Latest / Cyrus Webb's tracks / Author David W. Berner discusses his writing career, new book AMERICAN MOON on Conversations LIVE

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Author David W. Berner discusses his writing career, new book AMERICAN MOON on Conversations LIVE · Cyrus Webb's tracks

0:00
Speaker 1: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Conversations Live. I'm your host,
0:02
Speaker 1: Cyrus Webb. Glad you all could join us once again.
0:05
Speaker 1: For our radio audience tuning in at WYAD 94.1 FM
0:08
Speaker 1: and WYADonline.com, we're glad that you all can be with us. Also,
0:12
Speaker 1: join us online, worldwide via our podcast at iHeartRadio and
0:15
Speaker 1: Amazon Music, as well through Conversations Radio Network. We're glad
0:18
Speaker 1: you all could be with us as well. I was
0:20
Speaker 1: just saying to our next guest, it's been a little
0:23
Speaker 1: while since he's been on our program.
0:24
Speaker 2: But award-winning author David W.
0:26
Speaker 1: Berner is back with us today with a brand-new book
0:29
Speaker 1: that just came out called American Moon. We're going to
0:32
Speaker 1: talk to him about the new book, what it's been
0:33
Speaker 1: like for him to continue to tell stories that he
0:36
Speaker 1: loves and that other people love as well. And also,
0:38
Speaker 1: what do you hope to be able to remember about
0:40
Speaker 1: the characters you meet in American Moon as well? David,
0:43
Speaker 1: welcome back to the broadcast.
0:44
Speaker 3: Cyrus, it's a pleasure to be here. You know, you
0:46
Speaker 3: mentioned a few minutes ago before we came on the
0:49
Speaker 3: air here that we haven't– the last time we talked
0:51
Speaker 3: was about eight to ten years ago, and I can't
0:54
Speaker 3: believe it's been that long. Yeah.
0:58
Speaker 1: Well, you know, David, I think it's because of social media, right?
1:01
Speaker 1: I think because we've stayed connected, you know, since that time.
1:04
Speaker 1: And that kind of brings us to this conversation, David,
1:07
Speaker 1: because you have people who have either followed you from
1:10
Speaker 1: book to book or are introduced to you because of
1:13
Speaker 1: new books. What has that been like for you to
1:15
Speaker 1: see the audience you've been able to build with your writing?
1:18
Speaker 3: That's a great question. Yeah, I think the audience has, well,
1:23
Speaker 3: it has grown, and I'm grateful to that. But also,
1:27
Speaker 3: it's spidered out, if I can put it that way,
1:31
Speaker 3: sort of like a web in that You know, my
1:34
Speaker 3: first books were memoirs, and I did have a memoir
1:37
Speaker 3: or two in between some other fiction books, novels. And,
1:41
Speaker 3: you know, those are kinds of different readers, really. And
1:45
Speaker 3: I love the interaction with my readers, good, bad, or ugly.
1:49
Speaker 3: I mean, I really do. I love it when people
1:52
Speaker 3: challenge me about something in the book or ask me
1:55
Speaker 3: a question about where that came from or how something
1:58
Speaker 3: may have touched them or whatever. maybe sparked an idea
2:02
Speaker 3: for them. I love that interaction. So the more people
2:06
Speaker 3: that I can get to with my work, it's really
2:09
Speaker 3: not all about the sales thing. It's about the connection
2:12
Speaker 3: between humans out there and readers. And I really love that.
2:16
Speaker 3: And it's a big reason why I do what I do.
2:19
Speaker 2: Yeah.
2:20
Speaker 1: Well, I was, as I was saying to you before
2:22
Speaker 1: we went on here, I was introduced to you through
2:24
Speaker 1: the book, Any Road Will Take You There, Journey of
2:27
Speaker 1: Fathers and Sons. And You mentioned something interesting. You mentioned,
2:30
Speaker 1: of course, whether they know you for the nonfiction work
2:33
Speaker 1: or the novels. I think people have gotten to not
2:36
Speaker 1: only know you, David, but also know some of the
2:38
Speaker 1: things that interest you, like music and adventure, but also connection.
2:43
Speaker 1: And that kind of brings us to the newest book,
2:46
Speaker 1: American Moon. So the book at the time that we're
2:48
Speaker 1: having this conversation, literally, I mean, it's just fresh out.
