BookView Review

Welcome to BookView Interview, a conversation series where BookView talks to authors.

Recently, we interviewed Ben Blotner about his writing and soon-to-be released book, OUT OF THE BASSLINE, an energetic, emotionally sincere coming-of-age story that blends college comedy, music culture, and personal reinvention with surprising depth. (Read the review here.).

Who and what ultimately inspired you to become a writer?

I’ve always felt naturally drawn to writing. I came up with a lot of stories as a kid, but then I did so much dry, technical writing in school that I never really got to use my creative side that much. I did freelance journalism for a few years during and after college, using those same nonfiction writing skills, then started dabbling in fiction just for fun and discovered that I’m really passionate about it.

My brother (technically half-brother) Reyan Ali is a successful writer and one of my biggest inspirations. He published his first book NBA Jam in 2019, a nonfiction dive into the history of the iconic arcade game. He’s interviewed lots of interesting people in his career, both for NBA Jam and for the extensive freelance journalism he has done. I’ll never forget seeing him speak about the book at MAGFest 2020 and sign autographs afterward. One woman even brought him food! Reyan is also working on his first novel and always has lots of creative ideas. He’s introduced me to so much cool entertainment that’s really expanded my horizons.

Tell us a little about how this story first came to be. Did it start with an image, a voice, a concept, a dilemma or something else?

Honestly, it didn’t really start out as a novel and I didn’t set out looking to write one, it just kind of happened. I was in a bit of a lonely place a few years ago where I felt like I didn’t have enough friends to hang out with or things to do. I got the urge to put together some kind of fictional universe as a creative outlet, so I came up with Dexter and the gang.

I was really inspired by one of my favorite rappers, the underrated Lil Dicky, and the hit show Dave about his life. That was always a comfort show for me and gave me a nice cozy feeling, like I was hanging out with my friends. It made me want to create a sitcom based on my own life and the characters in it with a similar tone: a little raunchy and goofy, but full of heart and emotional depth. The character Dazzy “Educator D” Dixon is partly inspired by GaTa from Dave, and Dexter’s last name Byrd is a variation of Dave’s last name Burd.

Since I didn’t have the resources to make a sitcom, I started writing the story in prose form and posting it on my old blog in installments. (You can still see some of the old, unpolished version on umpiresandeyeliner.com). After doing that for a while, I realized what it was turning into: my first novel. I had the characters get involved with things that I knew and loved, emo music and baseball, and the story developed naturally from there.

How often do you base your characters on real people?

In general, some of my characters are inspired by real people while some are inspired by other fictional characters, but Bassline’s characters lean more toward the real. Dexter is loosely based on me, and his friends carry some qualities of my real friends while also being kind of idealized— like an imagining of my perfect college friend group that loves emo music and baseball.

Rise In Girl and the other pop-punk bands are homages to the bands I love, which I think people will figure out quickly given the names. (Rise In Girl = Fall Out Boy, Tranquility? Away from the Rave = Panic! at the Disco, and Your Natural Friendship = My Chemical Romance). The bands are based loosely on the real groups, but very much have their own personalities as well.

Trevor Green is a composite character inspired by different guys from some of my favorite bands. I would say he has the voice of Patrick Stump (Fall Out Boy), the creative genius and troubled past of Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy), the charisma and stage presence of Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day), and the look of William Beckett (The Academy Is…).

What makes this book important right now?

Bassline isn’t an explicitly political novel — that’s not really my style — but there’s a definite sociopolitical subtext to the college kids fighting back against the corrupt Haggerty/Fender machine that runs Cullfield. The characters have this punk-rock anti-establishment chip on their shoulders that embodies the struggle of the little guy versus the man, which is obviously as relevant as ever with what we’re facing in today’s America. The pop-punk bands in the book and the messages of their music capture the spirit of this battle, just like their real-life counterparts.

I think the portrayal of Gen-Z Internet culture is also important because so many people around my age (or a little younger) are falling victim to terminally online brainrot content that can ruin the way they think. I’m not talking about harmless, funny brainrot, I’m talking about the stuff that promotes harmful ideologies. The book portrays examples of media that perpetuates the kinds of B.S. hive-minded thinking that cause so many people to get hopelessly lost in the sauce.

How did you decide on this title?

Not to sound pretentious, but there are actually multiple layers to the title Out of the Bassline, beyond the obvious baseball and music pun. There are some elements that I would say are outside the “baseline” expectations of the structure you would expect for a book like this, including the flashbacks interspersed throughout to show key moments from the characters’ pasts. In addition, the college characters trip on LSD and an acid is the opposite of a base, so it’s out of the “baseline” in that respect too.

What do you hope readers will take away from this story?

I’m hoping it will help people be themselves, express their creativity, and break free of the mental fog and self-doubt clouding their brains. Each character has their own journey and learns something different about themself. For Dexter, it’s getting better at the things he loves that helps him build confidence and break through his anxiety and insecurities. For Bobby and Lewis, it’s learning to fight back against toxic people in their lives who are holding them back.

