Three Minute
An Interview
with author Thomas Wanebo

Thomas Wanebo describes his experience in "Three Minute" as "something that stuck with me; something I couldn't shake." Motivated by a need to explore that night in Osaka, Wanebo also wanted to reveal a part of himself that he had previously kept hidden from others. For a self-described "quiet, shy, unassuming person," this was a difficult undertaking. Although he feared that admitting to encounters with prostitutes on two continents would change how his friends and family thought of him, a "no excuses" attitude helped him to conquer this obstacle and write about revealing his true, naked soul.

 Wanebo believes that the piece speaks for itself and is very happy with the ending. After many revisions, he thinks that he was able to accurately capture how the experience felt in those final moments. He adds, "I've often repeated the clichéd, but I think apt, saying, ‘Art (of any kind) is never finished—it's abandoned.'" While Wanebo admits that this is often true for him, about this piece he says, "It was exactly what I wanted it to be."

Although Wanebo began to write only approximately 4 months after returning from Osaka, he plans to continue. His advice to aspiring writers is simple: read and write. Wanebo again applies a "no excuses" attitude and suggests doing both constantly. An avid reader himself, Wanebo notes, "I absorb things when I read, at subconscious levels, that seep their way into the active, creative parts of my mind." He enjoys many different authors, genres, and writing styles, and all have influenced him in some way.

Creative nonfiction appeals to Wanebo, because he feels a different connection with a piece that he knows is true:

"I find myself caring a little more about the people involved, willing to give them a little more leeway, cut them a little more slack, than I do reading fiction. It feels like it has a little more credibility, from the first word, because it's true."

He also notes that writing creative nonfiction forces him to work on his craft, because it emphasizes how something is written over what actually happens.

"Whatever happened, happened. I can't change that. All I can change is how I'm writing about it. It's as though whatever I'm writing about is something physical, something tangible that's sitting there on the table: a sculpture that's already been completed. I can't touch it. I can't change it. But it's my duty to make it attractive, to make it something people will be interested in. The only thing I can do is light it. I have to make the decisions: what part gets the spotlight, what gets the soft, moody, background light, what gets the colored or flashing or laser lights, and what gets left in total darkness. And it can actually take on a thousand looks. There are infinite ways of looking at the same thing, and infinite ways of writing about it. That's what I love about it; no matter what I'm telling the same story. But it's actually my story to tell and I can tell it any way I want to, and it can become anything I want it to be."

—Vanessa Gabler
with Ranga Atapattu and Mary Seymour