Rumpus Original – An Interview with James Frey
“I’m writing books. They’re still a mix of fact and fiction and will continue to be. I think it’s an interesting place to work, especially now. What someone calls my books is irrelevant to me. I consider them works of art and rules and categories and labels mean nothing.”
James Frey on the things he wishes he hadn’t said, getting older and getting wiser, writing, being lucky, and making art, by Stephen Elliott
Stephen Elliott: OK. Let’s talk about Bright Shiny Morning. What was the genesis of that?
James Frey: I always wanted to write a book about LA, a big ambitious book. Nobody had ever really done it with LA- treating the city seriously as a major economic and cultural power, as the embodiment of 21st century America.
SE: It’s a monster of a city.
Frey: Yeah, in good ways, and bad. Dreams can come true there in ways impossible anywhere else, and they can get destroyed as well.
SE: The book is sprawling, kind of like the city itself.
Frey. By design. The city has no center, no single unifying place. The city grew and was built unconventionally, as was the book.
SE: The city operates as the spine of the narrative.
Frey: It’s a huge place, literally and metaphorically. Its beauty and horror. Its 
unconventional history. Its draw and allure. Its diversity and segregation.
SE: What was the process like. You have these four characters. Did you only work on one character each day?
Frey: It was fun. The most fun to write of the three books. I started at the beginning and just went. No outline, no idea of what was coming next until I did it. I knew the three protagonists, and had an idea of the structure, but nothing else. Coming after all the bullshit related to A Million Little Pieces, nobody was expecting anything from me. No publisher, no agent, no one. Just me and the book. It was great.
SE: Sounds peaceful. You were able to get back to that place of no expectations.
Frey: Yeah, in a way. Mostly just fun. Made me really love writing again. I love the process of being alone in a room. Being a writer now is about so much more than writing. There’s publishing, touring, marketing, web presence. All this other shit. It all disappeared for me and I was happy to keep writing. I consider myself extremely lucky to be able to do this. Live this life. I did it before I was published and would do it if I still wasn’t.
SE: So tell me about the year. Has it been a year already since Bright Shiny Morning came out?
Frey: It’s been about seven months.
SE: You did a big tour.
Frey: Did a big tour, a fun tour with bands and a multimedia show and other writers I admire, you among them. Had some huge crowds, a small riot in LA, and some empty houses. The book’s reception was polarized, which I love. And it sold, which was very nice.
SE: Emotionally, that sounds like a roller coaster.
Frey: Compared to other things in my life, not really. I really was thrilled just to have another book out and be able to keep doing this.