ETC: You've written eight novels and one collection of short stories. How have you seen your writing change through the years? And what has inspired that change, if anything?

Chris Crutcher: I think I've gotten better at the craft; at the lyrical part, the word choices. I can also tell a more complex story now than I could at the beginning, and am certainly more confident with different kinds of characters. Those are some of the things that happen naturally for any writer.

ETC: What are some of the books you've been reading? It's always interesting to know what a writer reads.

Chris Crutcher: I love Tim O' Brien. Kurt Vonnegut, Alice Walker, Anything new by Terry Davis, Chris Curtis, Will Weaver, Chris Lynch. Wally Lamb. Can't wait for another Pat Conroy novel. Anna Quindland is amazing. I'm reading "The Natural", about the Clinton presidency right now. I think there was a lot more to that guy than an overactive sex drive. It amazes me how so many people in this country don't want a smart leader. Oops. I was supposed to be talking about what I read.

ETC: You say you were not a devout student or a gifted teacher, and yet your books are polished and, in a sense, instructional. Do you think you could have been a better student and teacher if the expectations had been more flexible? Individualized?

Chris Crutcher: I think I would have been a better student if the education system had recognized my learning style and played a little more to it, and if teachers had known the importance of relating subject material to the individual student. I think I would have been a better teacher if I'd been a better student. Actually, I was a lot of fun as a teacher, I just wasn't competent in my subject area.

ETC: What do you think is the most common mistake educators make when it comes to dealing with kids who are considered "at risk?" And how can that error be avoided?

Chris Crutcher: I think they pay way too much attention to behavior and way to little to expression. Most kids in trouble get in trouble because they don't want you to see what they are afraid of, though that isn't the term they'd use. We pay way too much attention to things like "zero tolerance" etc. That's a behavioral term.

ETC: Is the previous question answered in part by the English teacher in "Whale Talk?" Is part of the secret to effective outreach the ability to listen and not judge?

Chris Crutcher: That's the only advice I can give anyone who works with adolescents. Don't judge and don't take it personally.

ETC: T.J., the protagonist in "Whale Talk" seems so completely three-dimentional. Was he based on a real person? Or are your character simply that real to you as you write them?

Chris Crutcher: They're that real as I write them. He isn't anyone in particular, but he has to have the characteristics he has for me to tell the story well; so he and I made a deal. He'd be three-dimensional and I'd treat him with respect.

ETC: Is there a character in any of your books that is autobiographical -- Chris Crutcher himself, though thinly veiled?

Chris Crutcher: Not really.

ETC: Speaking of autobiographical content, your new book, KING OF THE MILD FRONTIER: An Ill-Advised Autobiography, what inspired you to take such a literary departure? What made this the time to write about your childhood?

Chris Crutcher: Serendipity, mostly; looking for something different to do while I let the next story take shape. I did it mostly for fun.

ETC: The autobiography is both funny and poignant. How do you capture that balance as a writer? Is it an instinct you were born with, or has it been fine tuned with experience?

Chris Crutcher: I suppose it's both. The better you see the two juxtaposed, the better you deal with people and the better you're able to put people (characters) into your stories.

ETC: You've been very candid in your autobiography about some difficult lessons learned as a boy -- dealing with your temper and your mother's alcoholism. Was it difficult to write about such personal subjects?

Chris Crutcher: Not really. My mom was very open about her alcoholism once she got clean. She told people right out when they offered her a drink, and she talked to kids at school about it, just as she took her oxygen tank to the school when she got emphasema to show kids where smoking leads. She may not have changed any minds (and she may have) but she was right there talking about who she was and the mistakes she'd made.

ETC: Again, the new book is intensely humorous. And you've said that you considered stand up comedy at one point. Who makes YOU laugh? Who were you comedic inspirations?

Chris Crutcher: I see humor in almost everything, so it's not hard to make me laugh. I loved the old stand-ups. Alan King, Bob Newhart's old telephone comedy. I loved the Smothers Brothers, bought every album, mimicked them at school. A writer named Jean Shepherd probably had as much to do with my love of humor in writing as anyone. Mad Magazine was a favorite. I think Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, to name a few, are postive geniuses. I can't even come close to telling you all the things I think are funny.

ETC: "Athletic Shorts," your critically acclaimed collection of short stories has been one of your most popular books. Will there be any other short story collections?

Chris Crutcher: There better be. I made a contract with Greenwillow for one.

ETC: What's next for Chris Crutcher? Can you tip us off to any surprises? Insider secrets? Bombshell revelations?

Chris Crutcher: Naw, no surprises. Haven't you read the critics? Chris Crutcher is being Chris Crutcher again. They don't realize I'm so narcissistic I think that's cool. I may do another adult novel in the near future. If there are surprises they will be surprises to me, too.