2:52
Speaker 1: Our audience can be able to get it on Amazon,
2:55
Speaker 1: the other platforms. At the time we're having this conversation,
2:57
Speaker 1: you know, of course, the book is available. What has
3:00
Speaker 1: it been like for you to see the way that
3:01
Speaker 1: people are responding to these characters?
3:04
Speaker 3: I think it's been wonderful. And I could say this
3:07
Speaker 3: about most of my books. I love the interaction I
3:09
Speaker 3: have with readers about I have I've had some early
3:13
Speaker 3: reviews where people have said, oh, I want I want
3:15
Speaker 3: more of Austin and Taylor. Those are the two protagonists
3:17
Speaker 3: in the story. I want more. I'd love to hear more.
3:20
Speaker 3: What's next for them? That kind of thing. And that
3:23
Speaker 3: just tells me that somehow those characters are resonating with people.
3:28
Speaker 3: And that that's important to me. you know, I, I
3:33
Speaker 3: write in a, in a style that I think is, um, and,
3:36
Speaker 3: and I don't mean this in terms of like patting
3:38
Speaker 3: myself on the back, but I've been told that it's
3:40
Speaker 3: sort of poetic. And I think that, um, that helps
3:45
Speaker 3: me bring the characters to life. At least I feel
3:47
Speaker 3: it does. And readers have told me that as much. So, um,
3:52
Speaker 3: that's important to me and the characters, you know, you know,
3:56
Speaker 3: this book and other books, um, They feel like real
4:00
Speaker 3: people to me because the way I write, I tend
4:03
Speaker 3: to take some things from my own life, at least
4:06
Speaker 3: elements of it, much like Hemingway did to kind of
4:12
Speaker 3: craft my stories. And there's a little bit of me
4:14
Speaker 3: in Austin. There's a little bit of other people in Taylor.
4:17
Speaker 3: So I really I like that. I like to be
4:20
Speaker 3: able to do that and to share sort of the
4:23
Speaker 3: lives of these people with others.
4:26
Speaker 1: And you've had so many other books that you have written, David,
4:29
Speaker 1: outside of the ones that you and I have discussed
4:31
Speaker 1: on this platform over the years. For those who are
4:34
Speaker 1: just discovering you, though, how did this all begin? How
4:37
Speaker 1: did you realize that not only was storytelling something that
4:41
Speaker 1: you enjoyed, but writing was something you wanted to share?
4:45
Speaker 3: That's a good question, too, and I've been asked it
4:47
Speaker 3: many times, but I like the way you asked it
4:49
Speaker 3: in that it came to be something I wanted to share.
4:54
Speaker 3: Because that's what I've been doing. And I started out
4:58
Speaker 3: in my career in my young days of being a broadcaster.
5:02
Speaker 3: And I was a broadcast journalist for many years. So
5:05
Speaker 3: I was telling stories for a long time. But I
5:07
Speaker 3: was also a musician. And I don't want to call
5:10
Speaker 3: myself a capitalized professional musician. I played in a couple
5:14
Speaker 3: of bands and had some fun doing it and wrote
5:16
Speaker 3: some songs and had some fun. But I was never
5:18
Speaker 3: in terms of being a professional musician. But in a sense,
5:21
Speaker 3: that was storytelling, too. And, you know, so in the end,
5:26
Speaker 3: when I started to get into my 40s, I started
5:29
Speaker 3: to really think of myself as a storyteller in all
5:31
Speaker 3: the platforms that I did it on. I didn't write
5:33
Speaker 3: my first book until I was in my 40s. And
5:37
Speaker 3: it came about with my.
5:40
Speaker 3: My two sons, I took a break from broadcast journalism
5:44
Speaker 3: and was teaching in a school. And I'd come home
5:48
Speaker 3: and tell them some of the stories that I had
5:50
Speaker 3: with these students who were from impoverished neighborhoods. And it
5:53
Speaker 3: was kind of a troubled school and school district. And
5:56
Speaker 3: I would tell them the stories. And these were stories
5:58
Speaker 3: that they were not familiar with. And they kept telling me, Dad,
6:02
Speaker 3: are you writing this down? And I felt pretty bad
6:04
Speaker 3: that I wasn't. So I started to do that, and
6:08
Speaker 3: it became my first book, Accidental Lessons. And that kind
6:10
Speaker 3: of just sparked it. As my wife says, it turned
6:13
Speaker 3: the faucet on. And, yeah, it just kept going.
6:19
Speaker 2: Yeah. And now here we are.
