Today, we’re talking with Gavin Dillinger—a Nashville-based author who is known for his sharp wit, absurdist humor, and a bold embrace of hyper violence. In this conversation, we dig into his first memories of writing for fun and the piece he’s most proud of. We also get into the strange beast that is co-writing, and what it was like bringing a new book into the world with someone else.
Let’s dive in!
Interview with Gavin Dillinger, author of LOONEY!
Who is Gavin Dillinger?
Gavin Dillinger is an author based out of Nashville. His debut novel, AN EXPLORATION OF EXISTENTIAL INDIFFERENCE IN A VOID OF CONFIDENCE (or Good Boy: a Novel), is an exhibit of his absurdist humor, youthful wit, and unapologetic appreciation of hyper violence. It is a marked departure from his previously published stoic short stories.
What is your first memory of writing for fun?
I was prone to playing with action figures for hours as a kid. Not just simple fights of good guys versus bad guys. There were flashbacks, reveals, betrayals (with a motive). I would just disappear as I played out this feature length film. I view that as my first writing, even if it wasn’t letters on a page. It was storytelling, albeit only to myself.
How many books/short stories have you written?
Released or written? This is my second released novel. There’s a completed novella that I may allude to more if you ever ask me what piece of writing I’m most proud of and why. Then there’s another novel I’m working on that is a vanity project. It’s not horror. It’s more sad boy satire.
As for short stories, I believe I’m at three now. I just released one entitled “spoiled meat.” in the Truborn Press newsletter. And yes, the title is lower case and punctuated. Why? Because I’m difficult. It was an honor to be included because I’m a big fan of Kristina and her cover work. So to have her then design a cover for my short story was really cool. I couldn’t tell you how many short stories I’ve written though. Sometimes I stumble across files I have no memory and saving and open the document to be reminded I wrote a short story down three years prior. I’m not well organized.
What’s the piece of writing you’re most proud of and why?
Oh wow! I can’t believe you asked. It’s the novella I’m shopping now. I’m just starting to send out query letters, and I don’t want to say a ton. It is unlike anything I’ve done. It’s slow, somber, and sweet. The story is more character focused which is not common in my writing.
What’s the most unexpected thing writing has taught you about yourself?
I don’t know that it has taught me anything about myself, so much as it has been an outlet for what I have learned about myself. Almost everything I write contains some piece of me admitting fault of a version of myself that I have, hopefully, moved past. My debut novel, Good Boy, is a great example of this. As for Looney!, well, it’s hard to get into where I fit in there without spoiling the story.
If there is one lesson I’ve learned about writing, it’s that it can never be for anyone but yourself. There’s no way to know if what you read will ever be read, and even if it is read, there’s no guarantee that anyone is going to like it. So start by making sure what you write is something you enjoy, that way at least one person enjoys it, no matter how many people read it.
What are some of your other interests outside of writing?
I’m the stereotypical millennial dog dad. I like taking my dogs to the park, going to specialty coffee shops, and getting ghosted after the second date. Just normal millennial guy things.
As a reader, what genres do you reach for the most?
This is where I feel like an outcast in the horror community, because I’m not huge on reading horror. I like sad stuff. Right now I’m reading Solstice by Joyce Carol Oates. She’s such a masterful writer. There are what would be hour long conversations in this book that she condenses to a paragraph that backs up to another condensed conversation paragraph, and it all flows so seamlessly. Delivering information to the reader without skipping a beat. She uses less than three pages to bond two characters as friends so she can get on with the story. It’s brilliant work.
I do also appreciate anyone who has a great sense of humor and wit. Like this one writer I’d tell you about if you ever asked me about my all time favorite book or author, but I doubt you would.
Do you have an all-time favorite book or author?
John Dies at the End by Jason Pargin. Pargin is easily my favorite author. He just has an understanding of the world that I can only pretend to have, and he ties that in with an irreverent sense of humor. It’s like if the class clown who belched the national anthem during the morning announcements then recited Shakespearean sonnets and applied them to modern geopolitical occurrences.
LOONEY! Related Questions
How did the two of you first decide to collaborate on LOONEY!? What sparked the idea, and how did you know this was a story you wanted to write together?
I essentially questioned the friendliness of cartoon characters. Bugs Bunny in particular came to mind. He is always viewed as the neutral good character that rises to chaotic good, but that’s not entirely true. His retribution against those who wrong him is far too harsh for their crime. There’s one instance in an episode called Rhapsody Rabbit where Bugs attempts to play piano. A man in the audience has a cough. Every time Bugs tries to play, the man coughs. So Bugs draws a gun, shoots the man, and then plays the concert. It’s played for laughs but when you think about it, that seems a bit extreme. Respiratory struggles do not warrant death.
Then you can follow this intensity to other toons and see where the cartoons don’t just defend themselves, they actively torture their assailant. It makes you realize that perhaps the toons we consider to be chaotic good are just plain chaotic.
I knew the protagonist should be a veteran of some sort, but I had no idea what it’s actually like to be in the military. My career has been in advocacy for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. I work with service providers, legislators, family members, and of course the adults themselves. While the job can be stressful at times, I have a sneaking suspicion war is more stressful. So I hit up Stephen to talk about his time in the military. He gave me more time than he needed to. We’d never really met before, outside of some interactions online.
So after talking with him, I felt I had a better idea of how to approach the story… but I was wrong. I couldn’t figure out how to world build the way I needed to. There were elements to the story that I couldn’t justify. I believe this was around the time that The Perfectly Fine House had been released, and I loved the world Stephen and Wile E. Young built there. I needed something like that. So, I went back to Stephen and asked if he wanted to cowrite a book with me. He asked me to send him three ideas.
Now, and I don’t think Stephen knows this thought, I suspect he suspects this, I only wanted to cowrite Looney! with him. So I made up two ideas that I had no interest in writing and sandwiched Looney! between them. He fell for it and picked Looney!.
Did you ever surprise each other with where a character or scene ended up?
I think the biggest surprise for me was just how well Stephen could build out the world. When he agreed to work on this, I sent him all my notes and drafts and he turned around with a 70 page story bible in a week. He filled in all the gaps in the notes I had and things made so much more sense. He really is a genius when it comes to world building.
What part of LOONEY! was the most fun to write?
The ending. I always have fun with endings. I don’t start a project until I know how it ends, and so as I write it, I can tie in little things that seem innocuous but will be reflected later on. It’s not Rose Bud levels of foreshadowing or anything, but it’s still fun to write a sentence and
If one of your characters from this book came to life for a day, what would you do together?
I don’t trust any of the characters in this book. They’re all unstable, and some are also evil.
Just one last question; Where can readers find you?
Instagram and TikTok: @gavindillingerauthor. Bluesky: gavindillinger.bsky.social. Website coming soon.
Thanks for reading!
Huge thanks to Gavin Dillinger for taking the time to chat. I haven’t read LOONEY! yet, but after hearing his thoughts, I seriously can’t wait. His answers had me laughing out loud, and if the book’s anything like this conversation, I already know I’m going to love it!
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