Ryan Ridge talks about Gertrude Stein, leaving film for writing, and the best time to be alive.
The Coil: Describe your writing style to someone who’s never read you.
Ryan Ridge: Hunter S. Thompson meets Gertrude Stein at a wine bar in the afterlife.
How would The New York Times categorize your writing?
They wouldn’t.
What was the catalyst that made you start writing?
In the late-90s, I dropped out of film school (because I was a terrible cinematographer), but I still wanted to make stuff, and I quickly discovered that writing is much cheaper than film and that you don’t have to waste a lot of time sitting around waiting on actors to show up.
Your favorite —
Whisk(e)y: Blanton’s Single Barrel.
Wild animal: Fox.
Waffle topping: Fried chicken.
Poem: James Wright’s “Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota” is the one I have set to memory.
Scientist or inventor: Jack Parsons, Rocket Man.
Broadway musical: “I Hate Musicals: The Musical.”
Badass getaway vehicle: Ducati motorcycle.
Movie to watch alone: El Topo.
Quote: “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” — Dr. Hunter S. Thompson.
Tell us about your favorite books or authors.
I love Lydia Davis. Raymond Chandler. Richard Brautigan. Barry Hannah. James Tate. Joan Didion. Hunter Thompson. James Baldwin. William Burroughs. Roberto Bolaño. Borges. Calvino. Philip K. Dick. Ursula K. Le Guin. David Ohle. I could go on and on, but I won’t. I think the most important writer of our time is Roxane Gay. I think the best writer living in my house is my wife, Ashley Farmer.
If you could witness or participate in any historical event or time period, what would it be?
I’d like to have hung out at Kesey’s farm in the mid-60s or at 27 rue de Fleurus in the 20s. That said, however, right now is always the only time to be alive.
Which underrepresented cause do you want to bring to our attention?
Weapon of choice:
Brain.
If you could invent something that is missing from your life, what would it be?
A machine that could fix it to where I’d never have to send another email. I guess it’d be a time machine.
The perfect soundtrack to your writing:
The entire Eluvium catalogue.
Which literary figure, dead or alive, would you want to —
Take tea with: Gertrude Stein.
Arm wrestle: Faulkner.
Ice skate with: Gertrude Stein.
Drink under the table: Faulkner.
Get a blurb from: Gertrude Stein.
Beat in a duel of wits: Faulkner.
Have on your side in the apocalypse: Hunter Thompson.
Write your next book for you: My wife.
The one thing in your writing routine you couldn’t live without:
Sleep.
When writing makes you rich, you will:
I’ll buy a lot of people a lot of drinks and rescue a lot of dogs.