6:21
Speaker 1: Do you feel as though, you know, I have found,
6:24
Speaker 1: you know, and we're celebrating year 23 here, David, with
6:27
Speaker 1: Conversations Live. And I definitely feel like, even though I've
6:31
Speaker 1: always enjoyed it, I definitely feel like I've matured. you know,
6:35
Speaker 1: as a host, as a listener, I think over the years,
6:39
Speaker 1: do you feel as though over the years from book
6:41
Speaker 1: to book that you've been more confident in your own voice?
6:44
Speaker 3: That's another great question. You're good at this, aren't you?
6:50
Speaker 3: I would say that's true. And I don't know if
6:53
Speaker 3: the word confidence is right, but I feel more comfortable
6:56
Speaker 3: with my voice. I think that, you know, I think
7:00
Speaker 3: I'm always learning. I think any good writer will tell
7:03
Speaker 3: you that. Any writer who is Worth their salt will
7:06
Speaker 3: tell you that they grow every time they write their
7:08
Speaker 3: new book or their new short story or their new essay. And,
7:13
Speaker 3: you know, I go back and I read my first
7:15
Speaker 3: couple of books. And although I think I've written them
7:17
Speaker 3: well and publishers think they're good books and they did
7:22
Speaker 3: well and won awards and all that sort of thing,
7:24
Speaker 3: you know, I look at them now with a different
7:26
Speaker 3: sort of mind and a different set of skill levels.
7:30
Speaker 3: And I go, wow, I could have written that a
7:32
Speaker 3: little differently or a little better or something. But I
7:35
Speaker 3: think that happens to every single writer. I think that's
7:37
Speaker 3: part of the maturation process for any artist. You know,
7:43
Speaker 3: you look at visual artists who go through periods where
7:47
Speaker 3: they do one thing and then do something else. Picasso
7:50
Speaker 3: is a great example of being very different the next
7:53
Speaker 3: time they're out with their work. So I think there's
7:57
Speaker 3: a little bit of that. There's a little bit of
7:58
Speaker 3: that for me, too, that I've kind of discovered my
8:01
Speaker 3: own voice and discovered... So different ways to tell stories,
8:08
Speaker 3: character driven or plot driven or incident driven. There's a
8:13
Speaker 3: lot of ways to tell a story. And I've been
8:16
Speaker 3: lucky enough to be able to do that for 20
8:18
Speaker 3: years or so.
8:20
Speaker 2: Right.
8:21
Speaker 1: And that is a great segue back to American Moon.
8:24
Speaker 1: I want to say for those who are just tuning in, welcome.
8:26
Speaker 1: You're listening to Conversations Live, both for our radio audience
8:29
Speaker 1: and those tuning in on the podcast. We're excited to
8:31
Speaker 1: welcome back award-winning author David W.
8:34
Speaker 2: Berner.
8:34
Speaker 1: He's celebrating his newest book called American Moon. And you
8:37
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier about the character Austin. The other character we
8:40
Speaker 1: get to really get to know is Taylor.
8:44
Speaker 2: And both of these individuals, and it goes to an.
8:47
Speaker 1: Interesting point you just made about the stories you shared
8:50
Speaker 1: with your children, David, because I think a lot of
8:53
Speaker 1: times we don't realize how connected we are to other
8:57
Speaker 1: people until we hear their stories.
8:59
Speaker 2: So you have.
9:01
Speaker 1: Austin and you have Taylor who seemingly are so different,
9:06
Speaker 1: but on the inside are definitely dealing with the same
9:09
Speaker 1: challenges and struggles. What was it like for you to
9:13
Speaker 1: kind of bring them together and kind of connect them
9:15
Speaker 1: in this path?
9:17
Speaker 3: Well, I knew that I wanted characters, when I first
9:20
Speaker 3: started writing the story, American Moon, I knew that I
9:23
Speaker 3: wanted characters who were unsure of what they would be next.
9:28
Speaker 3: And what I mean by be is sort of their growth,
9:30
Speaker 3: their maturation. Was it going to be strong? Was it
9:33
Speaker 3: going to be good? Was it going to be troubled?
