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Oct
14
Thomas Trofimuk [author of WAITING FOR COLUMBUS] Guest Blogs
2009 at 11am Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
So, remember a couple weeks ago when I wrote about Waiting for Columbus and called it “one phenomenal mindf#@k of a novel?” I loved the book and was pretty proud of that review, and it turned out that the author, Thomas Trofimuk, thought it was pretty great, too. After he said all these wonderful things about me, I just had to invite him to guest blog, right? I am so pleased to welcome Thomas Trofimuk today, and I certainly hope you’ll consider checking out his book. In my estimation, it’s one of the best of the year.
I should start off by briefly saying what the book is about. Its outer shell is about a man who wakes up in a Spanish mental institution believing wholeheartedly that he is Christopher Columbus. He eventually begins to tell his story to his nurse, Consuela – he starts to tell stories about how he got his ships. She listens, hoping to discover what it was that drove this seemingly educated, cultured man to retreat from reality.
My Columbus is not heroic in the least: he falls in love with every woman he meets, and, on land, he has absolutely no sense of direction. He is also convinced a terrible tragedy is coming. As each chapter of his sometimes-outlandish story unfolds, Consuela draws closer to her patient – to the point of an ethical and moral dilemma – she’s in love. At the same time, an Interpol cold-case expert is chasing a “man of interest” through southern Spain.
So, that’s the outer shell. On the inside is a tragedy. It’s probably the most profoundly personal book I’ve written. It’s because I have a daughter. I have an eight-year-old and I brought all my fears and anxieties and anxiousness to the fore. I imagined the worst thing that could happen to me and then I put my head down and wrote. So I truly hurt with Columbus, I was damaged with him, and as frightened, lost, and in-hiding. It was a hell of a ride writing this book.
It’s also a book about the resiliency of the human spirit, and the fragility of the human heart. It asks the question: What is it that we can live through and come out the other side? I think this book is an attempt to answer to that question. I say “attempt” because everyone is different – this journey is intensely personal.
Columbus, the delusional, wine-loving patient, first knocked on my door about 15 years ago. I was looking for a fictional way to explore the idea of obsession – a story hook – and there was a knock on my door. I opened the door to my apartment and there he was – disheveled, lost, desperate, and most importantly, obsessed. So I let him in. I started to write about this fictitious Columbus. I mean he had to be obsessed right? All the best minds of his day said it was too far to sail west to Japan and India but he was determined to go anyway. All the experts said he’d die out there. But I want to see what’s out there, he replied. His venture was a long shot. If he hadn’t accidentally run into the West Indies, we wouldn’t know about Columbus – he’d just be blip on the historical radar. He’d be a guy who got some boats, sailed west, and ultimately died. I wound up writing about 30,000 words. I would read the history books on Columbus at night, and then write in the mornings. I began to understand just how many books there were out in the world on Christopher Columbus and also, how many of them that disagreed. The scholars can’t even agree on where he came from. Was it Italy, Spain, Portugal? To have this sort of myth and mystery around this historical figure is the perfect scenario for a fiction writer – there’s a freedom and latitude. And I wanted to make it clear that my Columbus, and what would become the novel Waiting for Columbus, were works of fiction – not history, and not historical fiction. That’s why inside the story Columbus tells to Consuela, the 21st century (at the time, 20th century) artifacts started showing up in the 15th century. Hairdryers, cell phones, cars, handguns all got dropped into the 15th century because the history was only the vehicle for the story, a way to unravel the obsession, a love story, and as it turns out, a narrative with a tragedy at its heart. At roughly the 30,000-word mark, I hit the wall. I really liked what I’d written but I had no idea what to do with it. There was no narrative arc to it. Not yet. So, I saved it and created a folder on my computer, and moved on.
