A Writer's Journey: L. C. Rosen

Lev Rosen is originally from lower Manhattan and now lives in even lower Manhattan, right at the edge, with his husband and very small cat. The author reflected on his own summer camp experiences for the fictional story Camp, which is honestly one the most addictive and page-turning reads you will enjoy this year. To celebrate its release, we caught up with him to find out about his writing journey.

What was the first book that really inspired you?

There was a picture book I loved as a child - East of the Sun and West of the Moon, by Mercer Mayer (from an old fairy tale). It was a wonderful book. I constantly re-read it. It's 100% the book that made me want to tell stories.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

Honestly, there was never a realization. I've literally always done it. My parents have assumed I'd be a writer since before I graduated primary school.

How did you know it could be more than just an ambition?

Did I think I could make it real, you mean? Yes, always, though I didn't know how all that worked until college.

What is the best book you have ever read?

This is a wildly unfair question, and my answer changes with my mood and what I want in a moment, but I will say a book I come back to over and over with love is The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I have a thing about cover pages - not in final books, but when I'm writing the book. In the word document. The first page has to be a really strong cover page, usually using fonts, but sometimes with images, that sets the mood of the book. I'll spend days getting it right, even though no one will ever see them besides me an my editors, who ignore them.

When did you write your first book and how old were you? What happened with the book?

Okay, well, in 6th grade I wrote a book, but if you're talking about something more adult, I was 21, 22, I wrote a novel as my senior thesis in college. It got me an agent and got me into graduate school, though we never sold it.

What do you like to do when you're not writing?

I mean, read, of course, and I watch TV and play video games, for sure. But weird hobbies wise, I'm really into natural dyeing - using flowers and branches and stuff to dye fabric.

Have you ever learnt anything about yourself through your writing?

Always. Every book is an act of self-discovery, a way of working through something. Every character is an extension of the author - they have to be - so seeing these other versions of you on the page absolutely teaches you about yourself.

Are you ever conscious of subconsciously including someone you know in your characters?

I take quirks sometimes - physical stuff people do that I love, the way someone chews on their lip or something, and particular turns of phrase - but actual character psychology? No. I don't know why anyone does the things they do - they can say they're telling me, but we can never really know. But I know my characters. Again, they're from me - not from other people.

What is the greatest feedback you have received to date?

The late, great, Sonny Mehta read that book I wrote when I was 22, and said "this is a good book, but it isn't a good first book." Meaning it was too weird to easily sell. I think about that a lot, but honestly just having it called a good book by Sonny Mehta is amazing. I was also once called a "little genius" by national book award nominee Arnost Lustig, who I took a class with. I treasure that one, too.

And the worst?

Listing the bad feedback I've gotten would fill your entire magazine. But if you mean not negative, but useless, I find feedback that wants the book to be something else and doesn't accept (or see) what you're trying to do to be useless. Accept what the author is trying to do, don't tell them to do something else.

As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?

Writer. Sometimes, honestly, it felt like I wasn't even allowed to want to do anything else. When I was like two though, I wanted to be a street-cleaner - those truck machines with the brushes? My mother says she's not sure if I wanted to drive the machine or BE the machine.

What for you defines a good read?

The minimal purpose of all art is to entertain. It's personal, of course, but that's the baseline - good are has to entertain, distract us with a story or melody, keep us enraptured in the world of the art for as long as the art goes on. If, on top of that, it also makes you think, then it's especially good. But a good read just has to take you away from your life for as long as you're between the pages. It has to hold your attention and make you feel something. That's how you know it's good.

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CAMP is out now (Penguin Books).

For more information, visit his official website.