Percival Everett Interview

On Tuesday, February 5, 2008 I had the opportunity to attend Percival Everett’s interview. He is an experimental author. He loves fiction and stories. It was a very interesting interview. Unfortunately I was only able to be there for about thirty minutes because of class. One of the first questions I heard was “How do you feel about violence?” He said “I am a pacifist.” He said there is never a reason to raise a hand to anyone. I liked this statement. He was also telling everyone how he is mostly wrong. I liked this too because he admits to being just like everyone else. Percival Everett had a great sense of humor. He said things like “If you want to feel bad, write a story.” He also told us a funny story about a Home Depot experience. Also he said he always listens to his editor because often she is right. Everett said he is not interested in facts, but he does like to prepare himself before he writes a book. He said for one of his works he read five or six books. He said he even prepared by doing hands-on things. He talked about when he writes a novel he must have an openness to the world. He finds a different voice with every book. One thing I thought was interesting was he said the stories come to him. I have never read any of his works, but after listening to everything he said I would like to one day read one of his works. He was very funny, and I enjoyed listening to everything he had to say.