Q&A with Tim Tharp
Author Tim Tharp grew up in Midwest City, Oklahoma where he currently teaches at Rose State College in the Humanities Department. A graduate from the University of Oklahoma, Mr. Tharp received his Masters in Fine Arts from Brown University. The book jacket notes states, "Tim has been a factory hand, construction laborer, psychiatric aide, record-store clerk, and long-distance hitchhiker." What I found after reading his book, Knights of the Hill Country, was a writer who excels at creating deep characters as well as a rich story line.
As with all of us in this busy world, Mr. Tharp and I played phone tag briefly before we agreed to conduct the interview over e-mail. For both of us this allowed for timeliness and further inquiry by me. What I found was someone who is genial and polite. Our online interview follows:
Q: I read the biographical sketch on the book cover but was wondering if there was more you would like to add?
A: I think the following answers probably fill in enough extra biographical information.
Q: What inspired you to pursue writing?
A: My dad was a newspaper columnist and a great storyteller. Plus, having an overactive imagination seems to run in our family.
Q: What do you see as important ingredient for a Young Adult novel?
A: Believable characters.
Q: Your first novel was for adults. Knights of the Hill Country is a young adult novel. Is there one of these you are more comfortable writing?
A: Once I get an idea that grabs me and pulls me in, I am excited about being there. But for a writer who is interested in exploring why people are the way they are, the young adult genre offers a very energetic and immediate way of doing that. Several old novel ideas of mine seemed to spring back to life once I looked at them as potential young adult stories.
Q: Which genre, adult or YA did you find more challenging?
A: My adult novel, Falling Dark, was more challenging, but that had nothing to do with the genre. That novel was told from multiple points of view and the writing was more stylized. The same approach could be taken with a young adult novel, and in fact, I received very positive feedback on that novel from teens who had read it. In fact, visiting a high-school book club to discuss Falling Dark helped inspire me to write for a teen audience.
Q: Both Ohio and Texas are notorious for high school football extremes. Would you put Oklahoma high school football in the same category?
A: People certainly love their football in Oklahoma. Of course, there is a huge rivalry between Oklahoma and Texas at the college level, so, as a University of Oklahoma graduate, I'm obligated to say that in all things football, Oklahoma is much, much better than Texas.
Q: Your character Hampton Green has a great deal more depth than what is stereotyped for athletes. How did you decide on such a character?
A: The basic conflict that I wanted to explore in the story was that between the person as a private individual and as a part of society, in this case a football team. For that conflict to have a lot at stake it was necessary for Hampton to have that depth as an individual. He has much to lose if he turns his back on that. Another influence on his character was his voice. That adds an extra dimension to the character that wasn't there when I first wrote the story in third person.
Q: You write with great familiarity with the characters even minor ones. How close to your own life experience is Knights of the Hill Country?
A: I lived my first seven years in a small Oklahoma town and then taught college in another one for seven years after I returned from graduate school in Rhode Island, so I've had plenty of time to soak up the environment. But none of the characters are based on me or any one person. Once I had the theme and the main characters, everything else grew organically from that.
Q: What do you have planned for your next project?
A: I'm working on a couple of different projects. I'll have to wait and see what comes of them. Until then, I like to keep them to myself so that I don't lose steam by talking about them.
Q: You stated that one important ingredient for young adult novels was believable characters. Could you elaborate on how you are able to do that within your writing?
A: Believable characters: There are few things in fiction that are more frustrating for readers than characters who don't behave consistently or even like real humans. A first-person narrator must sound authentic and not like an adult trying to mimic teenagers. Plot should stem from characters and not the other way around-or it should at least seem that way. And then there are the little details-the facial expressions, gestures, sense of style, tics. Good writers understand how much these details tell about a person. But probably the most important way of establishing characters' identities is by showing the choices they make-who they choose for friends, what car they choose to drive, the side they choose to take in an argument, what they decide to do in a moral dilemma. Choices are a good way to dramatize identity.
Q: What, if any, recommendations do you have for writers, adult and youth who are just starting the process?
A: It's very important for writers-especially for young people interested in writing-to learn patience. The fun part of writing is coming up with the exciting idea, the sudden bursts of imagination. It can be exciting to let these ideas explode onto paper or onto the computer screen, but that is just the beginning of the process. Writers must also be willing to keep sitting in front of the computer when no ideas are coming and stare into space, waiting for the next spark, no matter how small. Then there's revising. It takes a lot of patience to go back through something that you thought was great and radically change it or even get rid of large parts. And of course, patience also comes in very handy when the rejection slips start to pile up. Remember, rejection slips are badges of honor for a writer. Take heart. Don't be discouraged. Be patient.
Q: Do you have any particular style of how you begin a writing project?
A: When starting a new novel, the first thing I do is buy a small notebook so that I can start jotting down preliminary ideas about structure and even some passages that will end up in the story somewhere or another. I don't try to force the beginning like they show writers doing in old movies, writing down one opening sentence after another and then wadding up the paper and throwing it away. I like to mull the characters and story over for a while, looking at them from different sides, letting the overall shape of the story start to form in my mind. When the ideas build up enough, I sit down and let them flow. Then, hopefully, the momentum builds from there.
Contributor: John D. Orsborn
Reviews
Knights of the Hill Country
Tim Tharp
Hampton Green can stop time. At least that's how he describes his amazing abilities as a linebacker for the Kenisaw Knights football team. A local hero and star, Hampton is only comfortable on the football field. Dependent on his best friend and Knight's star running back Blaine Keller, Hampton never thought about his future. That is, until he meets Sara Reynolds, better known at school as "Bush Girl." For Hampton, she is a breath of fresh air. Yet he is reluctant to show who he really is, especially as Blaine's promising football career is slowly disintegrating due to a knee injury from the previous season. A fifth straight undefeated season in Oklahoma high school football is at stake for the Knights. For Blaine and Hampton it is the chance to leave Kenisaw. Author Tim Tharp creates a believable, lovable character in Hampton Green. Like so many football tales, this is a story about the promise of release due to football success, and the emptiness of life without football. However, unlike many of the movies, Mr. Tharp has created realistic characters. Hampton is not particularly smart but can get by. He is not a complex character, but there is depth, which comes through in the interesting detail and dialogue. The character Sara, unlike many female characters in such stories, is not out to be a savior of the dumb jock, but rather sees value in Hampton. This is an excellent story with an amazing climax, and a good addition to any middle or high school library. 2006, Alfred A. Knopf, $16.95 and $18.99. Ages 12 to adult. Reviewer: John D. Orsborn (Children's Literature).
ISBN: 0-375-83653-5
ISBN: 0-375-93653-X
Added 12/28/06
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