The Questionless Books Interview: Novelist Andrew Pyper

Inspired by the Proust Questionnaire, The Questionless Books Interview gets a host of lit-types (authors, editors, publishers, publicists, designers, booksellers, readers, bloggers, journalists, etc.) to finish a bunch of statements about the state of literature and the "future of books".

Andrew Pyper is the author of four novels, most recently, The Killing Circle. His new book, The Guardians, is being published in January.

Andrew's Books:

The Guardians
The Killing Circle
Wildfire Season

Andrew's Links:

Site

I am... Andrew Pyper

I am known to... sin.

I do this in... surprising ways.

I do this because... I don't get out much.

I do this when I... feel I've been on a streak of good behaviour.

The way I do this is... secret (unless you're with me).

At its core, a Writer is... a storyteller.

As opposed to an Author, who is... the holder of a copyright.

A Writer is responsible for... telling stories.

As opposed to an Author, who is responsible for... filing a tax return.

At its core, Publishing is... funny.

As opposed to Editing, which is... not funny in the least.

A Publisher should always... remember the arbitrariness of things.

As opposed to an Editor, who should always... be an enemy to arbitrariness.

A Manuscript that's ready to be read by others is... not quite ready yet.

As opposed to a Book that's ready to be ready by others, which is... a source of mild regret to the author for years to come.

A Manuscript should always... be spritzed with cologne prior to submission.

As opposed to a Book, which should always... come with a charming bookmark, free of charge.

At its core, Bookselling is... a religion.

As opposed to Book Marketing, which is... godless.

The smallest unit of narrative is... the verb.

To be a Book a thing must be... available.

The biggest reason to be scared of the future is... we'll be older when it gets here.

The biggest reason to anticipate the future is... the visitation of wild good fortune.

In the future we will all... remember today as not too damn bad after all.

At his/her core, a Reader is... sexy.