Reader Meet Author: Kyle Beachy

The process of writing a novel is daunting, tiring, and at times overwhelming. The journey is filled with bursts of energy and moments of pure euphoria, but those passing moments in time give way to hours of revision and editing your words until a finished product becomes clear. When the novel is your debut it can be even more of a challenge to remain focused and to stick with your goal. I can only image the feeling of finally holding the finished product in your hands.

Chicago's Kyle Beachy just completed this journey and now must be feeling a sense of relief and accomplishment. His debut novel The Slide was published last month by The Dial Press (a division of Random House). It is a novel about the struggle and transition into adulthood, and all of the confusion, fear, joy and passion that comes along way.

Recently, Kyle was kind enough to answer a few of my questions.

Orange Alert (OA): Your debut novel, The Slide, was published by The Dial Press last month. What can you tell us about The Slide?
Kyle Beachy (KB): The Slide is a ghost story and a love story and a story of the American Midwest that takes place in the summer months of the year 2001. Reception so far has been split between calling it a sad book or calling it a funny book. I hope it succeeds at both. At this point, whatever people think of it, however it is ultimately regarded by those whose opinions carry weight, I will remain very very happy to have dragged it from the mess it once was to the end product it ultimately became. So that's the most important thing I can tell you about The Slide. It is finished. Complete.

OA: The Dial Press is a division of Random House. What was it like working with such a large publisher?
KB: It's tough to say since I don't really have any other frame of reference. From day one it was clear that I had the support of key people. I never doubted that my editor understood and believed in what I was trying to do, and the same goes for the president of The Dial Press imprint. As far as the rest of the big RANDOM HOUSE corporation, I have no idea. My interaction has been with my editor, who I consider a friend, and my publicist, with whom I get along very well. The good part of being with a large publisher is the guarantee that my book will be in stores, that the thousand robotic arms moving in the background will be working for me. From the beginning, I wanted this to be a book that would, or at least could, reach a large readership. So there's certain…I suppose a nature of comfort to the scale of the publisher. Though of course this can just as easily morph into finding oneself lost in the shuffle, but thus far I haven't felt that. I suppose it's still early, but I've felt nothing but good about my experience.

OA: Are there plans to do a book tour (physical or virtual) now that the book has been released?
KB: I've done several readings in St. Louis and others around Chicago, and there are more to come. I'll also make a west coast trip in April. But no official TOUR as such. I will go places and while I'm there I will hope to read. The same goes for online appearances. I've had very satisfying web-based interviews and discussions, and I hope to have more. I'm available. But to call it a virtual tour would be a bit more formal than what I've been doing.

OA: What are your thoughts on the Chicago literary scene in general? Is Chicago a great place to be a writer?
KB: Chicago is crawling with talented people who are doing great things on stage, in journals, at readings, with music, and so on. I hesitate to say I feel wonderful about the "scene", only because to speak of scene is to focus not on the work itself but the social tangles that grow out from it. Which aren't bad per se, and can in fact be fun and helpful, but it's tricky because writing is necessarily a solitary activity. Seems to me that any social scene built around an artistic pursuit – whether writing, playing music, painting, whatever – has the potential to distract from the really important thing at hand, which is and always will be the work. Making good work, and making it alone. The rest is either icing or noise, depending on your angle.

Chicago the city is great, yes, absolutely. For me a lot of this is meteorological…the winters here are enough to keep me indoors and working. In the summer, my discipline gets strained but I think that's okay – it's important to have the annual celebration when everyone, even solitary writers and painters and movie makers, have no choice but to venture outdoors. To get onto bikes and move through the city and remember the sun and engage the world.

OA: I really like cover of The Slide. Who designed the cover and do you feel that the cover of a book is important?
KB: Thank you for that, and yes I believe covers are important. A book is an object like any other work of art. Cover design, interior design, pagination…these all affect the way the reader interfaces with the text. My cover was drawn by the very talented Anders Nilsen, who makes brilliant comic books and lives about six blocks from me. I met Anders through skateboarding and I'm grateful as hell to call him a friend.

OA: What's next for Kyle Beachy?
KB: I'm working on a second novel and trying to clean up some short things I have floating around. There are essays I want to write about sports and science and travel, perhaps a return to some music writing. Basically I look forward to getting back into my work, teaching my classes at SAIC, walking my dog. Riding a bike in the summer. Skateboarding. Hard to say how much longer these knees will hold out. I need to skateboard while I still can.

Home Video (For: The Slide) from Edsel Denk on Vimeo.

Bonus Questions:

OA: If you could sit down to coffee with anyone (alive or dead) who would it be?
KB: Joe DiMaggio? The opportunity cost issues here are just terrible.

OA: What type of music do you enjoy and who are a few of your favorites?
KB: I'm all over the place with music. I was happy to make a playlist for the great Largehearted Boy blog to go along with The Slide, featuring songs that are somehow important or at least relevant to the book's three sections. Lately I've been going back to the early- and mid-nineties rap music that once monopolized my stereo, old Hieroglyphics and Gang Starr and Mobb Deep and the like. I'm finding that this era is particularly helpful in beginning new projects. All the shit talk and wordplay.

For more information on Kyle Beachy please visit his website. You can read the first chapter of The Slide here.