Bruce James Wilkinson

Bruce James Wilkinson was born in the State of Washington in 1949. He studied creative writing at Washington State University. He has lived in the U.K. and Spain, on the east and west coasts of the United States, in Montana and, 2012 to present, the Republic of Ecuador.

His recent work includes two short story collections and a novel published under his own imprint, Pork Pie Publishing, in Santa Ana de los cuatro Ríos de Cuenca, Ecuador.

You can find him at brucejameswilkinson.com, and follow him on Facebook, @brucejameswilkinson.

AN INTERVIEW WITH BRUCE JAMES WILKINSON

Q. You’re reluctant to talk about yourself. Why?

A. To be accurate, that’s not entirely true. I love to talk about myself and I do it all the time. I try to curb talking about myself in most social situations, to hide the fact that I’m self-centered. I’m always ready with a long, wordy opinion about any subject, whether I know anything about it or not, and my opinions are often condescending.

Q. So, you’re a know-it-all and a mansplainer. I drew a wrong conclusion, apparently, from the fact that you’ve been putting off this interview for decades.

A. You didn’t let me finish. Don’t feel bad. No one does because I’m never finished. It’s a matter of context. It’s one thing to wax eloquent about unfounded opinions. What you’re asking of me is that I talk about my accomplishments and my value to the human community. Reluctant is an understatement in that context. I’d rather be shot. I don’t have accomplishments and I’m of no value to other people.

Q. Oooh. Maybe we should start with something simpler to get you warmed up. Vital statistics, facts and figures about you.

A. You’re right. That would be easier. It’s not going to create accomplishments or value out of thin air, though.

Q. Everyone has accomplishments and value.

A. That’s a crock of [expletive deleted]. I don’t, and I have lots of company. In fact—

Q. Maybe we should get back to facts and figures …?

A. If you say so. I’m seventy years old. I’ve retired, which means that I’ve given up on the unsatisfying gainful employment that is the usual result of living an aimless life without ambition or goals. I live in Ecuador. I’m a modest man in every way but attitude.

I’m short, boring, unattractive to anyone who can see or hear, and mundane. Vain, though, because when I look in the mirror, unwarranted pride overrides what I see. Most people ignore me unless I back them into a corner.

I’ve only had two persistent goals in my life: to write fiction and to retire somewhere outside of the United States for the adventure of it. I’ve accomplished both because they finally wore me down. I didn’t realize my dreams. I fell into them when there was no other default aimlessness available.

Q. Let’s talk about the writing. You’re an author. The tagline on your website says: “Fiction is the line of least resistance between reality and truth.” What do you mean by that?

A. I took that down. It sounded pompous. I am pompous, but I don’t want everyone to know it as soon as they stumble over my website. They should have to buy my books to find that out. Which brings up the word “author.” I’m not comfortable with that. I’m okay with “writer.”

Q. In the context of fiction, what’s the distinction?

A. I don’t know anyone else's distinction, but for me, a writer is one who writes intentionally and regularly. An author is a writer who produces work someone is willing to read. And pay for, preferably, but I’d take just the reading part. I don’t know where the line occurs. I’m pretty sure it involves more than one or two readers, though, who the writer browbeats into reading a few pages.

Q. Oooh. Pompous or not, what did you mean by the tagline before you took it down?

A. You’re big on oooh. I was speaking as a reader. I am that, and I’ve been that since I was five. My best reading experiences with fiction have always involved the author picking away at something like Michelangelo picked away at marble, to expose recognizable truth. The essence of something. Fiction is better suited for that than non-fiction, in my experience, because fiction can dispense with inconvenient facts. Fiction writers get to create their own environments and stock them with their own facts. It gets rid of a lot of distraction.

Q. That’s better. I had hoped to get to your writing achievements, awards, accolades and honorable mentions, but we’ve run out of time.

A. If we still have two seconds, it’s enough. There ain’t any.

Q. Now, we really have run out of time. Thank you.