Heather’s Bookshelf: Author Interview with Alec Arbogast

What inspired you to write “A Night at the King’s Inn”?

Arbogast: I often have a general aesthetic/tone in my mind, perhaps a setting or time period that inspires me. For A Night at The King’s Inn, I wanted to play with the idea of a conflicted protagonist, whose childhood trauma has hindered him from embracing his life and those around him. I developed Theodore as a closely guarded individual whose only substantial connection is his sister. I knew I wanted to develop his strengths through adversity, and I thought time travel to a different era was an engaging and exciting crucible to put him through.

How did you come up with the names of your main characters?

Arbogast: The main ensemble in my book is Theodore, Henry James (no blood relation to the author), Theodore’s sister Alice, and Francis. Sometimes names just drop from the ether, but for Theodore, I thought his name was just bookish/preppy enough for the nature of his character. The sound of it just exudes a reserved, intelligent, slightly superior sort of archetype in my mind. Henry James is a nod to the remarkable classic author and I wanted to use it ironically with him, as he’s thoroughly uncouth and full of faux pas. Alice is a great classic name, but still in use today, and it may just be a nod to Lewis Carroll as well. I thought Francis was a fitting name for a male hipster-dilettante, and like the others, has the old-timey sound to it.

Is there anything that you want readers to know about you, your writing process or your book?

Arbogast: I suppose I’d like to convey that, while everyone has their own style, I find it can be both inspiring and liberating to do away with in-depth outlines and thoroughly fleshed out plots. I tend to have a loose conception of what I want to explore/show, and I like not knowing exactly where my characters and events will take us. I can’t remember the author, but there’s a guiding quote to writing that’s somewhere along the lines of: ‘let the story tell itself to you’. While some stories require more thorough prep, I like that quote as a general rule of thumb.

If "A Night at the King’s Inn” were adapted into a movie, who would you like to see cast to play your lead characters?

Arbogast: Fun question! Theodore is a tough one, but I think Cole Sprouse and Timothee Chalamet would be among the front runners. Henry would hands down be played by Josh Gad. I think he’d absolutely nail the comedic aspects of the character. Mary Elizabeth Winstead comes to mind for Alice. She’s got that sort of spunky, inquisitive look to her. I don’t have anyone in mind for Francis. He’d have to be muscular and tall, preferably with a red beard and long fiery hair, and like a couple of the others on the list, slightly obnoxious yet endearing at the same time.

Are there any tips that you would like to share with other aspiring authors?

Arbogast: I hope that the above passage helps a bit with anyone struggling to see themselves through such a long-haul thing as long form prose. Otherwise, I’d say think about what excites you, what titillates you, what scares you. Find something that provokes you enough to be worth forming all the elements of a story around, and go for it. Don’t worry so much at first about outlines, drafts, revision, perfect grammar, etc., just take it one day at a time. I think something most people can relate to and enjoy exploring is the grey areas of morality—the conflicts within characters which infuse them with depth and realism. That can be a good place to start.

So, a piece of advice I’d give is one of the hardest to follow and I still grapple with it today: try and forget about the outside world and get intimate with your ideas. Try not to worry about the opinions of specific people or the public and write what you want to, while keeping the self-censorship to a reasonable minimum. I think the best stories are often the ones people are a little scared to write, concepts they’re almost afraid to explore, but feel drawn to. Watering down a story out of fear for how it may be received today, or making ‘safe’ narrative choices based on how it may be interpreted tomorrow, is in my opinion not only a fruitless endeavor, but an injustice to yourself, the story, the craft, and the readers. I believe it’s important to avoid favoring banality over potential controversy, no matter how enticing the former may be. With society’s increasing focus on sensitivity and purity, fighting the urge to conform, to toe the line, is going to be one of the most crucial skills for writers to obtain going forward.

What is your favorite genre, book, and/or author?

Arbogast: I won’t be able to give a concrete answer here, unfortunately! I love dystopian fiction, historical fiction, fantasy, and horror. These would certainly be among my favorites sub-genres/genres. I don’t think I can provide a favorite book, but as for authors: JRR Tolkien, Stephen King, George Orwell, Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Byron, JK Rowling, Andrzej Sapkowski, Mary Shelley (both Shelleys, really), HP Lovecraft, F Scott Fitzgerald, Edith Wharton, and Emily Brontë are all in the pantheon of the greats to me.

What are you working on next?

Arbogast: I’m pretty tight-lipped about this! I have a few projects in the pipeline and one of them is a sequel to my first novel, The Last Odinian!

Learn More About the Author and A Night at the King’s Inn:

Instagram: author_alecarbogast

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