April 28, 2005

They Smile to Your Face

The other day I was wondering aloud about the differences and similarities between the rock and roll interview and its "literary" counterpart. This breezy profile of Ron Howard's wife Cheryl, who (like Linda Bruckheimer and Gigi Grazer) is a budding Hollywood Wife Novelist, is another case in point.

I'm familiar with the scenario: a pleasant, fluffy, vapid journalist conducts a pleasant fluffy vapid interview, which is then turned into a barely-veiled hatchet job designed to leave the impression that you're the one who is fluffy and vapid.

I admit, it's hard not to join in to the spirit of the thing. Cheryl's quotes are pretty funny, and rich people are always fair game. She has gazillions of dollars, plus "assorted donkeys and minihorses" to console her if the literary thing doesn't work out. I'm with the New Yorker on this one, trust me: I hate rich people and their god-damn minihorses, too.

The New Yorker lady's wry mockery can be kind of funny, also:

If Grazer, who writes kicky social comedy (her book “The Starter Wife” comes out in June), is the Jane Austen of the group, and Bruckheimer, who favors steel-magnolia family sagas (“The Southern Belles of Honeysuckle Way”), is the Rebecca Wells, then Howard, who has red hair and a warm, can-do nature, could be called the movement’s Graham Greene.

The Graham Greene of the Hollywood Wife Novelist Movement. Ouch. Plus, the article's author gets to demonstrate that she knows who Jane Austen and Graham Greene are. That is one sophisticated lady.

I'm pretty sure Cheryl Howard's book isn't my cup of tea, and I doubt I'll end up reading any of The Movement's literary output. I kind of feel for her, though: I'm sure she won't like that Graham Greene crack. Or maybe she will. It might make a good blurb.

Anyhow, one thing is clear: you can't get away from that "what are your influences?" question. It's always the first one. Cheryl Howard's are "Stephen King, Robert Ludlum, James Clavell, and Nelson DeMille, along with Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky."

I think it's usually best just not to answer that question, actually.

Posted by Dr. Frank at April 28, 2005 04:45 PM | TrackBack
Comments

so, basically, her influences are whatever she can buy off the rack, while standing in line at safeway. And Tolstyo and Dostoyevsky, because she heard they were important.

Posted by: jodi at April 28, 2005 05:44 PM

yep. sound pretty much like that Jody. o.... it's bad to mention captain beefheart? if you are in a rock band? or better yet, real authentic old guys with no teeth who were rocking since before any of us were born and will be rocking long after they bury us? i remember years... decades even where no one mentioned jimmy Hendrix or the Beatles even. Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters? day-um frank. I did it. I am one interactive muther now.
yers,
C

Posted by: chuck prophet at April 28, 2005 07:29 PM


pre-beatles were the days...i remember without even being that old.

Posted by: just me at April 28, 2005 09:16 PM

Look, she may be lame and all, but there's nothing wrong with a little Stephen King. He's not a bad writer; just a pop novelist. As such, he will always be lumped in with the Dean Koontzes and Robert Ludlums- guys who shouldn't be able to publish a letter to the editor, much less international best-sellers. Stephen King's great though. Didn't you ever read those goddamn fantasy/westerns?

Posted by: Molly at April 28, 2005 09:30 PM

Whoa, Chuck Prophet...distinguished company.

Posted by: marc w. at April 28, 2005 10:09 PM

If I had her money and time and connections oh what literary masterworks I would produce! I'd just sip large, dilute bourbon and ginger ales on the verandah and type type type on my laptop.

Cosmic justice is all askew. Those prizes are rightfully mine.

In fact, I am also influenced by Steven King and those Russian guys myself, but more in my personal life than literarily, but it still maps onto the same Venn surface in grossly equivalent fashion.

Makes me feel an almost Bolshevik hatred of the wealthy. At least the ones who married into it.

Yeah. **** her and the minihorse she rode in on.

Posted by: Lexington Green at April 29, 2005 12:07 AM

interesting story about how she got her inspiration:

“I said, ‘Sensei, you’re a Rajput? Sensei, that’s so incredible,’ ” she explained. “The family in my book are Rajputs.”

