Author Q&A Douglas Kent

I was born in Connecticut and grew up there and New Jersey. I relocated to Dallas in 1994 and have lived in this area ever since. Currently it’s just me and my sweet kitty Sanka keeping house. When I’m not writing (or reading) I like to lose myself in a classic film, or stay involved in the Diplomacy hobby (which I’ve been playing since the late 1980’s).

1. How do you approach writing a new book?

Because up to this point both my books have been memoirs, the process is obviously different than fiction. In both cases I had a good quantity of personal letters, cards, and other correspondence I was able to use for reference (some of which I reproduced in full in Helplessly Hoping.) Basically the first thing I do is build a list of stories that I want to include, and then begin to lay them out. Shuffle a few, add and subtract based on necessity and length, and try to decide how much of the book needs to be in true chronological order. With a few exceptions, it turned out that both my books follow a mostly chronological pattern, because each experience relies on the prior ones.

I do have some fictional WIPs, and while none of them have moved too deeply into development, for those I seem to plan a lot less. I just write and let the story lead me where it wants to.

2. Tell us about your published books

My newest memoir is entitled “Helplessly Hoping.” It’s the honest and detailed story of my High School sweetheart and first wife, and our relationship. Mara suffered from a number of physical and mental illnesses, and bore the scars of years of sexual abuse. We were initially ignorant of how those experiences could impact every aspect of her life, and the book shows our slow learning process, and Mara’s attempts to overcome the hurdles those struggles put in front of her.

My first memoir – “It’s Their House; I’m Just a Guest” – explored my experiences in the Federal prison system. Writing that book had two purposes. The first was to see if I could actually put those stories into a cohesive narrative. And the second was to have an answer when people asked me what prison was really like. Instead of repeating the same stories, I could just tell them “read my book and find out!”

3. Where’s your favourite place to write?

Up to this point, it has been sitting on my living room couch, typing on my laptop with my cats Toby and Sanka nearby. Toby was my “helper” and loved to lie on my lap, forcing me to stay seated and keep working. Sadly, I lost Toby to congestive heart failure a couple of weeks ago at the age of 18. I may decide to shake old habits up a bit now, and find a new spot to write in.

4. How do you choose your books’ titles?

I’m not really sure how I got the title for my first book. I just sort of came to me, and it stuck. I imagine there were better, more marketable titles I could (or possibly should) have chosen, but once I chose it I never looked back.

“Helplessly Hoping” had a few titles along the way, and I thought I had selected one that I was happy with. One day, when I had finished the first draft and had started the editing process, I was driving to work and listening to some CDs in the car. I popped in a Crosby, Stills, and Nash collection and was singing along to the songs when Helplessly Hoping came on. As I sang and listened, I realized that – to me, anyway – the narrator was capturing a lot of what I felt during a certain portion of our marriage, when I just wanted so badly for things to start going better but felt utterly powerless to force our lives in that direction. By the time the song was over, I’d decided the title would be changed.

5. Would you want your book to be made into a film?

In some ways yes, I’d love to see it up on the big screen. I think the impact of the story would easily translate in the right hands. On the other hand, the book is a very personal diary of a large piece of my life, with some of my innermost feelings, fears, and regrets. A film would probably get a lot more eyeballs on it than the book has. Could I handle being that exposed and that vulnerable to the world? If the opportunity arises, I guess I’ll find out.

6. How many books do you own?

I’ve probably got between 200 and 300 on my personal shelves. Then if you walk into the spare bedroom there are another 1,400 volumes, all of which are part of my side gig selling signed, rare, and First Edition books on eBay. I admit the temptation to rehome some of them from business to personal is sometimes very hard to resist. I haven’t been reading as much as I once did, and I hope to rectify that in the coming year.

You can find Douglas Kent on Twitter.

Website – www.douglaskent.net

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Author Q&A Douglas Kent