I am occasionally asked whether "Appropriate Sex" is, in any sense, autobiographical. It is. I would never mess around with students -- the power inequality makes that a stupid decision on several levels. But it is true that I am a former professor of creative writing who writes (and thinks) a lot about sex, and that I encouraged my students to write about the things that mattered to them the most deeply, one of which was (and is) sex. The dynamics of a workshop, with its strange collision of the intimate and critical, are entirely drawn from my experience. Any writer who says his or her work isn't drawn from their experiences is full of shit. Where else might they come from? As for the film version of this story, I can only say that I would very much like Shandor Garrison to direct my life, as I suspect it would be funnier and more moving than its current incarnation. Steve Almond is the author of two story collections, My Life in Heavy Metal and The Evil B.B. Chow, the novel Which Brings Me to You (with Julianna Baggott), and the non-fiction book Candyfreak. His new book is a collection of essays, (Not That You Asked). He lives outside Boston with his wife, two children, and mounting debt. His on-line home is www.stevenalmond.com. |