Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.

Zilla: My favourite books defy classification. Noir? Love story? Fairy tale? All of the above? Something entirely novel? Jeff Wiederkehr gives us this phantasm of a novel, Closer, and frankly I don’t know what to make of it, besides that I like it. Jeff, your turn. You try and describe this thing.

Jeff: I really don’t know what it is, but I do know what inspired me and by knowing that, it might be possible to get near a description that works. The works of Henry Miller and Anaïs Nin hit me at a certain point in my life. I found their works to be both beautiful and tragic and both for the same reason ~ they gave me the dirty yellow underbelly of very hyper-specific situations. Despite the worthy inspiration, with Closer, I was originally attempting to shoehorn the narrative into a more classic Romance template (Miller rolls over in his grave), that is, whatever happens, in the end there is a happy ending. 

Closer is a lot of things, but it certainly isn’t a Romance novel. It’s got the spice, but not the required ending.

Maybe it is this … a dirty, yellow, mockumentary, one with a twisted happy ending, one that both Miller and Nin would be happy to read.

Zilla: Do you have a playlist for your book?

Jeff: I do. It is on Spotify. It’s called “Closer ~ a soundtrack to a novel.” 

Zilla: Fair enough. Next question. If you could meet your characters, what would you say to them? 

Jeff: “You are an idiot.”

Zilla: Relatable. I would phrase it more delicately, but I’d probably say the same to my characters. So what would they say back to you?

Jeff: “Fuck you.”

Zilla: Also relatable. Next question. What book do you tell all your friends to read?

Jeff: The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe.

Zilla: You seem a pretty tragic guy. Did you ever kill a fan favourite character? 

Jeff: With Closer I mainly killed every character’s dignity and self-respect.

Zilla: Honestly, even better. How much research did you do for this book?

Jeff: The great thing about fiction is I made it all up. Though my writing was informed by my love of the south western desert and my collection of broken hearts dating from 1st grade.

Zilla: Do you have any suggestions to help people in our community become better writers? 

Jeff: Oh man, I need all of the suggestions. Please collect these answers and send them my way.

Zilla: Who did you imagine reading your book as you wrote it?

Jeff: For fans of Henry Miller and Anaïs Nin. I am not sure if those people exist any longer. The people that ended up taking a chance on the book and loved it were people who needed to hear a story like this. A story where they imagined themselves as the nameless narrator looking to be seen and heard and loved in a draught of a relationship. So, people who are stuck and hurt and unsure if there is anyone else out there in the world that wants more than the status quo ~ those that need to vent the guilt associated with wanting more out of life.

Zilla: What’s your next writing project?

Jeff: Cherry-Rose: Blood & Wishes ~ it is a reimagined fairy tale. Super dark and creepy and lovely.

Zilla: Thanks for sharing your story and your process. Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?

Jeff: I can be found being silly, going to dive bars, playing records, drinking whisky on instagram @likeshattereddiamonds, and sometimes promoting my book Closer @closer_not_further_away. And also on my fancy new website! You can find the book on Goodreads and you can buy it here.