Author Interview: Robert Gately

In 1998 Robert gave up a lucrative career with a large telecommunications company to write full time. Since then, he wrote 8 screenplays, two stage plays, and a novel. He has won grand prize or first place in several competitions, not the least of which are First Place in comedy in FADE IN Magazine, Telluride Indiefest, Woods Hole Festival, Split-Screen, Hollywood Scriptwriting Institute, plus more. In all Robert has placed in over 90 competitions such as Chesterfield, Writer’s Network, Cinestory, Writer’s Digest, New Play Project (Backdoor Theatre), Festival of New Plays (Stage 3 Theatre), plus much more. Robert has also been acting for the past few years. His most notable acting credit was the lead in FRAME which won top drama, short film category, in the 2002 Houston Worldfest – the same award Speilberg won in 1972 for AMBLIN. Robert has settled into a home in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania with his wife Lois.

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1. What authors did you dislike at first, but grew into?

Good question. I guess the author I disliked the most in the beginning would have to be Shakespeare. I hated going to Shakespeare class at first, but then all of a sudden I began liking him. I think it was because I fell in love with Falstaff. I was always in favor of character arcs over plot until I began believing what Aristotle said: “The first essential, the life and soul, so to speak, of a story, is the Plot."

2. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?

I guess I’d have to journey back to 5th grade to explain why the ability express oneself with ‘words’ is such a big part of my life now. Our teacher had us read a book and write a synopsis or book report on it. These one-page ‘synopsis’ would then be graded as if it were a ‘contest’. That's when I discovered the flap -- a brief outline from the publisher, those beautifully written words that perfectly captured the emotions and the essence of the story. For a 5th grade boy trying desperately to rise from the sleepy world of his imagination, I did a despicable thing. I used the flap in writing the synopsis, paraphrasing as best as a fifth grader could, and submitted the paper into the contest. As fate would have it, I won the competition. I was embarrassed, humbled at receiving an award I didn't deserve. That day was the beginning of my writing career where a little flame burned in my soul to be able to express myself with some degree of grace where I would never have to rely on someone else’s words to express how ‘I’ felt.

3. What's your favorite underappreciated novel?

South of Main Street

4. As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal?

I think I might choose a wolf, which is my favorite animal.

5. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?

All my screenplays … 11, I guess.

6. What's the best way to market your books?

Trying to get people to do reviews, and doing book signings at popular stores, like Barnes & Noble.

7. Do you view writing as a kind of spiritual practice?

I think I’m hung-up on the word ‘practice’. I certainly get excited about writing when I’m passionate about my projects. And most of the days that I’m involved developing the story I can’t wait to get up and begin the day (writing). But as a kind of ‘spiritual practice’? No.

8. How do you select the names of your characters?

Most of the time I think of someone in real life that I’d like the character to emulate. Like Walter Grimm, one of my characters in my most successful story (11 writing contest wins). He was modeled after Walter Matthau.

9. Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with good or bad ones?

Here’s my take on book reviews: I tell the reviewers that I accept whatever opinions they give – good or bad. Either way, I win. If they don’t like it, I’m sure they’ll tell me why and I’ll have the opportunity to correct it. If they do like it, their review will inspire others to read it and, of course, I can only benefit from that.

10. What was your hardest scene to write?

Any scene with difficult conflicts. I go a little over-the-top sometimes. I’ll throw in an obstacle that I cannot solve for the character. I’ll start out by throwing an obstacle in front of a character and say something like, “Okay, Walter. You’re such a know-it-all, solve that!” Most of the time, usually in the car, while day-dreaming, I mean driving a long distance, I’ll get that ‘ah, ha’ moment when I find a way out of the dilemma. Sometimes … I can’t solve it. Excuse me, sometimes my Walter can’t solve it and I must restructure the scene or story with a different conflict.

11. What one thing would you give up to become a better writer?

My sanity, although I’m told I don’t have much of that left.

12. What is your favorite childhood book?

Catcher-in-the-Rye

13. Does your family support your career as a writer?

Yes, but I have to negotiate my time away from my wife. All the kids are grown, so I don’t have that issue now. But I did at one time. I attribute my first marriage break-up to a number of things, one of which was I locked myself in some cove to ‘do my thing’ as far as writing was concerned, never asking permission and never realizing I was being selfish. One day I took my head out of the sand and found out I didn’t have a marriage anymore. These days, my honey-do list seems to grow larger when I’m writing.

14. How long on average does it take you to write a book?

It depends. I wrote a non-fiction book, a memoir where I taped all my interviews, transcribed them to a WORD document and catalogued the events in an excel spreadsheet so I could reference the events in chronological order. Then I wrote his story. I did that twice – once for a two-part mini-series screenplay (The Ed Dennehy Story) and once for a non-fiction book about a Pakistani freedom fighter. When I put my pen down saying ‘I’m finished’, each one took about a year-and-a-half. My recent book took years of the story-line and character arc to percolate in my brain, and I mean years. Considering the germ was conceived the moment I saw Peter Sellers in the movie “Being There”, my mind didn’t stop revisiting a story line I was developing with the main character modeled after that crazy gardener. However, once I started writing my book, it took about 6 months to finish.

15. Share one little known fact about yourself.

I love horseracing. In fact, in the ‘70s I went down to “Belmont Racetrack” and took Super-8 movies of the “Belmont Stakes” whenever there was a possibility of a Triple Crown winner. That means I have Secretariat , Seattle Slew and Affirmed all winning the Belmont Stakes from a point of view no one has except me. You can’t begin to appreciate it until you see the 4-minute i-movie I put together which you can see at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH3jAVCWL70

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Henry Wolff regularly climbs out of his upstairs bedroom window. The neighbors think it strange that a grown man enjoys a Tarzan like swing from the roof, but then again, they all think Henry is a little strange. Recently widowed, Henry is an emotionally challenged father being sued by his daughter for financial control of the estate. Henry must prove he is normal – not an easy thing to do when you are not. Henry is different, not quite normal, not quite special. Rumors explaining his behavior run from PTSD in Vietnam to losing his son to SIDS. But Henry has a special gift. In a town divided by the have and have-nots, Henry alone can inspire and touch even the most jaded lost soul. But when tragedy strikes, can he unite his own family? “A dynamic book set in small town Pennsylvania which explores the intangible ties that form a family, a community and the influence that one man can make crossing social and economic lines. Readers will fall in love with Henry.”

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