Dazzy comes into his own as a musical artist and learns a thing or two about love. Kat learns to be strong and independent and take charge of the moments when they come. Callie learns to accept her identity and let go of her past trauma. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

I hope people also take away that pop-punk music and emo culture should be a way to lift people up and give them a sense of community and belonging, not something that makes them feel like they have to be angsty and miserable all the time just to fit in. Although much of the music is inspired by those dark moments in the artists’ lives, things like mental illness, self-harm, and addiction shouldn’t be romanticized just because they help create great art. Those struggles are real, and the purpose of the art is to show people that they’re not alone in these struggles and other people are going through the same things — even if they seem way cooler than you on the surface. That’s why I love upbeat-sounding music on top of dark, brooding lyrics. It gives you that feeling that everything’s going to be okay, no matter what you’re going through right now, and I think that’s what it’s all about.

What life experiences have shaped your writing most?

For this book, more than anything, I would say just the roller-coaster ups and downs of growing up and becoming an adult. Bassline is about new adults growing into themselves and discovering who they are, and there’s lots of excitement, novelty, and adventure as well as lots of disappointment and bumps in the road. Although not everything that happens to Dexter happened to me, some of his struggles with girls and awkwardness do mirror the ones I had when I was younger.

I also played many years of baseball in high school and in a men’s league. While I loved the game and still do, I wasn’t the most naturally talented and often felt not good enough on the field the same way Dexter does. I sometimes had to pick myself up mentally in a similar way to elevate my performance, though I never did pull a Dock Ellis and play baseball on acid.

Like some of the characters, I first got into musical performance during my time in college. I went to The College of Wooster, which like Haggerty University is a small liberal-arts college in a small, middle-of-nowhere Ohio town (minus the emo obsession and the rampant corruption).

During my senior year, some of my friends encouraged me to perform vocals at covers shows on campus. (If you watch those old videos, things have definitely gone uphill from there). After college, this turned into regular karaoke performances at a dive bar called the Dolphin Lounge, which quickly became one of my favorite places. I’m now learning guitar and have been writing and performing my own songs, some of which are inspired by the events of the book.

What sort of a relationship exists between you and the characters you created in this book?

At this point, it’s been so long since I created them that they feel like real, fully fleshed-out people to me. Dexter is my semi-self-insert muse, Bobby is the big-hearted motivator, Lewis is the meme-savvy edgelord (he would have fit in great with my real college friends), Dazzy is the mega-cool stoner musician, and Kat is the online powerhouse and mom friend. Callie is kind of a Ramona Flowers-esque fantasy of a dream alt girl, but she’s nuanced enough to show that even that girl is human.

Trevor and the other veteran musicians are definitely characters I’d like to explore more beyond their music careers. I like using third-person omniscient POV so I can get in all of my characters’ heads, and it was fun to have the contrast of writing someone more accomplished and life-experienced like Trevor alongside the younger college characters.

As for the antagonists, I couldn’t help making them a bit cartoonishly over-the-top just because that stuff cracks me up. The villains have some complexity, but not a whole lot of moral ambiguity. I think it’s pretty obvious from the start who are the good guys and who are the bad guys.

How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?

I’ve been working on my second novel, Sleeping with the Goldfish, for a couple years now, and I’m well into revising the first draft. As a dark, dystopian crime comedy that satirizes reality TV and modern clout-chasing culture, it’ll be a fairly big change of pace from Bassline, but I think you can at least tell it’s by the same guy. It’s wildly unhinged in a really fun way, and I’ve had a great time writing it.

I also have a novel idea and outline about a young woman learning the self-defense art of Krav Maga (which I practice myself), and another that’ll be a historical dark comedy following a snobby upper-class family through the 1900s. I’ve written a short film script based on my short story Gangs of Ohio, with characters written for myself and some of my friends. I’m hoping someday we’ll have the time and resources to attempt making it, although we have very little combined acting experience and a couple of those friends have sadly moved away.

I plan to eventually write a Bassline sequel and have some ideas for what Dexter and the gang will get up to next. As you can tell, my brain is constantly overflowing with different stuff and it’s just about having the time and energy to get it on the page.

What’s next for you?

Once the book is published, I’ll be posting more of my music online, including the songs based on the book. The book songs I have so far are called “Emo Paradise,” “Ellis, D,” “Michelob MK Ultra,” “Comic Sans Happiness,” “Are You From Tennessee? ‘Cause I Really Suck At This,” and “Don’t Drop The Soap, It Might Just End Up In My Mouth.” I’m a pretty new musician and the guitar playing is still a work in progress, but I’m fully confident in my lyrical and vocal ability. You can catch me playing various open mics around the Columbus area.

I also plan to keep grinding on Sleeping with the Goldfish and hopefully get it published in the next year or two. The process should be much easier once I’ve already published a book and have a better idea of what I’m doing. I’ll also be keeping my website readers entertained with short stories, monthly newsletters, and occasional blog posts. Outside of the creative arts, you might see me running my first half marathon, taking the next steps in my day career in the finance world, or starting a family with my beautiful wife 🙂

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