I just finished reading my friend Lee Polevoi’s first novel, “The Moon in Deep Winter.”

It’s a darkly comic tale of domestic treachery, set in snowy and frigid New England. Having done a good amount of reading and writing and some ice fishing myself, I can tell you that Lee has an eye for detail and the requisite “intoxication with language,” as Jim Harrison put it,  to make this a book worth reading.

And given that it’s wintry outside and the moon will be full tonight,  it’s the perfect time to check in with Lee on the habits of the craft of fiction writing, his thoughts on the state of publishing, and who he’d like to play the lead should this title ever make the big screen…

Q: Lee, how do you conduct your research? You’ve included some snippets of interesting knowledge on a number of far-flung topics and places (the mechanics of flight, an island in the South Pacific, Mexico City, etc.). Do you look these places up, or prefer to go there and experience them in person?

For the unwary writer, research can be a seductive trap.  While researching various topics for inclusion in my novel, I had to be careful not to spend too much time looking things up and less time actually writing.  Back in the day, I spent long hours in the library finding what I needed.  In present time, I’ve become adept at hunting down what I need online, while doing my best to steer free of “quirky” sites and time-wasting chat rooms.
The key in research is to find the right one or two key details, which lend verisimilitude to the fiction, without overwhelming the reader with random facts and/or appearing to be little more than regurgitated research.  As to “experiencing places in person”—yes, whenever possible, I like to go there (I attended college in New England, the setting for The Moon in Deep Winter) but when that’s not possible, again I seek out those details that add mood and atmosphere to the story’s setting.

Q: What’s your writing routine like? When is the best time for you to write? How long do you typically work per day?

An ideal writing day for me starts with a vigorous two-hour session of tennis.  Nothing clears the head like exercise.  When I sit down to re-immerse myself in the fictional world I’m creating, I want to be as clear of external “noise” as possible.  Generally I’m good for 3-4 hours of solid work, though that might include moments where I wander from the desk to refill my coffee, check a passage in another book, etc.  And whenever possible I try to end a session where I’ve got a clear idea where to pick up the next day.

Q: You are among the most well-read people I know. Do you have a favorite author, genre or book?

I would point to a number of novels that I regard as classics of contemporary fiction:

• Ninety-two in the Shade by Thomas McGuane
• Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone
• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
• Already Dead by Denis Johnson
• The View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro
• The Untouchable by John Banville
• The True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey
• Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The list could go on from here, but these novels share several elements: a compelling voice (first- or third-person), evocative setting and strong narrative flow.  Style may not be everything, but when you have the rich expanse of the English language as your tool, why not go for broke?

Q: Newspapers are dying, and instead of bound books, people are carrying iPods, iPhones, BlackBerries, etc. Are we witnessing the beginning of the end of book-reading?

Increasingly, it seems, the publishing industry appears to be living on borrowed time.  While I don’t believe anything can replace the physical presence of a book, the industry business model seems untenable in our day and age.  The vast majority of books sold and read come from a tiny fraction of “brand-name” authors, a situation that does nothing to nourish the careers of writers who sell only a few thousand copies.  And, as your question suggests, the platform for reading is moving inexorably to some electronic pastiche of word and image that’s not necessarily linear or concerned with “making sense” in the conventional, 20th century way.  I think books will be around for awhile but I’m very concerned with the number of adults who aren’t very interested in the written word or who think reading a novel is “work.”

Q: The book seemed to have a cinematic quality at times. Do you consciously try to write that way?

As a past recipient of a Chesterfield Project Film Writers’ Project screenwriting fellowship, I spent a year at Amblin Entertainment (housed at Universal Studios) writing screenplays and learning the fine art of pitching stories to industry executives.  Like my fellow fiction-writers in the program this was altogether a new and eye-opening experience.  Screenplays, unlike novels, must adhere to a fairly rigid format (three-act structure, specific number of pages, etc.) and working within this format taught me a great deal about set-up and pay-off, the value of using images to move a story forward and, of course, interesting dialogue.  All of this knowledge informed the making of The Moon in Deep Winter, which I determined early on was the type of story that depended on vivid imagery and a propulsive narrative for its hoped-for success.

Q: OK, put on your director’s hat. If you could cast Parker Sloane, is there an actor out there you like for the part?

My first choice would be a young actor, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who was riveting in the 2007 indie film, “The Lookout.”

Lee Polevoi’s debut novel, The Moon in Deep Winter, is published by Casagrande Press.  Learn more at www.moonindeep.com.