Daily Orange: Why did you decide to write ‘Oddly Huge,’ and why did you decide to make it a parody?

Derik Taylor: Well, I was trying to write for a while. I do short stories and things, and my mom wanted me to read ‘The Notebook.’ Well he (Nicolas Sparks) had a Q&A type thing in the back, and his advice was to read different genres, so I decided then that I was going to write the parody.

DO: What did you think of ‘The Notebook?’

DT: Eh, it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting it to be, but I thought it was just as unbelievable as my story. His characters, everything, could be just as unbelievable as my story, and mine is clearly meant to be unbelievable.

DO: The book is definitely very funny; it looks like you’ve had some influence from Douglas Adams.

DT: Well yeah, I really enjoy his work. I don’t know if I see it in my own – I never think to who I might be influenced by. One thing I’m always worried about is that it’s not funny. I can read other authors and they’re so funny, but when I’m writing I’m worried the whole time if I’m funny. I can’t really see how I’m like those other authors, but I hope that I am.

DO: You dedicated the book to you wife, what does she think of it?

DT: She said she liked the book, but I don’t know how honest she’s being. She did say that she thought some of it was pretty gross, but she said she liked it.

Published on October 2, 2006 at 12:00 pm