Profile: CJ Levinson
Interests: Reading, writing, history, mythology, movies, music, cricket, tennis.
Favourite Movies: The Cider House Rules, Blade Runner, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back, Finding Forrester, The Green Mile, The Man Who Cried, Pan’s Labyrinth, Lost in Translation.
Favourite Music: (pop/rock) U2, Coldplay, SavageGarden, The White Stripes, Tina Arena, Sarah McLachlan, Crowded House, Joni Mitchell, KT Tunstall, Gotye, Sarah Blasko (scores) John Williams, Michael Kamen (R.I.P.), Alan Silvestri, Vangelis, Rachel Portman, Howard Shore.
Favourite Books: Darwin’s Radio by Greg Bear, The Green Mile by Stephen King, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link, The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
On writing: I like the initial creation of a story most, when the characters and plot come to life for the first time. I write by hand and I write four to five pages a day. The story starts to come together when I’m editing it. I’ve become much better at editing, looking back at my earlier stories. I enjoy that part of it more now.
On ideas: Sometimes something will just jump out at me from a magazine or newspaper, but usually I’ll start with the characters and try to develop an interesting setting that would impact them or society; the impact of a new technology or drug, etc. I also read a lot; if you don’t read, you can’t write.
On the future: I’d love to have a novel published. I’ve had 10 small publications so far and interest from several agents. Realistically I’m still a long way from that; maybe when I’m 27 (another 4 years or so) I’ll be ready to send more of my work away. I find it difficult looking back at my early work now… something like Monica Davis shows how far I’ve come since A Glimpse of the Future.
On the world: I’d like to be optimistic, but it’s hard to be optimistic right now. Ever since 9/11 the world’s been a different, scarier place, and it’s hard to see that changing. The Terror War touches us all; through our televisions, the Internet, on trains and buses and planes, at security terminals and shopping malls. You can argue whether the war is being fought the right way (and much of it is a mess), but the most important thing to remember is to make sure we don’t lose ourselves in the process; give away too many of our freedoms and what do we have left to fight for? The problem is this isn’t just a Terror War, it’s an age of fear. We live in a time when terrorism, abductions, paedophilia, drugs, AIDS, etc. are more visible than ever, brought home every minute, every day by 24 hour news… it paralyses people, and an irresponsible media covering terror for ratings doesn’t help anyone.
On Roger Federer: He’s a joy to watch. He makes shots no one would dream of making and carries himself so well. I’d love to see Federer win the Grand Slam, but it’s great seeing Nadal doing well; their rivalry is good for the sport and hopefully it will keep Federer hungry - last thing we want is for him to quit early like Borg.
On the 06/07 Ashes: I certainly didn’t pick 5-0. The last series in England was amazing and we were never going to have that series again, but this was… disappointing. England never showed up and after Adelaide they didn’t seem to believe they could win. Ponting was brilliant, though, and it was a fitting farewell for Langer, Warne and McGrath.
