Pubdate: Sat, 27 Sep 2003
Source: Idaho Statesman, The (ID)
Copyright: 2003 The Idaho Statesman
Contact:  http://www.idahostatesman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/204

BOISE WRITER'S 'GRITTY' BOOK TAKES LOOK AT THE DRUG WAR

Boise writer Everardo Torrez celebrates the publication of his first novel, 
"Narco," (Arte Publico Press) on Tuesday.

A graduate of the Boise State writing program and a winner of several 
writing honors, Torrez will discuss his book on campus as part of Latino 
Heritage Month.

The atmosphere of "Narco," by Torrez's own admission, is "gritty." It's the 
story of Nando Flores, a smuggler of cargo both animate and inanimate 
across the Mexican border.

Flores' arrangement to help a woman named Xiomara (pronounced 
"See-oh-mara") get to the border city of Juarez puts him in the company of 
sinister characters.

We caught up with Torrez by phone.

First the basic question ... how do you describe your book for people who 
haven't gotten their copy yet?

It's an in-depth, ethnographic view of drug smuggling and the drug cartel. 
Basically, I was interested in staying away from the traditional, political 
view of the drug war. I wanted to step back and see if there's a different 
reality. I wanted to focus on the people, on how people become involved, 
what motivates them, that sort of thing.

The cover of the book is really neat. My only concern is that it's a little 
misleading. It makes it look like "Narco" is a "guy" book, but it's not.

The female characters are equally important, if not more so than the male 
characters. The book is very driven by the female presence.

Was it hard, as a man, to write female characters?

No. I enjoy writing from a feminine perspective. I don't know how 
legitimate it is, but I find it's enjoyable to write from that perspective. 
With me, it stems from curiosity, wondering what it's like to look at the 
world from a different perspective.

Your protagonist, Nando, is kind of an anti-hero ...

Exactly. None of my characters are traditional "protagonists" or 
"antagonists.'" They're a little bit of both. This stems from the whole 
culture of the drug trade. It's bad, but it also generates money for the 
poorest communities. It's a very gray situation. A gray subculture. I guess 
my characters reflect that.

What was the creative impetus for you?

The book was my master's thesis for the writing program. My educational 
background has always been in writing, both undergraduate and graduate.

With this book, I wanted to find a place or situation where I could really 
focus, sit down and write a book. Getting into the writing program helped 
me do that.

I've always had this plot idea in my head. There have always been movies on 
the subject, like "Traffic," "Blow," or who can forget "Scarface"?

"Traffic" was supposed to be open-minded, but it was still good vs. bad, 
black vs. white, and that drugs are bad, and here are the reasons. I 
thought, well, maybe it's more complicated than that.

Maybe that's one reason we haven't solved the drug problem. Because we're 
looking at it in a linear way.

I based "Narco" on "standpoint theory," a communication theory in which 
there is no absolute truth. I thought, hey, this would be a great story, 
and I want to write it.

Just as a side note, the final version of the book doesn't contain one 
chapter that I wrote about a character who's the closest to being a "bad guy."

The chapter told about his background. I wanted to present him, but also 
tell how he became the way he was.

This is really the whole point of the book - sure, a character did a bad 
thing and there were bad consequences, but this is why it happened.

The missing chapter is one of the things I felt bad about. But the editors 
wanted a more action-driven plot. And that chapter was more surreal ...

You did the writing program at Boise State ... and I'm sure you know, there 
are lots of people who believe in writing programs and lots of people who 
don't. What do you think?

I think they're good. They allow you to go in and focus on writing, share 
your writing and get feedback. Hopefully, you have a professor who can tell 
you what to look out for and give practical advice about publishing.

Do you think there's a danger of writing programs churning out writers with 
similar voices?

There could be a danger of that, but if someone's a good writer, they're 
not going to be influenced too much. They're going to write how they feel 
most comfortable.

I don't think you can teach someone to be a good writer. Being a good 
writer is being a good observer, being good at translating thought and idea 
to words. Really, it's all about practice. It's not like getting a law 
degree or a medical or engineering degree. Writers either have it or they 
don't.