9:36
Speaker 3: What were they up to next? And I wanted two
9:38
Speaker 3: characters who both were on that sort of path, maybe
9:42
Speaker 3: not with the same elements necessarily, but So Austin is
9:46
Speaker 3: trying to find his way in the music business and
9:48
Speaker 3: he's had a difficult past with relationships and his parents
9:52
Speaker 3: and so there was difficult things in his life, you know,
9:56
Speaker 3: not unlike a lot of us really, but he was
9:59
Speaker 3: trying to find his way. And Taylor, unfortunately, became opioid
10:04
Speaker 3: addicted because of an accident she was involved with. And
10:07
Speaker 3: she was a young mother. And so she was trying
10:10
Speaker 3: to figure out how to navigate that, how to get
10:12
Speaker 3: past her addiction and be good for her daughter and
10:17
Speaker 3: So I wanted two characters that both needed to grow
10:22
Speaker 3: and to kind of find redemption or to find solace.
10:27
Speaker 3: And I wanted them to sort of be different in
10:32
Speaker 3: a lot of ways, similar in some ways, different in
10:35
Speaker 3: ways that made it almost unnatural to be together until
10:40
Speaker 3: they both realized that they were both searching. And then
10:43
Speaker 3: it was okay. And then it was good for them.
10:46
Speaker 3: And that's what the story does. It goes on a
10:48
Speaker 3: road journey with these two people who came together in
10:52
Speaker 3: a very unexpected way, surprising way, really, and found that
10:58
Speaker 3: they both needed each other for at least in that moment,
11:01
Speaker 3: in that time that they were together. And I love
11:04
Speaker 3: that part of the story. I really do, and I
11:06
Speaker 3: hope readers will like that part of the story, too.
11:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, and not to give anything away, David, but I
11:12
Speaker 1: think the other thing that I took away as a
11:13
Speaker 1: reader is letting them know that they were not alone, right?
11:18
Speaker 1: And I think that's the big thing for so many
11:20
Speaker 1: people today, feeling like they're all alone in this thing
11:23
Speaker 1: called the world. And I think these characters really helped
11:27
Speaker 1: us to see.
11:28
Speaker 2: Through their journey that we're not.
11:31
Speaker 1: But it's also, I think, to add to that, David,
11:33
Speaker 1: I thought about, too, that maybe, you know, help will
11:37
Speaker 1: come in places we don't always assume, right? And I
11:39
Speaker 1: think being open to that as well, being open to being,
11:43
Speaker 1: you know, willing to ask for help and, you know.
11:46
Speaker 2: Assistance as well.
11:48
Speaker 1: What was that like for you to think of that
11:50
Speaker 1: connection between them and the reader about the idea of,
11:54
Speaker 1: you know, no matter what you've been through, no matter
11:57
Speaker 1: what you may feel like you've done, that all is
12:00
Speaker 1: not lost for you?
12:02
Speaker 3: Yeah. And I really wanted that to shine through the story.
12:05
Speaker 3: I'm glad that you picked up on that because I
12:06
Speaker 3: think it's, you know, these are for these two characters
12:11
Speaker 3: in the timeframe that they are together, you know, it's
12:13
Speaker 3: a kind of an unkind world right now. And for
12:16
Speaker 3: them it was too. And reaching out to know other
12:21
Speaker 3: people's lives and know that we all have our stuff
12:25
Speaker 3: that we carry with us and our issues and our
12:27
Speaker 3: difficulties and that, you know, we talk about how people
12:32
Speaker 3: get along because they both like the same things or
12:36
Speaker 3: they have the same hobbies, but we don't talk a
12:38
Speaker 3: lot about how people can connect when they're both struggling
12:41
Speaker 3: for something or searching for something. And I think that's
12:44
Speaker 3: what happens with this story. These are two people, not
12:47
Speaker 3: unlike a lot of us who have something that is
12:50
Speaker 3: just really pulling them down. And when they know that
12:55
Speaker 3: other people are trying to drag themselves out of that
12:58
Speaker 3: hole too, it becomes almost empowering. And I think that's
13:05
Speaker 3: what happens in a lot of ways to these two characters,
13:07
Speaker 3: Austin and Taylor, is that they suddenly, they sort of
13:11
Speaker 3: go on a waltz together, as one early reviewer said.
13:15
Speaker 3: They go on a waltz together, and they dance a
13:18
Speaker 3: little bit for a time. And just in that dance,
13:21
Speaker 3: they kind of discover that they're going to be okay. Right.
