Please welcome Leon Acord author of Sub-lebrity
Leon Acord will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Sub-lebrity
byLeon Acord
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GENRE: Memoir
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INTERVIEW:
1. What or who inspired you to start writing?
Once I learned how to read, I just never stopped. And naturally, that led to my writing.
I picked up comic books early, so I was always imagining super-hero stories in my head. I eventually started writing and drawing some very crude comics in grade school. Then I got hooked on TV and wanted to read all I could about that! Man, those classic TV Guides! I read them cover to cover.
I also read the newspaper, my grandma’s movie magazines, encyclopedias, anything I could get my hands on. I remember reading Valley of the Dolls when I was too young to really comprehend much of it. My parents had a very “hand’s off” approach. They figured, if I could read it, I could handle it.
Reading from so many sources so early on, I somehow absorbed that different publications and genres required different “voices.” That there were many ways of writing. Writing in a newspaper had a different tone than a movie magazine. The “voice” in a novel was different than in a nonfiction book.
I never really thought much about “how” to write. When I wanted to write, I just wrote. I always assumed everyone could, that everyone found it as easy and as enjoyable as I did. I learned later that was not the case, and that I was one of the lucky few who actually did enjoy writing.
As for SUB-LEBRITY*, several friends and colleagues had written books, and I thought, hmmm, maybe Ishould. But then a voice in my head immediately screamed, “Nobody’s going to enjoy a Hollywood memoir by a non-famous actor!” I realized, since I wasn’tfamous, my memoir would haveto be very engaging and well-written to make up for it. That was my challenge. But I love a challenge, and I delight in proving my inner voices wrong.
2. What expertise did you bring to your writing?
A little bit from a lot of different areas. I studied journalism all through high school. I was a “teen reporter” for my hometown daily newspaper during my senior year. I learned structure and the AP style books from that!
I’ve been told I write good dialogue. I think that’s because I’m an actor. When I was writing my web series Old Dogs & New Tricks [now on Amazon Prime] I very often acted out the scenes, playing all the characters in sotto voce, as I wrote. Once, my husband Laurence passed my office and saw me writing and sobbing. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Nothing, nothing, I’m just writing a break-up scene!”
Alas, none of that really applied to writing a memoir, which is what SUB-LEBRITY*is. Fortunately, I’d read enough of those, too. The best memoirs sound like a personal letter, or someone you know telling you a story, so I tried to maintain that tone while writing it.
3. What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?
SUB-LEBRITYis the life story of an openly gay actor. There were some stories I had to cut, or just not include. Like surviving the 1989 San Francisco earthquake. Or being partially blind in my right eye due to an artery leak behind my retina. So, yeah, if you read SUB-LEBRITYand come away thinking I’ve lived a charmed life, no, no, no! I just didn’t include stories of family dramas or medical traumas because they didn’t fit into the book’s thesis. Maybe I’ll write a more serious, legitimate “autobiography” later in life and include all that nitty gritty!
4. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?
Well, with show business in hibernation due to COVID, and as I get older and find fewer roles, I do plan to focus more on writing and publishing, and less on performing. Next up, I’m publishing the play Carved in Stone by Jeffrey Hartgraves. He bequeathed me the rights, so I want to get that out there for him. Then, I may do a series of novels based on Old Dogs & New Tricks, or a companion piece to the show. Being a Gemini, I always have lots of ideas. The trick is, finding that idea that catches fire and becomes an obsession you can’t not write about!
5. What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing)
One great piece of advice on comedy writing was from Quentin Crisp. He advises, whenever possible, to save the “funny” for the absolute very end of the sentence, the paragraph, or the story.
Reading a lot of Tennessee Williams was like getting really good advice. I subliminally gleamed that the best writing sounds a bit like music.
Something I learned writing Old Dogs & New Tricks, which I will offer your readers: The more specific you are, the more universal your writing will become. It’s funny how it works. I was writing a comedy series very specifically about middle-aged gay men, and our largest block of viewers turned out to be younger and middle-aged straight women! Go figure!
Fortunately, if I’ve ever received any bad advice, I’ve forgotten it!
6. Anything else you might want to add?
No magic fairy is ever going to appear, and announce “Okay, you have suffered enough. You may now consider yourself a writer.” Or actor, or artist, or singer. No, only you get to make the decision that, yes, you are a writer, an artist. So, make it already! And get to writing! Or acting or singing or painting or whatever it is you want to create. Youare your magic fairy. The magic is in the doing. So, create magic. Create your future. If people get nothing else from my book, I hope that message sticks!
