Interview with Tim Hall - Excerpts Part 41 - Dr. Sam Vaknin Information

Written by Sam Vaknin

Q: When did you start writing?

A: My parents bought me a blackboard and chalk when I was three. I could read a daily paper by the age of six. I never stopped since. I prefer reading and writing to absolutely any other experience, bar films.

Q: How long does it take you to write a book?

A: I write c. 4-6 pages daily. I produce a typical 240 pages book of political and economic commentary and researched articles every 3 months.

Q: What would you like to ask another author (and which author)?

A: I would like to ask the great Austrian and German novelists - Musil, Werfel, Mann, Kafka (and the quasi-Frenchman Proust) - how they sustained the effort? I could never compose a work of fiction longer than 10 pages. How does one avoid plodding and the inexorable waning of the characters? How is the reader kept riveted to the last page?

Q: What advice would you give for aspiring authors?

A: It's all about marketing. Network, self-promote, spread the word, give free copies and free copy, collaborate with fellow authors, be generous, be ubiquitous, put the Internet to good use.

Q: What would you like to get out of being an author and your work?

A: Above all, I would like to make a difference. "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited" has touched the lives of many and changed them for the better. This is the only thing that counts, to my mind.

Q: What message (if any) would you like readers to take from your writing?

A: It is all in your hands. What happens to you and the fate of others in entirely in your hands. You have the power to make a difference and to change things. Do it now.

next: Excerpts from the Archives of the Narcissism List Part 42