While Waiting for Columbus was gestating, I wrote and published about thirty or forty short stories, about 300 poems, and two pretty fine novels – The 52nd Poem and Doubting Yourself to the Bone. I also met and married my wife and we have a daughter – currently “the-daughter-of-a-thousand-questions.”
Three years ago, while driving to a poetry event, the narrative of Waiting for Columbus came. The story was there, at the top of a hill and around a corner. I knew how to tell the Columbus story. I pulled over, called my wife on the cell phone and asked her to write down everything I was about to say. Well, I probably barked at her and she wrote down everything I said. And then I was off…
When I write, I produce 1,500 words every day for about four months. Admittedly, some days it’s difficult but it’s usually the days I struggle that I produce the most interesting stuff. After the four months I lift my head up and begin to weave the narrative together. While I have a general idea of where I want the story to go, if I know exactly what’s going to happen when I sit down to write, I don’t write. I need the thrill of discovery (I need to be a bit like Columbus). I can’t know everything that’s about to happen. My characters have to breathe, and occasionally stand up to me and say things like: “No, I’m not doing that! I would never do that!” And so we argue and I don’t always win.
I had a first draft of Waiting for Columbus after four months and I was ready to send it to my agent about two months after that.
I’d like to think the book came out of me because it was the right time…and this may be true. The 15th century was a time of anxiety with constant wars, the Inquisition, the plague and so on. And the 21st century is, as far as I can see, equally anxious with the terror threats, wars, and pandemic scares and so on. It wasn’t so hard to shift back and forth those 500 years, at least emotionally.
While I know my Columbus is no hero, he certainly has courage and I think a dogged and determined spirit. He is undaunted. It’s this Columbus spirit of temerity and adventure – not the revisionist villain who inadvertently starts a genocide – that most interests me. My Columbus narrative ends with the acquisition of his ships. There are hints at the genocide that follows the Spanish discovery but for the most part, my Columbus is done once he gets his ships.
I want to end this blog with my thoughts on this Columbus spirit. If readers take one thing away from Waiting for Columbus, I would hope that it’s something of the Columbus spirit of adventure and willingness to risk – especially in matters of the heart. Columbus is the perfect metaphor for a love story – and there are many love stories in this book.
When we meet our other, our husband, or wife, or partner we embark on a Columbus adventure. We invite this other person to come along on this journey with no real map, or compass, or clear end-point. We only hope that we will arrive safely, together, at some destination. That leap of faith is a Columbus leap.
And it’s also there when a reader picks up a book. We open the book to its first page and begin to read with the same spirit of adventure, and curiosity. The question I wonder where this is going to take me? is there every time we pick up a book.
I want to thank Rebecca and The Book Lady’s Blog for this opportunity to write about my book and the process by which it came into being.
Visit Thomas at his website for more information about Waiting for Columbus.
No related posts.
Well, I already had the book on my list. I mean, how can you ignore a book that is described as a mindf&^%???? But this guys is just downright cool. It is amazing in these guest posts how well a personality can come through with his words.
[...] Thomas Trofimuk [author of WAITING FOR COLUMBUS] Guest Blogs [...]
I must have missed your review of this book, Rebecca, but it sounds fantastic based on what the author has said! I’ll definitely be picking up this book!
Curse you, Rebecca! I want to read this book now! I wonder if I can get hired at a bookstore real quick like so I can snag an ARC…
Okay, between Rebecca’s review and this post, I’m thoroughly convinced.
Sounds beautiful. We’ll have to add this to our list. We love reading stuff about adventurers and explorers. With the love theme as well and the originality of the hospital setting, this definitely sounds tantalising!
What an interesting way to approach the topic you were interested in — obsession — through the poor tormented man who believes he is Columbus. You wove together your own obsessions and greatest fears in a most intriguing way. I really enjoyed reading this post and what went into your book.
Thanks Thomas and thanks Book Lady!
Great post! I am really looking forward to getting my hands on this book
I loved this post, and I hadn’t heard about this book, but I just have to get it now.