13:25
Speaker 1: And then there's Grace, which kind of becomes this, Not
13:30
Speaker 1: only this source of innocence in the book, but I
13:33
Speaker 1: mentioned to you before we went on here, David, that
13:36
Speaker 1: scene that you wrote with. And I'll just talk broadly
13:39
Speaker 1: about it in the audience or realize that when they're
13:41
Speaker 1: reading it or if they have already read it, you know,
13:44
Speaker 1: the struggle between the bird and the snake.
13:46
Speaker 2: I'll say it that way. And Taylor kind of.
13:51
Speaker 1: Almost being matter of fact about that's just life, you know,
13:55
Speaker 1: and her daughter needs to know.
13:58
Speaker 2: That that's what life is like.
14:00
Speaker 1: What was that like to have Grace kind of be
14:02
Speaker 1: this almost this connecting force for these two individuals?
14:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I thought of Grace once I wrote
14:11
Speaker 3: the story and I'd gone through some drafts. I started
14:13
Speaker 3: to think of Grace, and she's the child in the story.
14:16
Speaker 3: She's the daughter, the young daughter of Taylor. who was
14:19
Speaker 3: only a couple of years old. And she, I wanted
14:24
Speaker 3: her to sort of be the shining star in this.
14:28
Speaker 3: And what I mean by that is like the, you know,
14:32
Speaker 3: the star that you focus on when you're sailing out
14:36
Speaker 3: of the ocean. To me, these people are kind of
14:39
Speaker 3: lost in the waters. And Grace is, you know, she's
14:44
Speaker 3: such a young woman, young girl that she, She's an
14:52
Speaker 3: empty nest and she's got so much to grow and
14:55
Speaker 3: learn and find out about. And the mother in that
14:58
Speaker 3: moment that you're talking about, while they're walking in the
15:01
Speaker 3: desert and there's a moment where a roadrunner and a
15:03
Speaker 3: snake get caught up together. But it was nature. It
15:07
Speaker 3: was normal. It was the thing that happens in nature.
15:10
Speaker 3: And she wanted her daughter to understand the realistic, I
15:12
Speaker 3: think at that moment, she wanted her daughter to start
15:15
Speaker 3: to see the world as it really is. the reality
15:19
Speaker 3: of it. And maybe for her in her young life,
15:24
Speaker 3: Taylor's young life, maybe she didn't have that. And it
15:28
Speaker 3: might be part of the reason where she was, where
15:30
Speaker 3: she was, where she came to be. And with the daughter,
15:35
Speaker 3: it's her chance to kind of do that for herself too.
15:39
Speaker 3: And I, and I think that's what Grace's character in
15:42
Speaker 3: the story. It's kind of the basis of that character
15:46
Speaker 3: is that she's the, She's the guiding light for these two.
15:50
Speaker 3: She reminds people that there's an innocent world out there
15:53
Speaker 3: that can bring everybody good. It can be kind. It
15:57
Speaker 3: can be naturally good for each other. And I don't
16:01
Speaker 3: want to turn it into a, it's not really a
16:03
Speaker 3: sappy kind of Hallmark movie story, but there's an element
16:07
Speaker 3: of goodness in there that carries these people along. And
16:11
Speaker 3: grace is sort of the symbol of that. I think
16:15
Speaker 3: that's what's happening there.
16:16
Speaker 2: Yeah.
16:16
Speaker 1: Yeah. You know, there's a nice line that you give
16:20
Speaker 1: to Austin, but I definitely feel like there's some David
16:24
Speaker 1: Berner in this as well, where Austin is having a
16:28
Speaker 1: conversation with Taylor. And one of the things that Austin
16:34
Speaker 1: says is life details never change. You can't run from yourself.
16:39
Speaker 1: Is that something that David would say to his own
16:43
Speaker 1: children and to others?
16:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I probably have. I don't think it's
16:48
Speaker 3: something that I, you know, run around the neighborhood telling people, but,
16:51
Speaker 3: but it's something I always think about, you know, it's like,
16:55
Speaker 3: you know, to be a good partner, to be in
16:59
Speaker 3: a good relationship, to have a good life, you have
17:02
Speaker 3: to somehow understand your own stuff. Um, and if you're
17:06
Speaker 3: running from it, if you're trying to hide from it, even,
17:10
Speaker 3: you know, eventually it's going to catch up with you. And, um,
17:14
Speaker 3: it can lead to difficulties and problems. And not that
17:19
Speaker 3: we don't all do this to some extent. I'm sure
17:21
Speaker 3: we do. We all play roles in our lives, you know.
