John Baker’s Blog

1. Why do you blog?
I’m fascinated by the various forms our written storytelling takes. I began blogging mostly as an exploration of a new story model: Instant, intimate, worldwide, intentionally provocative . . . more like a jazz riff than a concerto. Within a few days after launching my blog, I was facing into the fearsome maw of Hurricane Rita, which I blogged as it approached then scored a direct hit on my town, Beaumont, Texas. The value of the blogging forum never seemed so clear to me as in those days.

2. Which author and/or book has most influenced you?
As an author, many have influenced me. Among them: John Fowles’ The Magus, which made me want to write novels as beautiful as it is (and I always wished I could have told Fowles that while he was alive.) Jack London’s Call of the Wild, which started me on a lifetime of reading. Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces, which clarified for me the storyteller’s role.

3. Which three blogs do you most visit?
I routinely visit many more than three, and almost always they are blogs maintained by my blogosphere friends. Some of my favorites are actually bloggers who tend to disagree with me about things, yet we have relationships that are not just civil, but downright friendly. It proves two people can disagree without being disagreeable.

4. Why do you read fiction?
I have mostly ceased being able to read for pure enjoyment. I now tend to look at every book I read the way a carpenter looks at a beautiful house. So now, I read fiction for mostly professional reasons: To review it, to learn from it, and a distant third, to escape.

5. What makes you laugh?
A good joke, a clever turn-of-phrase, The Three Stooges.

Ron Franscell blogs at Under the News, which can be found here: http://underthenews.blogspot.com

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