{"id":839,"date":"2008-08-16T08:59:43","date_gmt":"2008-08-16T15:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2008\/08\/financial-times-qa-with-james-frey\/"},"modified":"2008-08-16T09:02:12","modified_gmt":"2008-08-16T16:02:12","slug":"financial-times-qa-with-james-frey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/2008\/08\/16\/financial-times-qa-with-james-frey\/","title":{"rendered":"Financial Times Q&A with James Frey"},"content":{"rendered":"

from the Financial Times<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

James Frey<\/h2>\n

By Anna Metcalfe<\/p>\n

Published: August 16 2008 03:00 | Last updated: August 16 2008 03:00<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

James Frey is notorious for having embellished parts of his 2003 memoir,\u00a0A Million Little Pieces<\/strong>. Promoted as a true tale of his time at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation clinic, the book became a New York Times bestseller. Frey published a second memoir,\u00a0My Friend Leonard<\/strong>, in 2005. Born in 1969 in Cleveland, Ohio, he now lives in New York with his wife and daughter.<\/p>\n

What book changed your life?<\/span><\/p>\n

Tropic of Cancer<\/em>\u00a0by Henry Miller. The first time I read it I couldn’t\u00a0believe someone had written it. It’s offensive and pure and clear.<\/p>\n

Who are your literary heroes?<\/span><\/p>\n

Baudelaire, C\u00e9line, Kerouac, Brett Easton Ellis, Henry Miller.<\/p>\n

What is the last thing you read that made you laugh out loud?<\/span><\/p>\n

Something written by Perez Hilton, an American blogger.<\/p>\n

At what hour of the day does inspiration strike?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I work from 9am until 5pm. “Inspiration is for amateurs. I just get to work,” said Chuck Close. I have a blue-collar, working-class approach to what I do.<\/p>\n

Where do you write best?<\/strong>\u00a0My office in my apartment in New York. I close the door but I’m interrupted a lot by my wife, my kid and phone calls. There are three things that writers love: praise, money and interruptions.<\/p>\n

How many words do you write a day?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two to three pages of finished, polished, publishable work.<\/p>\n

How many rejections did your first book receive?<\/strong><\/p>\n

17 publishers said no before one said yes.<\/p>\n

What book would you give to someone from another era, to paint a picture of the 21st century?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My book\u00a0Bright Shiny Morning<\/em>\u00a0. I think Los Angeles is a city that embodies contemporary US society. It’s segmented and divided, rich and poor. It’s the American dream in its purest form, whether you’re there searching for a roof over your head or for international stardom.<\/p>\n

What do you do to celebrate finishing a book?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nothing. Recently I finished late at night, by myself. I took a deep breath, had a good laugh and went to sleep.<\/p>\n

When do you feel most free?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I hear my daughter say something she’s never said before.<\/p>\n

Who would you choose to play you in a film about your life?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don’t ever want one to be made.<\/p>\n

What would you go back and change?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nothing. I’m okay with everything that’s happened in my life.<\/p>\n

What would a novel about your life be called?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It Was a Big F***ing Mess but He Tried Really Hard and He Loved His Family<\/em>\u00a0.<\/p>\n

Interview by Anna Metcalfe.<\/p>\n

James Frey’s latest novel is ‘Bright Shiny Morning’ (HarperCollins)<\/p>\n

Copyright<\/a>\u00a0The Financial Times Limited 2008<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>[ click to read interview at Financial Times<\/a> ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

from the Financial Times James Frey By Anna Metcalfe Published: August 16 2008 03:00 | Last updated: August 16 2008 03:00 \u00a0 James Frey is notorious for having embellished parts of his 2003 memoir,\u00a0A Million Little Pieces. Promoted as a true tale of his time at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation clinic, the book became […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conversation-information"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bigjimindustries.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}