'Like a very complex game'

 

"In a crazy way, writing is a lot like any kind of very complex game - like chess, where you have the knowledge as you're composing all of the ramifications of each move, of each choice you make." – Adam Ross

 

Born in New York City this date in 1967, Ross is a novelist, short story writer and magazine editor whose novel Mr. Peanut was named both a New York Times Notable Book and one of the best books of 2010  by The New Yorker, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New Republic, and The Economist.   An intricate murder mystery, the book has been translated into 16 languages.

 

A gifted athlete who won a high school state wrtestling championship, Ross also grew up interested in acting and appeared in several movies and numerous television commercials.  He is working on a semi-autobiographical novel on those youth acting experiencs.

 

Now the editor of the historic literary magazine The Sewanee Review (since 2016), he and his family live in Nashville, where his writing includes frequent contributions to such newspapers and magazines as The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Beast and The Nashville Scene.  His short stories have appeared in The Carolina Quarterly.

“I think that if you have a knack for storytelling, and you work really hard at it, you'll have a chance to tap into something deep,” he said.   “But the fact remains that good sentences are hard won. Any writer worth a lick knows constructing a sentence, a paragraph, or a chapter is hard work.”