

5. What do you want people to get out of your writing?

Emotion. That should be the point of all writing, I guess. Take "The Cyclops" for instance. I'd like readers to put that story down and immediately want to hug a baby. To keep a baby safe. I'm of the opinion that if you hurt a baby in a story then real-life babies get more love. Fiction is great because it creates opposites. If the story was about happy babies then you'd love the happy babies in the story. Your love would go to the story babies. Then what would happen to real babies? They'd probably catch fire.

6. What's your writing process?

I work at writing every day. If not physically typing then turning stories around in my head. I try to write at least 5,000 words a month. Some months are easier than others.

7. What advice would you give to other aspiring writers?

Read and write constantly. There's no other way. Get yourself a library card, a comfortable chair and a mess of red pens.