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Holding fire in your hands: Four Questions with Jon Franklin – Chip on Your Shoulder

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That it’s all about psychology . . . Yours, the reader’s, the characters’. As time passes, literature and psychology may well merge. Modern psychology grew from literature, after all; people forget that. John Steinbeck once wrote that he’d held fire in his hands, and I figured it was his right to use any metaphor he damned well chose. Then, ten years later, I did a series of things right and, holy damn, I held fire in MY hands. I think it has to do with focusing a lot of human experience into a small number of words. Under certain circumstances, the writer as well as the reader can experience a momentary transcendence. The point is that the magic is there, but reaching it requires a lot of technical skill as well as the inspirational kind. I had not really been expecting magic. I’m a science person, in the end. That is, I believe in rationality. But my sciences are literature and psychology, both of which are close to my central interest, the human condition. After all, journa

Jon Franklin What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned as a writer That it’s all about psychology . . . Yours, the reader’s, the characters’. As time passes, literature and psychology may well merge. Modern psychology grew from literature, after all; people forget that. What’s been the biggest surprise of your writing life? John Steinbeck once wrote that he’d held fire in his hands, and I figured it was his right to use any metaphor he damned well chose. Then, ten years later, I did a series of things right and, holy damn, I held fire in MY hands. I think it has to do w

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