17:25
Speaker 3: And I think that it's important to understand yourself and
17:32
Speaker 3: your own motivations, what you do well, what you don't
17:35
Speaker 3: do well, what you find, you know, where you find
17:40
Speaker 3: your goodness, where you know that you have maybe kind
17:45
Speaker 3: of an edgy side that you need to address. Those
17:48
Speaker 3: kinds of things, we all have it. But if you
17:50
Speaker 3: don't understand it and don't know it, you can't move
17:55
Speaker 3: from it. And I think that's what Austin's trying to do.
17:59
Speaker 3: And I don't think Taylor in the story is quite there,
18:02
Speaker 3: but she hopefully eventually gets there. And I think that's
18:06
Speaker 3: part of the give and take between the two of
18:08
Speaker 3: those characters is that they give each other a little
18:12
Speaker 3: something to help them Keep going. They're feeding off of
18:18
Speaker 3: each other. And I think that's an important part of
18:20
Speaker 3: the story with grace sort of being like the, you know,
18:24
Speaker 3: the star in the sky kind of pulling toward where
18:27
Speaker 3: they need to go.
18:28
Speaker 2: Yeah.
18:30
Speaker 1: Your your course, your love of music finds itself in
18:34
Speaker 1: this book as well. and with American Moon, too. And
18:39
Speaker 1: I think, again, there are so many different connected pieces
18:42
Speaker 1: that the reader will be able to take away. David,
18:45
Speaker 1: I have to ask you what may sound like a
18:46
Speaker 1: strange question, but I'm curious. When you first told me
18:49
Speaker 1: about the new book coming out, and, of course, at
18:53
Speaker 1: the time I only had the preview on Amazon to
18:55
Speaker 1: be able to look at, And then, of course, when
18:57
Speaker 1: I was able to read the book, you know, able
18:59
Speaker 1: to get.
19:00
Speaker 2: Into the story.
19:01
Speaker 1: Is this the book that you intended to write or
19:03
Speaker 1: did the book evolve from what you intended from the beginning?
19:10
Speaker 3: I think probably a little of both. I tend to
19:13
Speaker 3: write when I'm writing, especially when I'm writing fiction. I
19:17
Speaker 3: do not plan. I do not have an outline. I
19:21
Speaker 3: kind of have a sense of what I'm trying to say.
19:24
Speaker 3: And maybe a sense of a character or two. And
19:27
Speaker 3: then when I start to write it, I always think
19:30
Speaker 3: about scene first, like scene setting first. That's just how
19:35
Speaker 3: my mind works. And once I get that, I kind
19:39
Speaker 3: of let the story come out of me. I'm a
19:43
Speaker 3: believer that the story is already there. I just have
19:46
Speaker 3: to find a way to dig it out. Okay. do
19:50
Speaker 3: things like I'll spend an hour or two writing something
19:53
Speaker 3: and I go into the house out of my little
19:56
Speaker 3: office in the shed that I have here that I
19:58
Speaker 3: work from and I go in and my wife will say,
20:00
Speaker 3: so you know, how's it going? And what's going to
20:02
Speaker 3: happen next? And I say, I have no idea. Because
20:08
Speaker 3: I let it kind of come out of me. It's
20:10
Speaker 3: like evolves. There have been moments where I've just like, wow,
20:15
Speaker 3: where did that come from? And it's not to say
20:19
Speaker 3: that it doesn't get drafted and changed and all that
20:21
Speaker 3: or massaged in some way. But I really don't know
20:24
Speaker 3: where it's going next. So there is an evolution to
20:28
Speaker 3: it that I really don't understand. Norman Mailer said this
20:34
Speaker 3: kind of work, writing, is a spooky art. And I
20:38
Speaker 3: think in a lot of ways when you're writing fiction,
20:40
Speaker 3: it is. You really don't know where it's coming from
20:45
Speaker 3: or how it gets there. I find that fascinating. And
20:48
Speaker 3: I think that's the way I work.
20:50
Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you why I asked the question, because
20:53
Speaker 1: I feel like Um, and again, I'll talk broadly, but
20:57
Speaker 1: you'll know what I'm talking about. I think the character
20:59
Speaker 1: that had the biggest arc for me was Taylor. And
21:03
Speaker 1: I was just curious if you intended for her, for
21:06
Speaker 1: that to be the case for her when you initially
21:09
Speaker 1: created her.
