james zisken, the prank

Intriguing— read both for story and craft. You just keep getting better and better, James. This is another award winner, I’m sure. But I have questions to move more deeply into the reading.
 
   Can we start with the setting? You not only establish it as a place, but a character, with its name: HEPHAESTUS. A Greek God. Volcan. The myth states he had a tragic childhood: Mother cast him off “Jimmy’s mother’s dead,” rescued by ocean nymphs, second protagonist, Miss Finch. I think you give a clue to all of this when Jimmy talks about reading a Greek story in Miss. Finch’s class. Am I reaching too deep? Did you start with this story of Hephaestus? Do you study Greek myths for inspiration?
JWZ: Great question. I certainly chose the name Hephaestus carefully, in part for some of the reasons you cite, but also for practical purposes. It’s a fictional town in Central New York. People tend to apply the name “Upstate New York” to anything north of the Bronx. But to be perfectly accurate, once you’re west of Herkimer or Utica, you’re in Central New York. And Utica is one of the practical reasons I chose Hephaestus as my small town name. A quick look at any map of New York State will show you that many cities are named for European places, including a large number of Greek names. Utica, Syracuse, Ithaca, Troy, etc. So when I was looking for a name to fit a small working-class, industrial town, I thought of Hephaestus, who, as you rightly point out, was the blacksmith and armourer to the gods. And he indeed had a tragic childhood, not unlike my Jimmy in THE PRANK. One might even say the knife in my story could symbolize a weapon forged by Hephaestus. But, actually, I was mostly inspired by the Greek name, which fit the geography and the industry I had in mind for the story.
As for the Greek story in Miss Finch’s class, I was aiming at Oedipus, of course. The age difference between Jimmy and his teacher. But there’s also the story of Odysseus and the sirens. Hmm. You’re right. I seem to have injected quite a bit of Greek into this book…

     I love the minotaur-labyrinth you established for  your two sociopaths. Another reach? Jimmy’s luck after the prank is constantly turning corners to dead ends. Miss Finch, the same until your ending—I’ll come back to this. No real redeeming features with your protagonists? What are you saying here?
JWZ: I love your interpretations! Jimmy is a thirteen-year-old, so it’s only natural that his plans often go awry. One beta reader remarked that he’s constantly screwing up. Take the scene where he “steals back” Booker’s bike. It’s almost comical how many things go wrong. As for redeeming features, both protagonists are deeply flawed, for sure. I think flawed characters are so much more interesting than goody two-shoes. But in many ways, Jimmy and Patti are both trying to do what’s right. At least what they convince themselves is what’s right. Because, yes, they’re both a little easy on themselves when it comes to owning up to their flaws. Some beta readers reacted very negatively to Patti, finding her despicable and abusive. Yet she’s convinced she’s trying to help. And Jimmy? He has his own moral view of the world, and it is indeed sociopathic. Still, I admit that I like both of these characters very much. At least on the page. Not sure what I’d think of them if they were real.

  The community pushes for the truth—all except for the parents of all main characters. Thought-provoking for your readers, message?
JWZ: I definitely set out to make Jimmy’s father something of a ghost. He’s there, but he has no active role. He’s too damaged by the death of his beloved wife three years before. A hollow, drunken man, unable to feed himself or get himself to bed without Jimmy’s help. Jimmy’s partner in the prank is Booker. His parents are quite self-serving in their behavior, at least once they discover what actually happened during the prank. They’re hypocrites, of course, and are happy to ignore right and wrong when it comes to protecting their family name from scandal.

   The media also plays a significant role in your novel. In a time when our world is full of having trouble getting the story straight—fake media—do you find a parallel with the push of media presented in your novel  to current media today?
JWZ: I wrote the local reporter to be a catalyst in the story and maybe play the role of a Greek chorus. (Just kidding.) The reporter poses a threat to Patti’s reputation and her career and, as such, moves her to action. He’s a muck-raker and a jerk, but he doesn’t actually publish anything that isn’t true or corroborated.

  Okay, back to the ending. I don’t want to give anything away here, so I will be careful. Were you worried your readers wouldn’t be happy with the “ending?”
JWZ: Yes, of course. I worried that some might find it unsatisfying or creepy. Well, to tell the truth, I hope readers will find it a little creepy. That was the idea. I also worried the ending might be seen as a non-ending. Is that giving away too much? I hope not. Anyway, I can confidently say the ending is not pat, not tied up in a neat bow and all is right with the world. But both protagonists have grown and changed over the course of the story. I won’t say if they’ve changed for the better or the worse. But they’re not the same.

   How does an author go about crafting a plot like this? Did you plot backwards, from ending to prank? Straight from prank?
JWZ: For me it’s not always the same order. With mysteries, I tend to plot backwards from the end. But in this book, the idea of the prank definitely was the genesis of the whole thing. The rest followed. I don’t remember when or how the idea came to me exactly, but it was about four years ago when I was teaching middle school and thought it was a super premise for a story: two students accidentally kill their favorite teacher when playing an innocent prank.

   Some might find a parallel of your fictional Prank with the prank that recently ended tragically in real-time. However, I want to assure your readers, the prank you offer is merely a vehicle to unravel your story. How did you come up with the prank as the catalyst?
JWZ: I was shocked when I heard of that tragic, real-life story. Of course two kids accidentally killing their teacher with an innocent prank sounds great in a work of fiction. But when it happened in real life, I felt spooked and sad and conflicted. The coincidence, the parallels with my plot are chilling. It truly set me to thinking about the things we crime writers write about, and it gave me pause. It was incredibly sobering.
As for how I came up with a prank as a catalyst, I suppose it’s the tried-and-true technique of asking yourself “What if?” It’s the jumping off point. Lots of writers begin their plotting that way. What if two kids accidentally killed their favorite teacher? That, in turn, leads to more questions and more story. What if one of the two kids wants to tell and the other doesn’t? What if the one who doesn’t want to tell has good reasons not to tell? What if he doesn’t see right and wrong the way we’re “supposed” to see them? What will he do to protect himself and his father? If answered properly, those questions should produce a hell of a good story.

  There are many themes in this work. I define theme as “what the author wishes to say about a subject.” Morality is big here. Lying. Fiction vs. Reality in Perspective. Community. Myth. What themes did you begin with and then which manifested during the actual writing?
JWZ: While plotting and writing this story, I was very interested in good intentions and bad choices. To show those two themes, I decided two narrators would be the perfect structure. The two protagonists tell their stories, examine their motivations, and justify their actions. They both experience unexpected outcomes, even if those outcomes were of their own doing. Their own bad choices.
One irony is that Patti was well aware of the risks posed by her ill-advised choice to befriend her thirteen-year-old student, even if her intentions are altruistic. In reality, they’re selfish and self-serving. Jimmy doesn’t think far enough ahead to realize what he might be doing wrong. Instead, he’s motivated by the present. He sees the world through a lens of self-interest and the idea that only he can protect his damaged father.

 I know you are already working on another project. How do you know, as an author, it is the subject you should present next?
JWZ: My next project is set in New York City during the summer of Son of Sam. It’s the disco era. A bit of a mash-up of genres. Suspense with a touch of creepy supernatural.
 
Again, so enjoyed Prank. Your other books have always been quality work, but on the literary scale, this, I believe, exceeds what would have been expected.
 

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