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"The harijans up top [of the bus], who neither got to see that girl's incredible breasts, nor understand why they were flying through the air as the driver slammed the brakes at the edge of the ravine, which the bus did not go over, but the refrigerator did, taking all those chickens and bananas and rice sacks and wedding and funeral girts with it, and leaving behind it on the slope it door down sixteen shirtless brown men without an ounce of body fat between them but plenty, now, of broken bones."

That's a chaotic, hilarious set piece from novelist Tony D'Souza's new book, The Konkans.

This second-time novelist and freelance writer has been our guest all week, discussing everything from working with a literary agent to researching your novel.

For the conclusion of his interview, D'Souza discusses the fine art of writing action scenes. Welcome to my deceptively simple feature, Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality conversations with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web writing.

Jason Boog:

You have a real knack for describing how crazy events unfold in physical space-- a mix of propulsive sentences and slapstick. How do you write and re-write your climactic action scenes (like the escaped pig in The Konkans or the hero chasing a girl through a cornfield in Whiteman)? What's your advice for writers looking to write more action-packed prose?

"I was a creature set among them from the magical world of television. Even after a year, children would sit in a group on the dirt of my courtyard to watch me do the simplest things as though watching television still: sweeping out my hut, coughing from the dust, spitting, mending my sandals, sharpening my machete, taking a sip of water from my gourd."

That's an excerpt from Tony D'Souza's Whiteman--a fictional account of his time in Peace Corps Ivory Coast that ended when a civil war rocked his host country. Over the course of a long freelance career, D'Souza learned how to write in strange places with tight deadlines.

This week he's our special guest, talking about new novel, The Konkans. Today he tells you how to keep writing no matter where you are. 

Welcome to my deceptively simple feature, Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality conversations with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web writing.

Jason Boog:
In an interview in 2006, you said: "I wrote articles for The New Yorker, Salon, Esquire, and a slew of other places in airport and hotel bars while on tour, by the way. I've discovered a lot about myself this year. One is that I can write on the road." Could you elaborate? What did writing on the road teach you? Any advice for fledgling writers looking to strike out as a traveling freelancer?

Too many fledgling writers treat agents like fairy godmothers, expecting them to change pumpkin novels into princes. That desperation allows too many swindling faux-agents to flourish. 

Today novelist Tony D'Souza will tell you exactly how an agent can help you and exactly how they can't help you.

Over the course of his career, D'Souza has published Whiteman, a number of freelance stories, and his new novel, The Konkans. He'll explain how he traveled from Peace Corps to a writing career, despite a number of rejections from his agent.

Welcome to my deceptively simple feature, Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality conversations with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web writing.

Jason Boog:
Your agent has played a key role in your career. Could you explain how you located your agent and how you worked together over the last two books? What's your advice for writers with a first novel who are looking for an agent?

"The Peace Corps had constructed a mock Indian village [in Wisconsin], replete with shanties and stocked with educated Indian functionaries they had hired and flown over from Delhi to play the role of the poor and underserved. Acting the part of people they didn't even condescend to speak to in life, those high-caste Indian educators needed help from the American trainees..."

That's novelist Tony D'Souza describing a surreal Peace Corps training in the 1960's, something he never experienced, but used as a pivotal plot device in his new book, The Konkans.

His first novel, Whiteman, was a journey deep into a troubled African country where D'Souza served in Peace Corps, but his new book travels into brand new spaces. 

Today he gives us a long essay about characterization in my deceptively simple feature, Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality conversations with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web writing.

Jason Boog:
Your first book focused on a young man who lived a life very similar to your life in Peace Corps. This second novel dives into the lives of people very different from yourself. How did you imagine your way into the lives and thoughts of these unfamiliar characters--especially the middle-aged mother of the narrator and the Indian immigrant she secretly loved for years?

"Maxwell Street at that time was an open-air bazaar of second-hand electronics, knockoff designer shoes, food stalls, junk, and trinkets to rival any great market in the Third World, and the vendors and shoppers came from every corner of it. It was a carnival of simple commerce, people haggling over single pairs of socks in eleven languages."

That's Tony D'Souza describing an immigrant corner of Chicago in his new novel, The Konkans. During his writing career, D'Souza has traveled the world as a freelance reporter (writing for everybody from The Esquire to Outside magazine), taught creative writing, and served in the Peace Corps.

In his new novel, we follow the lives of a family of Konkans--an Indian ethnic group that converted to Catholicism centuries ago. Like that market, D'Souza's imaginary family contains a multitude conflicting, beautiful details.

Welcome to my deceptively simple feature, Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson’s mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality conversations with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web writing.

Jason Boog:

The Konkans rests on a tremendous body of research into two centuries' worth of history. This was a new level of historical depth for you. How did you research this book, both historically and setting-wise? Which novels did you read for inspiration about how to write a book set against such a dramatic history?

What happens after you publish your first book? Not much, unless you're willing to do a lot of work. 

While pondering the pros and cons of self-publishing, GalleyCat reminded me of an important point that can get lost in the writing and editing shuffle. Check it out: 

"technology has made it possible for just about anybody to become a published author—but that's only the first step in becoming a successful author, and only the people who have the courage and tenacity to see the project through, with or without a big company's help, will reap the full rewards."

Novelist Tony D'Souza told us something similar when he stopped by for an interview. He single-handedly arranged a book tour, dinners with magazine editors, and interviews with bloggers. Nobody magically publicized his book and the majority of the work fell on his shoulders.

What does that mean for us? Write a book you are committed to; a book that you are ready to defend and lug around the country. Getting published is only half the battle. Selling copies is something else.  

Just listen to D'Souza:

"It’s not Nicholas Sparks, Dan Brown business I’m talking here because that’s not art. I’m talking the great writers, the great editors. For all the rhetoric of the Beats, Kerouac didn’t give his On The Road money back. And nobody called Gatsby a ‘sell-out’ book because it sold out."