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1) Stories that deal with families are always complicated, which makes them so engaging. How did you approach this subject in Julian’s Debut?

I began with themes that overlapped multiple relationships or experiences. I worked from the essence of each person in my family, sometimes combining several people into one character, and then explored and examined their life themes and how they related to me. I love my family dearly, but I don’t always agree with their philosophies, politics, or ways of managing their lives – and for a long time I offered myself up as their social worker, therapist, sounding board, and it gave me a nervous breakdown when I was in my late twenties. This novel is a way of processing my complicated relationship with them.

2) What inspired this story?

A short memoir I wrote in 2020 called “My Mighty Meekness,” published in Rick Whitaker’s Exquisite Pandemic online journal. It was about my accommodating personality and how some family members, friends, and lovers had taken advantage (not always consciously) of my passivity. I have changed over the years to become a more assertive person who’s wary of exploitation or too much neediness. The essay inspired a great deal of reaction from my friendship circles and family, and it made me want to write a novel that explored the bumpy ethical terrain of writing about other people.  

3) What subjects interest you as a writer?

I am drawn to many subjects but the ones that recur most commonly through my three novels, one feature film, several short stories, and the dissertation for my doctorate that I am now working on tend to be sadism, masochism, guilt, shame, the dissolution of family, the changeability of identity, self-delusion, how the past clings and torments, trauma and resilience, and mortality.

4) You have such a well-rounded body of work in various genres, including film. Are there any films that have influenced your prose/fiction work?

Oh, so many! Mulholland Drive by David Lynch. The Piano Teacher by Michael Haneke. Crash by David Cronenberg. Eyes Wide Shut and A Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick. Dogville by Lars von Trier. Taxi Driver by Martin Scorsese. Teorema and Salo by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Vertigo by Alfred Hitchcock. Jeanne Dielman by Chantal Akerman. I can name at least another 30!

5) How do you prepare for the launch of a new book?

I reach out to publications and venues for press and readings. I make a list of themes and anecdotes I plan to discuss during interviews or talk-backs. I select passages I want to read using those with little to no dialogue because I hate feeling compelled to do voices.

6) Who are some of the authors who have inspired you on your writing journey?

Vladimir Nabokov. Mary Gaitskill. Edward Albee. Tony Kushner. Jean Genet. Tennessee Williams. Virginia Woolf. JG Ballard. Elfriede Jelinek. DH Lawrence. Toni Morrison. Edmund White. James Baldwin. Salman Rushdie. William S. Burroughs. Again, I can name at least another 30!  

7) What is a response from a reader to your work that stands out for you? If this question does not resonate with you, then please add a question of your choice.

A few readers have told me that I veer dangerously close to catastrophe with the ideas, situations, and characters I create, but always stick a “difficult, risky” landing.

8) For the writers in the trenches out there, what is your advice as to how to keep up the momentum when working on a long-form project?

Do a little bit every day. I am strict about allowing myself at least one hour a day and I am disciplined with sticking to it. Approaching a large, complex project with daily baby steps will get the job done in a way that is manageable and not very overwhelming.

Thank you Brian, for allowing us to share your thoughts on the writing process and your upcoming book. 

Brian Alessandro has written for numerous publications, including Interview Magazine, Newsday, Kirkus, The Gay & Lesbian Review, and many others, and is the author of three novels, The Unmentionable Mann, Performer Non Grata, and Julian’s Debut, as well as co-author of Edmund White’s A Boy’s Own Story: The Graphic Novel and co-editor of Fever Spores: The Queer Reclamation of William S. Burroughs.

To pre-order Julian’s Debut: https://rebelsatori.com/product/julians-debut/

Felice Neals is the author of her current historical fiction, novel-in-progress, as well as screenplays, a TV pilot (a quarterfinalist in the Scriptapalooza competition and the Austin Film Festival), short stories, travel narratives, non-fiction essays, and the founder of (Re) An Ideas Journal. Artist residencies include Ragdale, Leopardi Writing Conference, Recanati, Italy and UCross. Her work has been featured in various publications including Catapult, Odyssey Magazine, Day One Literary Journal and the New York Times. She is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the City College of NY, CUNY and works, lives and pursues her dreams in downtown New York City.