No magic fairy is ever going to appear, and announce “Okay, you have suffered enough. You may now consider yourself a writer.” Or actor, or artist, or singer. No, only you get to make the decision that, yes, you are a writer, an artist. So, make it already! And get to writing! Or acting or singing or painting or whatever it is you want to create. Youare your magic fairy. The magic is in the doing. So, create magic. Create your future. If people get nothing else from my book, I hope that message sticks!
BLURB:
A droll, oddly inspirational memoir from the actor Breitbart once called "a gay leftist activist," SUB-LEBRITY by Leon Acord (Old Dogs & New Tricks) is an honest, sometimes bitchy but always sincere story about growing up (very) gay in rural Indiana, achieving acting success outside the closet, and generating headlines with his very-public smackdown with Trump-loving Susan Olsen (Cindy, The Brady Bunch)
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EXCERPT:
One of my nemeses from the jock clique, Rick Sisson, was slumming, playing the bit part of an “Old Man” about to be poisoned by two murderous old ladies in Arsenic & Old Lace.
As Mortimer, I was to rush on stage, see the Old Man about to drink a glass of poisoned elderberry wine, grab him by the jacket, and shove him out of my crazy aunts’ house.
That was how we’d been playing it.
For closing night, he and his jock buddies thought of a hilarious prank. Instead of setting his glass of fake wine on the table before I grabbed him, he’d throw the full glass of Hawaiian Punch into my face! It was closing night, why not? Smear the queer!
The sizable high-school auditorium was packed with a rowdy closing-night crowd of parents, faculty and friends, unaware they were about to witness my humiliation.
The moment arrived. I entered, rushed to the Old Man with the glass near his lips, and SPLASH!
I was stunned. Rick rushed through the door and off stage before I could do a thing.
The audience erupted with laughter. Erupted! And didn’t stop!
I’d seen it on sitcoms all my short life. Actors forced to hold for a laugh. I lived for the moments on the Carol Burnett Show when something went wrong or when the actors tried not to laugh. And now, I was experiencing that myself. It felt wonderful!
Rick wanted me to feel like Carrie White. Instead, I felt like Cary Grant.
The two teenaged actresses playing my aunts just watched, trying not to laugh themselves.
I felt myself about to smile. I turned my back to the audience and fumbled through a desk on stage, pretending to blindly look for a handkerchief – a cover until I could wipe the now-gigantic smile off my face. The audience found this hilarious and continued howling.
Back in character, I gave up at the desk and turned to face the audience just as the laugh was softening. I instinctively yanked off my clip-on tie and began dabbing my wet face with it.
The audience screamed with laughter again – this time, the laughter morphed into applause.
The song from the Broadway musical Applause is right – it’s better than pot, it’s better than booze. Waiting out a long laugh break, instinctively finding ways to prolong it, riding it like a surfer on a wave, then crashing against the shore in a loud burst of applause, is the best feeling in the world.
I had flirted with the idea of being an actor, among other creative pursuits, all though childhood.
But in this moment, I knew. I’d spend the rest of my life chasing that feeling.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Leon Acordis an award-winning actor and writer who has appeared in over 35 films you've never seen and 30 plays you've never heard of. Possible exceptions include the digital TV series Old Dogs & New Trickson Amazon Prime Video (which he created, wrote & co-produced), and the stage hit Carved in Stone(in which he played Quentin Crisp in both SF and LA productions). His memoir, SUB-LEBRITY: The Queer Life of a Show-Biz Footnote, is now available in paperback & e-book on Amazon. He wrote his one-man show Last Sunday in June (1996) and co-authored the 2014 play Setting the Record Gay. He was a "Take Five" columnist for Back Stage West throughout 2009 and a former contributor to Huffington Post. He has also written for San Francisco Examiner and the journal Human Prospect. He currently lives in West LA with husband Laurence Whiting & their cat Toby. Learn more at www.LeonAcord.com
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE:
Leon Acord will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the Angel's blog. I hope you have a great tour. Allana Angel
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rogue's Angels! I'm trying to read my interview, but I'm enjoying looking at all the sexy book covers more! Thanks for the fun interview & for helping me spread the word!
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure, James! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
ReplyDeleteThanks Victoria! If you check out the book, I hope you enjoy it!
DeleteThank you, Rita! I was hoping it would be a fun summer read, something for people to escape to during these crazy times. Grateful people are enjoying it.
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