BOISE WRITER'S 'GRITTY' BOOK TAKES LOOK AT THE DRUG WAR

Boise writer Everardo Torrez celebrates the publication of his first novel,
"Narco," (Arte Publico Press) on Tuesday.

A graduate of the Boise State writing program and a winner of several
writing honors, Torrez will discuss his book on campus as part of Latino
Heritage Month.

The atmosphere of "Narco," by Torrez's own admission, is "gritty." It's the
story of Nando Flores, a smuggler of cargo both animate and inanimate
across the Mexican border.

Flores' arrangement to help a woman named Xiomara (pronounced
"See-oh-mara") get to the border city of Juarez puts him in the company of
sinister characters.

We caught up with Torrez by phone.

First the basic question ... how do you describe your book for people who
haven't gotten their copy yet?

It's an in-depth, ethnographic view of drug smuggling and the drug cartel.
Basically, I was interested in staying away from the traditional, political
view of the drug war. I wanted to step back and see if there's a different
reality. I wanted to focus on the people, on how people become involved,
what motivates them, that sort of thing.

The cover of the book is really neat. My only concern is that it's a little
misleading. It makes it look like "Narco" is a "guy" book, but it's not.

The female characters are equally important, if not more so than the male
characters. The book is very driven by the female presence.

Was it hard, as a man, to write female characters?

No. I enjoy writing from a feminine perspective. I don't know how
legitimate it is, but I find it's enjoyable to write from that perspective.
With me, it stems from curiosity, wondering what it's like to look at the
world from a different perspective.

Your protagonist, Nando, is kind of an anti-hero ...

Exactly. None of my characters are traditional "protagonists" or
"antagonists.'" They're a little bit of both. This stems from the whole
culture of the drug trade. It's bad, but it also generates money for the
poorest communities. It's a very gray situation. A gray subculture. I guess
my characters reflect that.

What was the creative impetus for you?

The book was my master's thesis for the writing program. My educational
background has always been in writing, both undergraduate and graduate.

With this book, I wanted to find a place or situation where I could really
focus, sit down and write a book. Getting into the writing program helped
me do that.

I've always had this plot idea in my head. There have always been movies on
the subject, like "Traffic," "Blow," or who can forget "Scarface"?

"Traffic" was supposed to be open-minded, but it was still good vs. bad,
black vs. white, and that drugs are bad, and here are the reasons. I
thought, well, maybe it's more complicated than that.

Maybe that's one reason we haven't solved the drug problem. Because we're
looking at it in a linear way.

I based "Narco" on "standpoint theory," a communication theory in which
there is no absolute truth. I thought, hey, this would be a great story,
and I want to write it.

Just as a side note, the final version of the book doesn't contain one
chapter that I wrote about a character who's the closest to being a "bad guy."

The chapter told about his background. I wanted to present him, but also
tell how he became the way he was.

This is really the whole point of the book - sure, a character did a bad
thing and there were bad consequences, but this is why it happened.

The missing chapter is one of the things I felt bad about. But the editors
wanted a more action-driven plot. And that chapter was more surreal ...

You did the writing program at Boise State ... and I'm sure you know, there
are lots of people who believe in writing programs and lots of people who
don't. What do you think?

I think they're good. They allow you to go in and focus on writing, share
your writing and get feedback. Hopefully, you have a professor who can tell
you what to look out for and give practical advice about publishing.

Do you think there's a danger of writing programs churning out writers with
similar voices?

There could be a danger of that, but if someone's a good writer, they're
not going to be influenced too much. They're going to write how they feel
most comfortable.

I don't think you can teach someone to be a good writer. Being a good
writer is being a good observer, being good at translating thought and idea
to words. Really, it's all about practice. It's not like getting a law
degree or a medical or engineering degree. Writers either have it or they
don't.

What aspects of writing do you find yourself consistently praised for by
your peers?

I've been told that I'm good with description, that I set a scene very
well. "Narco" is a very gritty book in a lot of ways. I think I tried to
focus on smells, on creating the world. I won't go into a lot of exposition
about a door or something, about how it looks, or hangs, but I'll try to
find key aspects of a situation or place, how that place makes a character
feel.

So there are lots of parts in the book where I think you get that gritty
feeling of what it's like to live on the border. But I also think there are
places in the book with romantic or poetic ways to look at the world.

For example, there's a part where someone whom the female character Xiomara
loves gets killed. This is right at the point where she feels the most
desperate and alone. She looks around and sees all the people she lost in
the air or in the trees, like they're with her. There's almost a sense of a
surreal type of beauty. Both grit and beauty are present.

What's next for you creatively?

I've started a project that centers around the killings of young women
going on in Ciudad Juarez (a rash of unsolved murders over the past decade).

For the new novel I have to do more research; I hope to go down there, but
I'll basically research the same way I did for "Narco," read crime books,
psychology books - psychology in the sense of the criminal mind.

There's something very ominous about the Ciudad Juarez killings. They have
to be tied somehow to somebody with political connections and money, I
think. It's too big. There are too many victims - by different accounts,
from 200 to 400.

I've fallen in love with the novel form and am finding that the writing
part is more enjoyable the second time around.

What book was helpful in writing "Narco"?

There's a book called "Drug Lord," by Terrence Poppa. Poppa actually spent
time with a famous drug lord [Pablo Acosta] before he was killed. While
Poppa was down there investigating, he himself had hits put out on him.

How do you make time for your writing, plus your day job and family life?

Luckily, I write for a living. I'm a technical writer at HP, so it's an
easier transition. But finding the time to write is the difficult thing. I
have a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old. I'm pretty productive at night, between
10 p.m. and 2 a.m. It's hard if you don't have a schedule and routine
because when you go to write you have to reimmerse yourself in the story
and reacquaint yourself with your characters.

What was it like when you first got the news that someone wanted to publish
your book?

In all my writing classes we were told that we had to find an agent - that
we had to start getting short stories published so an agent would notice
us, that we shouldn't bother approaching publishers without an agent.

I sent query letters to six agents, and one to one publisher, Arte Publico
Press, that was willing to read submissions directly from writers.

All six agents said, "no," but the publisher said, "yes."

They wrote me back and said they liked the book, but there were some things
they wanted me to change. I resubmitted the book and four months later I
got a contract in the mail.

So was that just, like, the best thing ever?

It was literally a dream come true. I mean, I was literally having dreams
about that letter the whole time before I got it. Then it actually
happened. How many times in your life can you say your literal dreams came
true?

It's been a huge learning experience. There's a whole business to books.
The publisher has been great, though. I found out that they're one of the
oldest and largest publishers of Hispanic literature.

What are you reading these days? Any good recommends for our readers?

One of the most influential books I know is "Aztec," by Gary Jennings. It's
the best book I've ever read. It's about a thousand pages long, about the
Aztec empire. It's incredible.

Lately I've been reading more non-fiction biographies. I liked the John
Lennon biography by Arthur Goldman. I don't think it was "authorized," but
.. and here's one that will throw everybody off. Another interesting book
is Marilyn Manson's autobiography.

As far as fiction, anything by Clive Barker. I love Clive Barker. His
writing influenced me as I was growing up. And you gotta love Stephen King.
I also have to say T.C. Boyle. He was my professor at USC and he's 'the
guy' right now that fiction writers are using as a standard.

Tell us a little about your talk on Oct. 4.

I'll talk about the academic background of the book and will do a reading,
talk to people and sign their books. Afterward, I'll invite everyone over
to my house where we can drink something a little more substantial than
fruit punch.