21:10
Speaker 3: Well, when I initially created her, I didn't know whether
21:13
Speaker 3: she was going to be okay. And I, and you know,
21:17
Speaker 3: in a lot of ways, I don't want to get
21:18
Speaker 3: a lot of way of the story, but a lot
21:20
Speaker 3: of ways, you know, there's an element that you think
21:22
Speaker 3: she's going to be okay, but maybe not. But I
21:26
Speaker 3: didn't know what was going to happen to Taylor when
21:29
Speaker 3: I started writing. I wasn't sure if it was going
21:31
Speaker 3: to be, you know, good, bad, or ugly. And, but
21:37
Speaker 3: I agree with you. I think, you know, even though
21:40
Speaker 3: I think these two protagonists work well together and they
21:43
Speaker 3: both hold up the book's narrative, I think Taylor, you're right.
21:48
Speaker 3: I think Taylor has the biggest eye-opening change in this.
21:56
Speaker 3: I think Austin's development is more slow moving. But in
22:03
Speaker 3: a way, Austin is sort of like the foundation. He's
22:06
Speaker 3: the basis of a lot of this. So, you know,
22:11
Speaker 3: to watch Taylor shift and change and learn and grow
22:16
Speaker 3: is interesting to me. And, you know, I So there's
22:21
Speaker 3: a little bit of my sister in that character, Taylor.
22:29
Speaker 3: My sister, unfortunately, had many addiction problems when she was younger.
22:33
Speaker 3: And there's a little bit of her in there. I
22:35
Speaker 3: don't want to say that it's written about my sister
22:37
Speaker 3: or that in any way it is my sister. My
22:39
Speaker 3: sister didn't have any children, so that couldn't be it.
22:42
Speaker 3: But there's a little element of that, that my sister
22:45
Speaker 3: was always kind of searching for going to make her okay.
22:49
Speaker 3: And I think Taylor was doing that.
22:54
Speaker 2: Too.
22:55
Speaker 1: It's a wonderful story, and I cannot wait for more
22:57
Speaker 1: people to be able to get it. Again, American Moon
23:00
Speaker 1: is the new book.
23:01
Speaker 2: David W. Berner is the author. If you have not read.
23:04
Speaker 1: Any of David's other work, definitely make sure to add
23:07
Speaker 1: him to your reading list. David, congratulations to you again.
23:11
Speaker 1: So glad we were able to have this conversation together.
23:13
Speaker 1: How can our audience stay connected with you?
23:16
Speaker 3: Well, first of all, thank you, Cyrus. You're always wonderful
23:18
Speaker 3: to talk to. You always have great questions, good, insightful questions.
23:22
Speaker 3: I'm easy to find. Google my name, David W.
23:24
Speaker 2: Berner.
23:25
Speaker 3: It's B-E-R-N-E-R. A lot of people put a U in there,
23:27
Speaker 3: but it's B-E-R-N-E-R. You'll be able to recommend my website.
23:31
Speaker 3: I'm all over Amazon or Goodreads or bookstore.org if people
23:36
Speaker 3: want to help their local bookstores. If you're a bookstore
23:40
Speaker 3: person and they don't have American Moon, they can order
23:43
Speaker 3: it for you. But I love to hear from readers.
23:46
Speaker 3: So anybody out there who picks up American Moon or
23:49
Speaker 3: any one of my other books, I'd love to hear
23:52
Speaker 3: what you think. Personally, I'm easy to find. You can
23:54
Speaker 3: easily email me. And I hope they'll do that. I
23:57
Speaker 3: hope I love to interact with the readers out there.
24:01
Speaker 2: Love that.
24:01
Speaker 1: Well, congratulations again to you, David. Always a pleasure to
24:04
Speaker 1: speak with you and looking forward to our next chat together.
24:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is great.
24:09
Speaker 2: I love it.
24:09
Speaker 3: And I really enjoyed it. And you're always a pleasure
24:12
Speaker 3: to talk to you, Cyrus.
24:13
Speaker 2: Thank you. I appreciate that. You as well.
24:15
Speaker 1: And we thank your audience for tuning in to another
24:17
Speaker 1: great segment of Conversations Live. Until next time, I'm your host,
24:21
Speaker 1: Cyrus Webstein. As always, enjoy your day, enjoy your life,
24:23
Speaker 1: enjoy your world. Thank you for being with us here
24:26
Speaker 1: at Conversations Live. Let's go make today amazing.
24:28
Speaker 2: Take care.