Travel memoir lab: Truth, luck, & multi-genre storytelling (with Tom Bissell)

Oct 17, 2023

Tom Bissell, an accomplished author and journalist known for works like The Disaster Artist, shares insights from his eclectic career. He candidly discusses his rocky start in the Peace Corps and the serendipity that shaped his writing journey. Luck and perseverance play pivotal roles in his growth, while he explores the art of transforming real people into compelling nonfiction characters. Bissell reflects on the dichotomy of commercial success and personal pride in his works, urging creatives to embrace vulnerability and detach from external judgments.

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ANECDOTE

From Agoraphobia To Harper's Internship

Tom Bissell joined the Peace Corps to conquer severe agoraphobia and was sent to Uzbekistan. He returned early feeling he had failed, then got an internship at Harper's Magazine that redirected his career.

INSIGHT

Luck Shapes Writing Careers

Luck plays an outsized role in a writer's career and often determines which opportunities land. Recognize luck to stay humble and keep multiple 'oars in the water' for financial resilience.

ADVICE

Learn One City Of Writing

Treat narrative skills as transferable across genres by focusing on detail, truth, people, and narrative. Learn principles of other modes instead of confining yourself to a single 'neighborhood' of writing.

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“Not everyone who’s lucky is talented and not everyone who’s talented is lucky.” –Tom Bissell

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Tom talk about Tom’s lack of travel experience when he joined the Peace Corps, and how he dealt with his early failures (2:30); the role that luck (as well as craft and obsessive reading) has played in his writing career (8:00); how, as a writer, to turn real-life people, including yourself, into convincingly human and honest nonfiction “characters” (16:00); Tom “failures” as a writer, the challenges of screenwriting, and the difficulty of writing books that sell (38:30); the book that Tom is most proud of, and how to get out of the success/failure dichotomy as a creative person (47:00); plus a post-interview segment about drinking in Paris (56:00).

Tom Bissell is an American author, journalist, critic, and screenwriter. He is the author of such books as Chasing the Sea, Apostle, God Lives in St. Petersburg, Extra Lives, and The Disaster Artist.

Notable Links:

Rolf’s Paris travel memoir workshops (annual classes)
Salt and Fire (2016 Werner Herzog movie)
Star Wars: Andor (TV series)
Harper’s Magazine (literary publication)
Aral Sea (endorheic lake in central Asia)
Steven Soderbergh (American film director)
Ryszard Kapuściński (Polish journalist and author)
A Sense of Direction, by Gideon Lewis-Kraus (travel memoir)
“War Zones for Idiots”, by Tom Bissell (essay)
Lucasfilm (American film and TV company)
Tony Gilroy (American screenwriter)
Michael Clayton (2007 legal thriller movie)
Greg Sestero (American actor and model)
Tommy Wiseau (Polish-American filmmaker)
The Room (film regarded as the worst movie ever made)
Creative Types, by Tom Bissell (short story collection)
The Father of All Things:, by Tom Bissell (memoir)
Heraclitus (ancient Greek philosopher)
Stoicism (school of Hellenistic philosophy)
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Russian writer and dissident)

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lu mber.

Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.