Ask Brian

Feel free to shoot me an e-mail and put me on the spot. If I have an answer I’ll get back to you ASAP. But before playing Stump-Brian, you might wanna check out the FAQ’s below, and see if any of my rambling answers your question.

WHERE DO YOU WRITE?

Wherever I fire up my computer. It’s usually in my home office, or at an apartment I have in New York City. But I also write on the train, and on the research trips I love to take. Wherever I go, I always carry a little notebook to jot down ideas, or bits of dialogue I hear. Try not to sit next to me in a restaurant. I’m a big eavesdropper.

WHEN DO YOU WRITE?

I’m a major morning person. I try to write Monday thru Friday, AM and PM. If I’m really pumped about something, it might wake me up and I’ll start writing before sunrise.

HAVE YOU EVER HAD WRITER’S BLOCK?

No, I’m not smart enough to realize I have nothing to say. Besides, I’m not a big believer in being scared of a blank page or screen. As long as there’s something running across the screen of your mind, there’s something to write about.

WHEN/HOW DID YOU FIRST START WRITING?

When I was an actor in a “mime” theater company I started writing monologues and sketches for performance. Writing for theater led to writing for television, which led to writing a book for the screen of the reader’s mind.

WHERE DO YOU GET IDEAS OR INSPIRATION FOR YOUR WORK?

From little serendipitous moments that happen. Out Of Patience came from a combination of reading an interview with a writer and a trip to a museum. Suck It Up came from a frustration with politically correct censorship in television. For me, stories are like upside down pyramids. The foundation can be the smallest bit of minutia that keeps expanding into a full structure.

WHAT PEOPLE OR EVENTS HAVE INFLUENCED YOU?

My parents have always been creative (my mother, Lois Muehl, published several children’s books, and she still publishes poetry today). They were the first to open the window of imagination and encourage me to leap through it. They set a precedent. After leaving home, I found many mentors that pushed me this way and that. Notably, a brilliant mime and theater director named Tony Montanaro, and Jim Henson. Both men had an uncanny genius for building bridges between imagination and reality. Probably the most profound event to influence me was a non-event. My parents didn’t allow a television in our house until I was sixteen. Contrary to what you might be thinking, it didn’t make me an avid reader. But it did give me powers of self-entertainment. If you can entertain yourself, you can do just about anything.

WHAT BOOKS FROM YOUR CHILDHOOD DID YOU LIKE?

My first memories were of Golden Books. Big Chief was one I think, and there were others about running away on fire engines, and running away with the circus, like Toby Tyler. I liked running away stories. I have vivid memories of my father reading us Kidnapped, and Treasure Island. Later, in school, books like Bang the Drum Slowly, Fahrenheit 451, and Twain’s Letters From the Earth left a strong impression. If I had to pick one influential book it would be a book I had to read in 10th grade English glass: Moby Dick. I loved it, especially the structure of alternating chapters between the story and the technicalities of whaling. It was fiction and non-fiction in one book. That was a revelation to me, and has probably influenced my writing ever since. In my books, I love to pack in as much information and history as I can before my early readers or editors cry foul, and I have to take much of the cool non-fiction stuff out. I probably won’t be happy until I write a non-fiction book.

OKAY, NOW FOR SOME WEIRDER QUESTIONS:

Okay, my kids tell me I can do weird.

WHAT’S YOUR MOST MORTIFYING MOMENT EVER?

Easy. First day of 3rd grade, teacher’s calling the roll, she calls my name. I say, “Here.” She calls my brother’s name. He says, “Here.” She realizes, “Oh, you’re twins!” Then my brother — who hated being a twin — shouts, “No, Brian flunked a grade!” I haven’t been the same since.

WHAT WAS THE WORST THING ABOUT GROWING UP?

We didn’t have a TV.

WHAT WAS THE BEST THING ABOUT GROWING UP?

We didn’t have a TV.

WHAT’S THE MADDEST YOU’VE EVER BEEN AT A TEACHER?

When I accidentally spelled “as” with two s’s, and she thought I was being a wise-as. I was so traumatized I still get them confused.

WHERE’S THE COOLEST PLACE YOU’VE EVER LIVED?

In a teepee in the woods of Maine.

WHAT’S WITH YOUR LAST NAME?

A long time ago, it was Mühl, but my father changed it to Muehl (pronounced “meal”). But everyone pronounced it “mule” so I changed it to Meehl. I’m thinking about changing it back to Mühl so I can have a smile button in the middle of my name.