Ken Jaworowski | Writers' Voices

New York Times editor and critic, Ken Jaworowski, visits us to discuss his debut crime novel, Small Town Sins. His story takes place in Locksburg, a small town in Pennsylvania, where we meet three hapless individuals who are each struggling with issues in their own difficult lives. According to Jaworowski, “None of these three are… ordinary people, people that you might know. The first one is Nathan. He is working at a metal fabrication plant and he’s also a volunteer fireman. The second is Callie who is a nurse who works for a small town hospital of ten beds, and not only does she work as a nurse, sometimes the phone rings in the hospital and the receptionist is out so she has to answer the phone too, so she’s almost a jack-of-all trades… the third person is, from defining people by their profession, is just a gas station attendant who is a former drug addict who has moved from Philadelphia to see if he can find a better life in this small town of Locksburg, Pennsylvania. So, those are the three characters…” Throughout the novel, Nathan, Callie, and Andy each tell chapters in their own points of view, and while the ending offers some hope for the three of them, their lives remain quite grim. As he explains, “…I didn’t want to shy away from complicated problems that some people have… I didn’t want to shy away from tough problems and to say that look, sometimes life is not easy and sometimes difficult things happen.”

Regarding his writing process, Jaworowski explained that he took a different approach to writing this book than what he’s done in his previous works. “This one I decided to take a different path. I said, ‘Don’t worry… sometimes I would stop after two or three sentences and admire my beautiful work and stall, and I said to myself, ‘No. write. Just keep writing. Go back to it later and edit it,’ and there were sometimes that I would write 3 to 4 pages when I finally edited it. I would bring it back to a page or even a paragraph. So, I listened to the characters and followed them along and just kept writing. In the past, I was so concerned about every single word, and this time I wasn’t… I focused primarily on storytelling and on editing. So that’s the big change I made this time around.” And for anyone who aspires to be a novelist, he advises, “Remember your audience. Absolutely. You can’t just write for yourself and for years, I did, and again, I know this is a tough novel at times too, but I think readers can understand what’s happening and I’ve written for them just as much as I’ve written for myself.”