What aspects of writing do you find yourself consistently praised for by 
your peers?

I've been told that I'm good with description, that I set a scene very 
well. "Narco" is a very gritty book in a lot of ways. I think I tried to 
focus on smells, on creating the world. I won't go into a lot of exposition 
about a door or something, about how it looks, or hangs, but I'll try to 
find key aspects of a situation or place, how that place makes a character 
feel.

So there are lots of parts in the book where I think you get that gritty 
feeling of what it's like to live on the border. But I also think there are 
places in the book with romantic or poetic ways to look at the world.

For example, there's a part where someone whom the female character Xiomara 
loves gets killed. This is right at the point where she feels the most 
desperate and alone. She looks around and sees all the people she lost in 
the air or in the trees, like they're with her. There's almost a sense of a 
surreal type of beauty. Both grit and beauty are present.

What's next for you creatively?

I've started a project that centers around the killings of young women 
going on in Ciudad Juarez (a rash of unsolved murders over the past decade).

For the new novel I have to do more research; I hope to go down there, but 
I'll basically research the same way I did for "Narco," read crime books, 
psychology books - psychology in the sense of the criminal mind.

There's something very ominous about the Ciudad Juarez killings. They have 
to be tied somehow to somebody with political connections and money, I 
think. It's too big. There are too many victims - by different accounts, 
from 200 to 400.

I've fallen in love with the novel form and am finding that the writing 
part is more enjoyable the second time around.

What book was helpful in writing "Narco"?

There's a book called "Drug Lord," by Terrence Poppa. Poppa actually spent 
time with a famous drug lord [Pablo Acosta] before he was killed. While 
Poppa was down there investigating, he himself had hits put out on him.

How do you make time for your writing, plus your day job and family life?

Luckily, I write for a living. I'm a technical writer at HP, so it's an 
easier transition. But finding the time to write is the difficult thing. I 
have a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old. I'm pretty productive at night, between 
10 p.m. and 2 a.m. It's hard if you don't have a schedule and routine 
because when you go to write you have to reimmerse yourself in the story 
and reacquaint yourself with your characters.

What was it like when you first got the news that someone wanted to publish 
your book?

In all my writing classes we were told that we had to find an agent - that 
we had to start getting short stories published so an agent would notice 
us, that we shouldn't bother approaching publishers without an agent.

I sent query letters to six agents, and one to one publisher, Arte Publico 
Press, that was willing to read submissions directly from writers.

All six agents said, "no," but the publisher said, "yes."

They wrote me back and said they liked the book, but there were some things 
they wanted me to change. I resubmitted the book and four months later I 
got a contract in the mail.

So was that just, like, the best thing ever?

It was literally a dream come true. I mean, I was literally having dreams 
about that letter the whole time before I got it. Then it actually 
happened. How many times in your life can you say your literal dreams came 
true?

It's been a huge learning experience. There's a whole business to books. 
The publisher has been great, though. I found out that they're one of the 
oldest and largest publishers of Hispanic literature.

What are you reading these days? Any good recommends for our readers?

One of the most influential books I know is "Aztec," by Gary Jennings. It's 
the best book I've ever read. It's about a thousand pages long, about the 
Aztec empire. It's incredible.

Lately I've been reading more non-fiction biographies. I liked the John 
Lennon biography by Arthur Goldman. I don't think it was "authorized," but 
.. and here's one that will throw everybody off. Another interesting book 
is Marilyn Manson's autobiography.

As far as fiction, anything by Clive Barker. I love Clive Barker. His 
writing influenced me as I was growing up. And you gotta love Stephen King. 
I also have to say T.C. Boyle. He was my professor at USC and he's 'the 
guy' right now that fiction writers are using as a standard.

Tell us a little about your talk on Oct. 4.

I'll talk about the academic background of the book and will do a reading, 
talk to people and sign their books. Afterward, I'll invite everyone over 
to my house where we can drink something a little more substantial than 
fruit punch.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom