Josh Denslow’s Not Everyone Is Special was published in The Offing’s Fiction department on April 1, 2019. Q&A conducted by Kosiso Ugwueze, Reader, Fiction
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Kosiso Ugwueze: The excerpted story centers on a man’s quest to find out what his special, superhuman powers are. He’s surrounded by people who have super human abilities and yet he’s unable to tap into his. What about this concept of having super human powers appeals to you? Why is it something that you think we as human beings are so interested in?
Josh Denslow: In my stories, I find myself returning over and over to characters who squander their talents. The ones who fail before they even try. It was a natural evolution to begin giving these characters superpowers and finding new ways for them to waste them. It’s a lot of fun to make someone who can teleport not incredibly special. But when I set out to write this particular story, I decided to flip the formula. The one who isn’t special this time around is the only one without a power. Superpowers are so ubiquitous in this world, they are mundane. But the human drama is real. Cameron’s attempt to find his latent power is really about saving his marriage and connecting with his two daughters and doing anything he can to make himself feel worthy of a better life. I think human beings are inherently interested in superpowers and otherworldly occurrences because they transport us outside of what we see every day. I enjoy taking that expectation and playing with it. You can still be a slacker or a failure even with a superpower!
KU: I love that there’s a sense of humor in Not Everyone is Special. I particularly loved the line describing one of the characters as “a geyser of unwanted advice.” What role do you think humor plays in your work and when are you most likely to employ it?
JD: First I just want to say that I’m excited your example was from a description! A lot of my humor tends to appear in dialogue so this was a pretty cool moment for me. But to actually answer your question, I think humor is what accidentally happens when things are going well while I’m writing. I try not to think about being funny when I’m writing because that is definitely the quickest way to ruin it. What I do is try to keep the tone of that particular story in mind as I’m going along. Really hold on tight. And if I get it just right, like all the wavelengths line up, stuff can sometimes get funny. As for when I employ humor, I think there’s always a place for it. Life is too tragic not to laugh.
KU: In the excerpt Not Everyone is Special, we are confronted with the fundamental truth that some of us might just be average, that we might not have any qualities separating us from the next guy and even if we do, our special powers might be as unsexy as growing our own hair. Do you think we as human beings are anywhere close to accepting this truth?
JD: I think everyone actually accepts it. Way deep down inside. The real challenge then becomes how each person can trick everyone around them into thinking they are the exception. That’s why social media is such a boon. You can create this exciting, and dare I say special, person who is the embodiment of who you wish you were. I think the truth we as human beings need to accept is that the people we think are special are most likely not.
KU: What would you say was the hardest part of putting together this story collection? Were there stories more difficult to write than others? Where does Not Everyone is Special stand in terms of its difficulty? As the titular piece, did you feel pressure writing it?
JD: When I was writing Not Everyone is Special, I didn’t realize it was going to be the titular piece. In fact, I didn’t know that I was going to have a collection. I enjoyed writing stories and I wasn’t thinking about unifying themes or how anything would go together. So when I first started assembling a collection, it was mostly because I had enough physical pages to fill a book! Not the most compelling of reasons. But as I went through my stories from the last ten years, some patterns began to emerge. Recurring themes and tones. I was always partial to the title Not Everyone is Special, and then I realized something: Many of my stories could actually be titled that. Then I took it one step further and said ONLY stories that could have that title would be allowed in the collection. And after that, it all came together pretty quickly. Though I must admit, I did switch the order about 1000 times before I got it just right.
KU: What is your writing process like? There’s a sense of careful consideration in this collection, special attention given to voice and description. Are you the type of writer who plans meticulously or do you write and see where it takes you?
JD: Thank you so much for saying this because a sense of careful consideration is very far from what I do, but I very much wanted the end product to feel that way. I typically start a story with a rough idea of character and maybe a little bit of story, and then I write and see where it takes me. Every story develops its own voice, and if I tap into that, things can really start to flow. If I do it perfectly, it usually feels like the story is writing itself. When I talk about my stories in progress (usually to my wife), I spend a lot of time saying things like “I didn’t see that coming” or “I can’t believe where this ended up.”
KU: Dr. Benta in Not Everyone is Special is such a fascinating character, this mind specialist that tries to help people discover their powers. Were there any real life inspirations for his character? In your writing, do you tend to draw from people you know? If so, do you feel any anxiety in doing so?
JD: Dr. Benta is interesting because when I began the story, he wasn’t meant to be as important as he becomes. As I mentioned before, with no careful consideration at all, I launched in with the bare minimum of an idea and then waited to see what would happen. I’m glad Dr. Benta got to come into his own though. I’d love to write more stories about him and his institute, but that being said, he’s not based on anyone I know. I don’t actually do that. At least not completely. I’ll steal bits of dialogue or maybe a physical description, but that’s about it. If I was writing about people I actually know, I think I would indeed feel all sorts of anxiety.
