Film Courage: What writing failure has taught you the most?
Tony DuShane, Writer/Podcaster/Teacher: It’s funny, the first novel I wrote was terrible but I think you have to write it to learn how to write a novel. It’s like you have to write a screenplay to learn how to write a screenplay. You just have to fail at the same time as you come to your first novel, you have to think Oh, it’s going to be published. It’s going to be great. Everyone’s going to love it. I’m a novelist! Then a year or two in and you’re like Yeah I can’t do anything with this, I got nothing. But you’ve put in the time and you kind of get the idea of what needs to be done in order to write a novel.
Film Courage: Did you think it was bad or did other people say it?
Tony: No, I thought it was bad and it was bad. It was all over the place. It was about a marriage that was breaking up and yeah it’s funny because it was like I wrote it like nine years before my marriage broke up. So maybe I was just foretelling my future? You know, I was young and precious. I think if I’m precious with my work that’s when there’s a problem. I can’t be precious.
Film Courage: Do you think you cared about the novel too much?
Tony: I think I cared about the label of me as a novelist too much. I think I was a little too hyped on that…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk by Tony DuShane – Check out the book on Amazon:
BIO:
Tony DuShane is the author and award-winning screenwriter of Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk. The book was published by Soft Skull Press and the feature film, directed by Eric Stoltz, was released in 2018 and is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. His journalism and essays has appeared in The Los Angeles Times, Mother Jones, Penthouse, The Rumpus, The Believer, and other media outlets. He teaches writing at UCLA Extension and his journalism has appeared in Mother Jones, The Los Angeles Times, and San Francisco Chronicle. He hosts the literary podcast Drinks with Tony every Wednesday.
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