Interview With John Heinz

Hi John.  I have some questions that I’ve been dying to ask you, ever since you started sending me excerpts of FNG, while it was in progress. I must say that even though I’m female and haven’t read a war novel since college, I have to say that I couldn’t wait for you to finish it so I could see what happened.  What motivated you to write it?

I’d read so many war novels in my life and, since Vietnam, I thought that none of them had adequately described combat or the emotions evoked by it.  Then, ten months ago, a friend who had been telling me that I have a writers talent, gave me a book called On Writing, by Stephen King. Upon reading it, I thought that just maybe, she was right.  I sat down at my computer with a Steven King novel in front of me and figured that I’d just do what he said to do, and in the exact way that he did it.  Well, was I in for a surprise!  By the fifth page, the story took off in directions that I’d never even considered.  It was as if someone else was standing behind me, dictating to me.  What fun it was!

Interesting.  What impact did writing the book have on you?  What was the experience like for you?

Well, first of all, like I said, it was amazing that my subconscious or “the Muse” or a spirit guide or something seemingly outside of me was actually doing the writing.  As you know, I’m a blues harp musician and the same thing happens when I’m playing.  I don’t understand it and am continually amazed at what comes out of me. The same thing happened with the book. I was constantly amazed at what was coming out of me onto the page.  So the impact was more like I was reading, rather than writing it.  I went through tremendous ranges of emotions and many times, I was reliving Vietnam.  To say the experience was cathartic is an understatement.  Many times, I’d be hammering away as fast as I could, with tears dripping on the keyboard and my hands.  Other times, I’d be laughing so hard that I’d literally have to stand up and stagger around the room, holding my stomach!

Has the experience had an impact on your life and how you live it? Has it changed you at all?

Absolutely.  All combat veterans carry war and its emotions around with them for the rest of their lives and most of us have had a considerable amount of counseling for the problems involved.  Of everything that I’ve done or was done for me for these problems, this experience has had the most impact.  I can’t adequately describe it but I suppose it has something to do with really getting the experiences out on the table and facing them head on; for the first real time, in most instances.  The biggest problems for me, as a medic, had to do with men dying because of my cowardice or lack of ability.  Writing the book went a long way toward helping me see that I just really may have done the best I could at the time and that maybe I shouldn’t live the rest of my life in shame because I made it home, and maybe I shouldn’t have died there, after all.  And maybe the story will help other combat veterans deal with their survivor guilt, also. It’s the biggest problem we have, you know.  That and Post Traumatic Stress Disorders, which diminish over time but never really go away.  Yes, I can see that I’ve changed because of it and so can my friends and family.  I’m much calmer now and I feel better about myself and my role in life and the war.  I sleep better and I like myself more, which, of course, helps me appreciate others and their plights more. 

The ending is not just a surprise but a real shock.  How did you come up with it?

It’s really interesting!  I had been writing the book for about two months and was about two thirds through it. I was lying in bed in the morning, in a half-sleep, thinking about the story.  The embryo of the ending came to me out of the blue and, as I was letting it gel in my mind, I got up to turn the coffee pot on, and it hit me like a freight train.  It was one of those moments where you remember everything around you, when it happens.  I was in my dining room, walking into the kitchen, when it hit me.  Later, I remembered that I’d been stepping over a shiny penny that was lying on the floor.  I went straight to the last chapter and wrote it in two sittings.  I then decided to memorialize the moment and, to my girlfriend’s chagrin, epoxied the penny to the hardwood floor of my dining room!  Again, I attribute the ending to “the Muse”.  I had nothing to do with it.

So, what do you intend to do next?  Is there another book in you?

Yeah.  For the first time in my life, I’m doing exactly what I want to do.  I was never really happy as a stock broker.  It was a way to make money, for me.  When I retired, I played golf for two years and generally just floundered around; not only purposeless but unhappy and wondering why.  So, I’m going to keep at it.  I’ve started my next book, A Penny Saved and again, the Muse has taken it away from me.  I’m using the incident about the penny that happened to me for the ending of FNG to be the catalyst for a retiree and Vietnam veteran who, while sitting in a parking lot of Home Depot, shoots and kills an illegal immigrant who is attempting to carjack his Pick-up truck.  He is angry with himself but also with the circumstances which set up this debacle and, while stepping over a penny on his dining room floor, comes up with the way to legitimize our broken political process, using the internet and continuous referenda.  He uses his life's savings to get the idea out to the public so that they can either concur or reject the idea and, well… I don’t know what’s going to happen, either. I do know that his spirit guide begins talking to him through his best friend; his Chihuahua, Buckshot and we’re off to the races.

Wow!  Sounds interesting; and you don’t know where it’s going?

I don’t have a clue. Just like writing FNG, it’s already taken off on its own and I’m just running along beside the characters as fast as I can, hoping that I can get it down on the page before they get away from me. Seriously, that’s just about what it’s like.

I can’t wait!  How long do you think it will take you to finish it?

I really couldn’t say. FNG’s still taking up so much of my time that I haven’t written a word on the new book in over a month.  I intend to get back into it in the next few days and then try to discipline myself to three hours a day.  If I can do that, I should be able to complete it within three or four months.  And now that I realize the value of a good editor, I can toss it to her, as soon as I’ve re-written it once and get on with whatever’s next.

OK, John; the best of luck to you.  Please be sure I get a Galley of A Penny Saved as soon as one’s available. I’m seriously interested in seeing what the Muse comes up with, this time.

I certainly will, Lois.  Thank you for your interest and kind words.  I’ll try not to let you down.