Reading Local Q & A: "Mitch" from Wage Slaves

If you haven’t yet tuned into the new web comedy series Wage Slaves, than please do yourself the favor of watching the three episodes that are now live before reading this post.  Not only will the following interview make more sense, you will be amazed at what a $600 budget, and some creativity and determination can make happen.  The brainchild of Chris A. Bolton, co-creator of the webcomic Smash and author of the Portland Noir story “The Red Room,” Wage Slaves explores the age-old conundrum of “how you’re supposed to get by when your dreams just won’t come true.”  The main character, Mitch, recently graduated with an MFA in creative writing and moved out to Portland with designs on finishing his novel.  In the meantime, he is making ends meet at the Rose City Coffehouse, where he is surrounded by a cast of characters whose own dreams seem perpetually on hold.  So I thought it would be fun to send a few questions to “Mitch,” in order to get his take on Portland and life as a writer.  What follows are his responses, please enjoy.  And if you didn’t heed my earlier advice, please go watch the show now.

1) So you just recently moved to Portland, what brought you out here?

Portland has a vibrant literary scene teeming with adventurous small presses, up-and-coming publishers like Tin House, and a world-famous bookstore. I always say New York is where you go to get published by mingling at the right parties, but Portland is where you go to find solace among other writers with big piles of rejection slips. Also, my girlfriend in grad school dumped me to hook up with our professor and then won the school’s fiction award. I decided to make my way to the opposite coast from her.

2) You mention that you are working on a novel, can you give us a sneak peek as to what it’s about?

Well, I’m sort of trying to figure that out myself. It started as a chronicle of our fractured society, where we feel increasingly more isolated despite the flurry of so-called “social networking” devices, exploring the ways we seek connection through the power of the written word and how writers reveal the true meaning of our lives, told by an unreliable narrator. Then I added a young-adult vampire romance and the book kind of fell apart. Now I’m in the process of rethinking it.

3) Have you ever used a co-worker as inspiration for a character in one of your short stories? You think any Rose City Coffeehouse employees will be making an appearance in the novel?

Yes, although I didn’t consciously realize it at the time. I recently wrote a story in which an innocent man who’s mistakenly been sent to hell struggles to find a way out, but is stranded by otherworldly bureaucracy (I like the subtle echoes of Kafka and Milton, but neither The New Yorker nor The Atlantic Monthly agree). The story ends with my protagonist being mercilessly tortured by the devil, who slowly twists off each of his limbs, grills them over hellfire, and devours them in front of his horrified eyes. Only later did I realize I’d modeled the devil on my co-worker, Dirk. Now that I see it, the resemblance is striking.

4) Ever feel like you are just treading water as one of the seemingly infinite number of MFA’s underemployed at their neighborhood coffee shop?

If I’m honest, the truth is… no, never. Success is just a matter of meeting the right agent through the right family member at the right time.

5) What do you think it is that draws people to become writers, even if they know the odds indicate they will never be able to financially support themselves doing it? What was/is it for you?

I’ve never heard these odds. I hope to never give up my dream of being able to support myself as a writer. I’ve heard people say this kind of thinking is grandiose, even delusional, but I truly feel there is no obstacle so great that someone with enough drive, ambition, and talent can’t overcome it. I could make a very long list of writers who are vastly successful even though I don’t think they have an iota of talent, and I think anyone would agree my work fits just as well alongside theirs.