Posted by: r a e d y at April 29, 2005 01:03 AM

I'm certain I'll never read Cheryl Howard's book, but hats off to Ron-Opie-Ritchie-Cunningham-Howard for staying married to her for 30 years.

As for answering the question, I'm with Dr. Frank. It's always more amusing when the interviewer TELLS you who influenced your music or writing!


Posted by: j francis at April 29, 2005 01:49 AM

I don't think there is anything wrong with Stephan King, either, actually. I'm far from a book snob. "The Talisman" is one of my favorite all time books. And I remember when I read "It" and "The Stand," I loved them, could not put them down. I've read them many times since. And, I have just recently started the Gunslinger series. And it's great!

My only observation is the total number of mass market pop novelists she lists as influences. It just seems a bit limited, but hopefully she's taken her enjoyment of those books and explored lesser known authors and genres. Otherwise, her writing is destined to be fairly flat.

At least she didn't list Nora Roberts.

Posted by: jodi at April 29, 2005 01:53 AM

When Hemmingway was asked who his influences were didn't he answer "Jack Daniels, Seagrams, etc..."?

Posted by: Zaphod at April 29, 2005 10:31 AM

You should try that in your next interview, Dr. Frank, throw in "...along with Tchaikovsky and Chopin".

Posted by: JB at April 29, 2005 11:40 AM

let's play cheryl howard exploits your homeland!

Howard is considering visiting the Eastern bloc for her next project. “I researched Bhutan at one point, but there’s just not much conflict there,” she said. “I’m thinking about Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary. I like picking two or three countries. And Transylvania, because I’ve got a feeling there’s a lot more there than just mythic vampires.”

hey, bhutan, could we get a little more conflict? transylvania, less vampires? thanks. puke.

Posted by: r a e d y at April 29, 2005 11:05 PM

one of my influences is Tchaikovsky.... /sigh no joke.

Posted by: lucky409 at April 30, 2005 12:42 AM

Been a big MTX fan since I was in 7th grade. Now I'm a junior in hs. Found your blog online and it is loltastic. dr frank is god

Posted by: QuakerLT8 at April 30, 2005 04:08 PM

"I'm really influenced by Mozart and Bach, and it's sort of in between those, really. It's like a Mock piece..." - Nigel Tufnel

Posted by: Hulka at May 1, 2005 12:39 AM

I do a lot of writing (sadly still unpublished) and Doc is certainly one of my biggest influences, although I'll certainly never be nearly as exceptional a writer as he is, I still wouldn't call him a God. I mean he is after all, a human being like the rest of us. More talented, crafty, and for all intents, and purposes more intelligent than most of us perhaps. But he still has to eat, sleep, and crap too. On the other hand maybe Quaker is a slightly more rabid fan than the rest of us too. Hopefully not so rabid that it requires a restraining order. ;). All kidding aside though (and I hope Quaker realizes I was partialy jesting), Your work really has influenced many people's writing be it lyrics, poetry, novels, etc. Probably more than you realize.

Posted by: Rich at May 1, 2005 04:15 AM

i heard Dr. Frank walks on water...

Posted by: lucky409 at May 1, 2005 10:23 PM

...that's because he can't swim.

Posted by: JB at May 2, 2005 04:51 AM

lol .... good point.

Posted by: lucky409 at May 3, 2005 06:26 PM

I am a book snob and for good reason- some books are just put together better than others. Stephen King sucks. His plots are dull and predictable and his language is hardly mediocre.

Posted by: Leslie at May 4, 2005 08:51 AM

The Graham Greene of the Hollywood Wife novelist movement? I'm not even sure I know what that means. Besides, I've always liked Graham Greene.

Posted by: mikes at May 5, 2005 04:32 PM

I have a whole bunch of responses in my head which, alas, I don't feel awake enough to put down here, and now.

But another alternative to the "who are your influences" question (beyond the obvious shown in the fine film The Committments) is to mention those who genuinely are, but whom simply are not particularly known to the Main Stream Culture.

Sigh. Yeah, remove my italics and formatting, because I only do that for my own entertainment, and it's no effort at all to write carefully. Whatever. (Next, maybe the html should run all words together, and remove capitals and punctuation, along with, ah, punctuation and formatting; who cares, after all, about that stuff?)

Posted by: Gary Farber at May 6, 2005 06:25 AM