Gordon Haber

Mike Heppner and I became friends in graduate school, bonding over a shared interest in good writing and cheap beer. Since then I’ve been a fan of Mike’s work, reading his novels—The Egg Code, Pike’s Folly, and Man Talking—with admiration and interest. Most recently, Mike’s blistering novella, Nada, was published by Amazon as a Kindle Single (it’s only $2.99!).

Nada is about two jaded writers in need—Nada Zilch, a successful screenwriter, needs someone to ghostwrite a magazine column; Billy, a semi-successful novelist, needs money. Over one long, boozy night in New York City, Billy and Nada circle and prod each other—at first to see if they can work together, and then, as the empties pile up, to probe for weakness. (Nada’s is an almost psychotic need for attention, Billy’s is alcohol). In the end nobody gets what they want, and innocent people get hurt.

Here’s the conversation Mike and I had about Nada.

My favorite aspect of Nada is Nada herself. She’s the perfect representation of the Hollywood person who believes that acknowledging her own narcissism somehow ameliorates it, when actually it makes her even more intolerable. Was she based on anyone in particular? Is there a kernel of autobiography in Nada?

She’s somewhat based on a person who has been distantly in my social circles for a number of years—the narcissism, the compulsive need to “shock,” the total lack of any kind of underpinning values or guiding principles beyond the need for attention. Not someone I’m close to, obviously. Nada is actually not all that autobiographical, at least I don’t think so—Billy’s much more of a tomcat than I ever was, more of a player in general; he’s also more bristly than I tend to be—I’m usually more on the passive and retiring side.

Billy is more likeable but he has a hypocritical side, like his insistence that he only sleeps with “former students.” Is this stuff just specific to the character? Or did you want to say something about writers or the writing life with Billy?

The main thing about Billy is that he thinks he’s not as involved in the lives of his students as he actually is—just by reading their work and watching their creative processes (let alone occasionally sleeping with them). As a mentor, he’s involved, though he denies that as well.  It’s a way of disavowing responsibility. I think people who teach creative writing can perhaps relate to Billy’s dilemma; oftentimes young writers wind up tilling their own personal (legitimate and formidable) pain in the guise of “fiction submitted to my creative writing class,” and the writing teacher is put in the position of offering “craft notes” on work that expresses that pain, while ignoring the source of the pain itself, because we’re not qualified to offer that particular kind of therapy. A student writes a story communicating a profound emotional malaise, and the teacher is left commenting on transitions and narrative point-of-view—that sort of thing.

On the surface Nada is about a clash of sensibilities: New York vs. LA, screenwriting vs. literary fiction. But Nada sneaks in deeper questions about personal responsibility. Your work is never pedantic or moralizing, but this piece seems preoccupied with morality, more so than your previous work.

I wrote the book quickly, in about nine months, roughly between the time my wife was six months pregnant and my daughter turned six months old—so, yes, I guess I was thinking about the big questions, being aware of the profound life changes on the horizon.  (Don’t worry, I was also changing diapers and all that stuff.) There’s an element of paternal concern in Nada that I suppose would have something to do with being a new father.

On a personal note: has fatherhood changed (or not changed) your fiction?

It’s sort of changed it, sort of not. My daughter’s only four years old, so she probably won’t be encountering my writing for some time to come. I do tend to write about fairly adult themes, and there is a kind of subtle awareness of “what will she think if she reads this someday?” But at the same time, I have to respect my daughter’s intelligence (both the intelligence she currently possesses and that which she’ll continue to develop over the years), and so I believe she’ll probably read it in the proper light, if she reads it at all (which is definitely not a requirement).

You can buy Nada by clicking here. Even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can get a free app to read Kindle e-books here.

Photo credits: Tribeca by KAnt BxTs via Flickr. Booze by Opal Mirror via Flickr.