Interview with Joe
Clifford, 10 Questions https://joeclifford.com/
Questions for Joe Clifford (for Miami
Writers and Books, interviewed by Neil Crabtree)
·
Joe, tell us about your Miami
connection. You worked with the Creative Writing program at FIU, is that right?
Yes!
I earned my MFA from FIU back in 2008, an experience, to quote the Hold
Steady, almost killed me. I went through an ugly divorce and near-fatal
motorcycle accident that left me like Darth Vader (i.e., more machine than
man). But I’d do it all again in a heartbeat. I wouldn’t be a working writer
without Florida International. Certainly not writing mysteries, which is one of
the few markets with a built-in, profitable readership. Few MFAs even allow genre,
let alone encourage it.
·
Say My Name
is tremendously popular with readers. Give us a synopsis of the story and what
you think makes it work.
The book has done well.
Probably my best-selling effort since my debut, Junkie Love, my
memoir chronicling the ten years I spent as a hobo. Or at least Lamentation,
the first in the Jay Porter thriller series. Which is a little funny. I mean,
most of my publishers have been mid-sized indies (Oceanview, Polis)—and I love
them all. But for whatever reason, the small the press, the more I’ve
sold. I think part of that is owed to putting the whole thing on my back and
doing what I do best (being stubborn and banging my head against walls).
The synopsis? A mid-list
mystery writer returns to his hometown of Berlin, CT, with the hopes of
teaching at his alma mater, Central CT State, only to be sucked back into a
decades’ old cold case involving missing twins. Two of those things are true.
And I think you can apply that same formula to the rest of the book. Two out of
every three things you read is 100% factual. It’s couched as “true-crime
novel,” which, of course, can’t exist. One is true, the other make-believe. I
think that dichotomy factors into why it’s been working. There’s less distance
between the writerly “I” and the I “I.”
·
Tell us about your own story. How did
you decide to become Joe Clifford, Author?
This is the age-old
question, isn’t it? Do we choose our professions or do our profession choose
us? In my case, I’d say it’s a little of both. I’ve always been an artist. I
paint, draw, write, play music. All the skills that don’t come with a steady
paycheck or health insurance. I also can’t do anything else. I’m not a
“people” person. I’d last about an hour in an office setting. After the
motorcycle accident, I can’t do much physically. If I do do something,
e.g., golf, weight lift, exercise, I have to pick and choose spots, and I need
patches and pills, lidocaine injections, periodic spinal ablations, etc. I’m
also at a certain age (50-something) where I’m not learning a new skill set. I
am easily confused by my TV remote. I haven’t worked a conventional day job
since the mid-nineties. It’s writing or crime, and I tried the latter and
wasn’t very good at it.
·
Who are some Miami writers you enjoy?
Too many to list! All the faculty I studied under at
FIU (Les Standiford, Jim Hall, Dan Wakefield, John Dufresne, Campbell McGrath,
Denise Duhamel, and of course Lynne Barrett, who is the smartest person I’ve
ever met. And I can’t begin to touch on all the folks I studied with.
I’ll single out Jennifer McCauley, because she’s next on my TBR!
·
What are your writing habits? Do you
keep to a schedule?
I write in burst. Frantic, manic bursts. I think all
writers are a bit mad, aren’t they? I write two books a year, one in January,
one in August. Our subconscious does so much of the heavy lifting. I’ve kept
this pace for 10+ years. So when December and July roll around, my dreams start
getting … weird
·
How is your relationship with your
publishers?
Like I said, I’ve been published by mid to smaller
indies, so … easy? Most of these houses are a handful of people, so it’s quite
personal, your interactions. The ultimate question (for these houses) comes
down to: can I make money with this author? If the answer is no, or yes (for a
while) and then no, it’s nothing personal. That’s the part about writing you
need to keep in mind: it’s a business. The publishing part. The writing part?
That I’m doing with—or without—permission. My books are going to get out
there, one way or another. Which is a very liberating (and calming) feeling.
·
Tell us about your earlier books.
Can you narrow that down? It sounds like a humblebrag,
but it’s not. Or maybe it’s a straight up brag, I don’t know. I honestly lost
track of how many books I’ve written. I could take the time to count them up.
It’ll be between 17 and 20 (when the last one slated for publication, I
Won’t Say a Word: A Say My Name Novel, comes out in May 2024). If there’s a
theme or center, milieu, I tend to write about the marginalized
and voiceless that I know about, which is drugs addicts. Having survived
drug addiction, I have, like Liam Neeson, a specific set of skills. Or maybe
that should read “limited.” I know what it’s like to be homeless and hopeless,
so all my work contains some element of addiction, even if it’s only in
a supporting role. I have a book coming out in January 2024, A Moth to Flame
(Square Tire Books ©), and it’s domestic suspense, and the characters are all
suburban and married or at least live in a house, but the shadow of addiction
can still be seen.
·
Tell us about what’s next for you.
I’m working on a book about harm reduction with a
former professor. And I’ll be starting my next mystery in a few days. This one
is about a man who returns to the house he grew up in, with a strange request
of the new occupants: he’d like to die there. Of course from there things …
happen.
·
Do you remember John Dufresne’s
Friday Night Writers?
I do! But I’ll tell you what I remember more about
John. When I had my near-fatal accident in 2006, John and Cindy invited me to
live with them while I was recovering. I wasn’t even in a wheelchair yet. I
wouldn’t walk for six months! And here are two people, who I’ve known less than
a year, who offer to let me convalesce and come back to life and, literally,
learn to walk again. That tells you all you need to know about John, FIU, and
how I feel about that community. I owe them all a tremendous debt.
·
Are we going to be watching a Joe
Clifford movie any time soon?
Funny you should ask! Actually, a couple years ago, I
contributed to a collection called Culprits. It’s a collaborative
anthology about a heist gone wrong, edited by Richard Brewer and Gary Phillips.
Anyway, Disney+ bought it—and better yet it’s in production by Character Seven.
J Blakeson is the showrunner and the folks who produced Killing Eve
are handling that end of it. It’s supposed to come out soon. Although with
Hollywood’s refusal to pay writers fairly (I also side with labor), I can’t say
when that will be!
Thanks for having me, Neil. A pleasure!
