In In Their Words, writers published in The Feedsack answer questions about their work and sometimes read it aloud. This time it’s Gary Beck, whose short story “One More Year” ran here on October 24.
Where do you write these days?
I mostly write sitting on the couch with my papers, projects in progress and various other works placed nearby on the coffee table. I also get up during the night and write sitting on the edge of the bed whenever I get bright ideas.
Who were the first fiction writers you read?
When I was very young there was a bookcase in the house with books that nobody ever read. And I thought they were forbidden, taboo, illicit. I didn’t know what. So I picked up the first one and started reading and it was Charles Dickens. I read a batch of his novels and loved them. Some of them I thought were a little childish like Tale of Two Cities with the self-sacrifice, but it was brilliantly written. Then I read the complete short stories of O. Henry, the complete short stories of Guy de Maupassant, and then Shakespeare. That was my earliest reading. I was quite young.
Which writers do you count as major influences on your work?
A number of writers were major influences on my work. The earliest work on my poetry would have so many poets I couldn’t even begin to name them. But the last major influence was T.S. Eliot. From that point on I really didn’t look at anybody else except for pleasure. For plays, again it was everybody. I read plays from all over the world: Japan, Europe, Asia, any other place that I could find the literature. But Eugene O’Neill became my most influential playwright. For fiction, I guess Theodore Dreiser must have been my first major impact. After that John Steinbeck with his awareness of the struggles of America and inequality. Then Sinclair Lewis, Thomas Wolfe. I guess that should be enough. There are a lot of them on all kinds of literature.
Do you write every day or when the moment strikes?
I write every day. Frequently I’m working on multiple projects at the same time: poetry, novels, one-act plays. Occasionally I toss essays or short stories into the mix. And I’m currently working on a theater memoir project. I tend to keep busy regularly and I don’t like not to be writing.
“One More Year” opens with how the other players see the narrator: “I know what they think of me. An old guy cluttering the court, knocking off kids who have a chance to go somewhere.” Why start with their judgment instead of his own?
I spent many years in the tennis world as a player for a short time, as a coach, as a tennis consultant. I got to know it real well. I wrote many, many articles for Junior Tennis. So I’ve seen it all almost. Many young tennis players feel an older player is taking up space that they feel they’re entitled to. They think of him or her, if it’s a woman, as a spoiler. And if they lose to him, it’s even worse. There’s a perception, and it’s not accurate, but it’s real that tennis is a young player’s sport and the old players should move on to the seniors or some other clinic.
The narrator talks the way players talk, with “qualies,” “groundies” and kids who “don’t tank matches,” and the story never stops to explain them. How did you decide how much tennis language a reader could take?
I’m working in a period today where everybody watches TV, whether it’s at home on their phones, on their devices, and sports is a big part of it. I know that the tennis majors have enormous viewing all over the world. I think that these terms aren’t esoteric like in sumo or other esoteric sports. I think almost everybody knows the qualies, groundies, tanking. I mean, people tank in every sport. So I think these are within the realm of common knowledge, if not, again, I trust the intelligence of viewers to think they can easily figure it out. It’s not particularly esoteric. Besides, using these terms brings reality to the characters and it basically builds authenticity to their activities.
“Then the injuries came, all with initials or Latin names.” Take us through that line.
I don’t want to bore anybody with a long list of names because I’m certainly not a doctor. But the two biggies that tennis players get all the time, the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) and a rotator cuff tear on the shoulder. And those are frequent unfortunately and basically can end or halt the careers temporarily of many good players. Too many of them have to work through injuries and play no matter what hurt if they want to keep competing, winning money and being prestigious in their sport.
The story ends on a hope and a postponement: “That’s what my life has come to, the hope for one more year. Then I’ll worry about the future.” Did you know the ending when you started, or did you find it in the writing?
In this case it was built in, in a way: all tennis players who love the game hate to leave it. Many of them make intelligent decisions and leave when they should because of injury, because of peak in their career, whatever the reasons. And there are always good reasons as well as poor ones. But one truism is players who love the game hate to give it up. It’s a beautiful game. It’s fulfilling. It’s got everything that every true competition has without generally wasting time with fisticuffs, violence or other crap that spoils many of the sports. Yes, I think I knew it intuitively without even thinking about it.
Of your own stories, which is your favorite, and why?
I’ve never really thought about my favorite story of mine. Obviously I’ve thought about it for many other writers and have many. I didn’t start thinking about it until I saw this question, which really is a poser for me. There are a number of them that I love. I wrote some doggy stories that were far more than about a dog, obviously. They were social issues, other things. And they amused me, which most of my stories tend to be more serious.
But I guess my favorite is one called “The Man Who Shot Stonewall Jackson.” And it’s really about three generations of Americans in the 19th century. The first who goes to war in the War of 1812, the second who goes to war in the Civil War, and the third who goes to war in the Spanish-American War. And they all feel the disillusionment and horror that comes from war and battle. And they try to pass it on to their sons. And the sons never listen and always run off the minute they hear, “We’re going to war.” So I guess that is it. And of course I use an innocent fool who accidentally shot the famous Stonewall Jackson. And certainly did not know what he was doing but must have been punished for it.
What are you working on now?
Except when I was in my early or mid-teens and I started writing poetry, since then at some point or another I’ve been always writing things at the same time: stories, essays, plays. A number of years later, I guess, oh, about 20 years, 25 years ago I started writing novels and then kept writing more and more. So basically I’m always involved currently. I’m working on a memoir of my years as a theater director. It was my own company, Sidewalks Theater. I’m working on a poetry collection, a short story collection. I may be going to a novel where I had drafted the first six chapters when it was part of another novel to see what happens. As well as what I’m writing, I’m working with a couple of my publishers to get some of my books already written to press. So I’m always busy.
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