Quiet Desperation received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author Rodney Nelsestuen.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
Quiet Desperation, published March 5, 2024
What’s the book’s first line?
“You wanted to see me?” Jerry says. I look up into the face of my law partner, the same face I’ve seen for fifteen years, unchanged in all that time.
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
Winston Williamsen, head of the law firm his father founded, grapples with the realization that his life has become a fraud. Trapped in a profession he felt coerced into, his cynicism deepens as his actions lead him down a path of moral and ethical decay. Estranged from his failing father, unfaithful to his fading wife, and with jealousy fueled relationships at work, Winston knows he has crossed enough lines and must decide if he can turn himself around, or is it too late?
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
During my career in financial services, I spent seven years in consulting. Traveling widely, I would meet clients and during the engagements we’d often have dinner together. I began to ask people about their lives and work and would discover that many professionals were ok in their work, but actually had other passions they wish they could pursue. This made me think about the consequences of having to do something you were not interested in and how that, in the extreme, might lead a person astray. From there, the idea for Quiet Desperation came about.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
This is an internal, psychological struggle as Winston works through his demons. Written in first person, we are inside the mind of this man who is difficult to like, and yet is also a tragic figure. Readers will ride alongside Winston as light begins to shine on the depth of his error and he reexamines everything he’s done and is doing. We can all take a lesson from this self-examination, albeit Winston’s is an extreme case, and in the end, even an imperfect resolution can keep hope for the future alive.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
While deeply flawed and resisting the need to change his life, Winston is ultimately forced to face himself, revealing an element of humanity he had previously denied. All this comes from a psychological battle of both the good and bad in everyone. I know there have been many such characters in literature but I don’t see an immediate parallel with a given protagonist.
When did you first decide to become an author?
I began writing as a seventh grader and my first story was a short science fiction piece about the earth coming to an end as humans destroyed the ozone layer (luckily, we survived.) Then I pretty much stopped until college where I tried a few poems. Off and on over 5 decades I’ve picked up the bug and written something – a story, an essay, and even a novel, but didn’t fully embrace writing until I turned 50 when I went back to college for an MFA and began to have some success publishing in various literary journals. At this point, my focus is on the literary novel as a genre.
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
Yes, I would consider it, but would need to understand the relationship before entering into one. The freedom for an indie author to write as he or she wants is what I most like about being independent. But the business end of literature today is a challenge for any writer to navigate, and that is where publishers bring in a wealth of knowledge and help.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
I have something that I can’t put my finger on that drives me to sit down and write. A thought, something I read, something or someone I saw in a setting, an anecdote, etc. There is really no single driver for me as a writer other than feeling compelled to write something that gets stuck in my mind and has meaning to me. This means I have a fairly long list of short paragraphs of ideas that are waiting for me to pick them up.