Earlier this morning, I posted my thoughts about T Gamache’s novel, Not-So-Common People. He was kind enough to take a few minutes to A a few Q’s that I sent his way. I think you’ll appreciate these answers, I did.

Most authors have dozens of ideas bouncing around their craniums at once — what was it about this idea that made you say, “Yup — this is the one for me.”?
                     Well, it’s interesting. This started as a way to write with my 12-year-old son. He had a story idea he was trying to get out but I couldn’t get him to commit to writing. So we both did NaNoWriMo in 2018. I had no idea what I was going to do and then one day Nathan showed up.

He was a fully formed character in my head so I just started putting him on an adventure and the story began unfolding for me. So, I guess there weren’t many other ideas at that time, so this one stuck. Now, I have a couple of plot lines I’m trying to work on, but Nathan is calling back into his world, so I think I need to finish that one first.

In the writing of Not-So-Common People, what was the biggest surprise about the writing itself? Either, “I can’t believe X is so easy!” or “If I had known Y was going to be so hard, I’d have skipped this and watched more TV.”
                     Being that it was my first venture into writing, I wasn’t aware of the pantser vs plotter approach to the art. And I am definitely a pantser. I found it really cool when I would sit down and I had the major plot points in my head, and I knew I needed to get from A to B, but once the story would start to move it would take its own direction. I would get there, but now I had new side stories and things to think about.

Many of the characters were spun on the fly and looking back that seemed really cool to me. As a musician, I am used to improvising when playing and thinking my parts up as I go, but to see this happen in another art form was really a new experience for me.

Nate’s feud with Rick felt very real – is this an autobiographical bit? Did you have a fued/frenemy relationship with a Record Store owner you based it on? Or is it just a bit of genius on your part?
                     Lol-I would love to say genius on my part, but I think it more comes from many 2 AM conversations I have had with other musicians whether it was when I was in college as a music major or on the road playing in my early 20’s. You know there are always those arguments, Beatles vs. Stones or Paul vs John, or any other rock comparison you want to make. And true music lovers are an opinionated bunch. So Rick just embodies those conversations for me. I knew that Nathan needed another neurotic person that he could relate to, but in true Nathan form, would also annoy him.
Why is it, do you think, that male readers respond so strongly to books about music/protagonists who are so focused on music? (your novel, Hornby’s, etc.)
                     I have often wondered that myself. I’ve seen it be a common theme in the lad-lit world, and I have to think that it ties to the passion many males have for music and the feelings it brings out. For me, it was writing about what I know, so it came easy. Also, I think that music lovers tend to make interesting and deep characters that a “thinking man” can relate to. I mean if you look at Hornby, it’s music and sports. Two things that are very tribal to guys and when you combine that with a passionate fandom (I think Fever Pitch and High Fidelity) I think it makes for a really interesting story. Plus, as a guy, when I walk into a bookstore and I want to find a fiction story, sometimes I don’t want a story about war or spies or murder, I just want a happy and funny book. I’m not really all that interested in what I see in the romance isle, so I think that’s where stories like this come in. And music seems to be a place of common ground.
There are a lot of characters to focus on in this book, but let’s go with Anne – how did you go about creating that character? How do you keep someone like her from being idealized/unrealistic?
                     Well, to be honest, when I first started developing the character of Anne I based a lot of her on how I felt when I first met my wife. She (Anne, not my wife) has since taken a different direction in book 2, but being that we are seeing her through Nathan’s lens, she was seen as someone who he had never had in his life in this way before. When you meet your spouse to be, I find that it is not the fireworks they like to portray in the movies, but more of a feeling of “I can’t imagine my life without this person” and it grows from there. At least that’s how it happened for me. So being that we are so close to Nathan’s emotions in all of this, we are seeing her as someone he feels he can’t be without because he has never had something outside of his friends and his music that he has ever been passionate about. He is an “all or nothing” personality so everything in his life is either an obsession or part of the background noise. So, in his mind she is someone that may come across as unrealistic, but again that is her being Nathanized. When I am able to flesh out her story more in the next book, I think she will read as a little more grounded. That’s my hope, we’ll see how I do.
Thanks for your time and willingness to let me badger you with these questions – again, I enjoyed Not-So-Common People and hope it finds success.