Sit-Down: Nicholas Orsini

You won’t find Nicholas Orsini, a recent graduate of Marist College, working as a barista or stocking shelves. Despite the horrific state of the economy and the inevitable fate of college graduates everywhere, Nick Orsini has written and self-published a book.
The Radio/TV/Film student has always had a knack for thinking outside the box – clearly evident in his first book entitled Two Wrongs Make A Vice. The book is an ode to his early teenage years while painting vivid images using colourful language and modern slang. Through the book, we see an open-minded protagonist that is caught in very common teenage situations while analyzing his every move using a very in-depth form of contemplation. The book’s most striking characteristic is its emphasis on the impact music makes to his teenage and post-collegiate years.
I recently sat down with Orsini – we discussed details about Two Wrongs Make a Vice and the writing process.
Generator Magazine (GM): “How did you come up with the title of the book?”
Nick Orsini (NO): “The title of the book was found on Facebook extremely late one night. Someone posted an album of pictures with this really long title that began, "Two wrongs make a vice..." I'll just give the credit for the book's title to social networking in general. This entire novel is meant to have a generational feel to it, and to start it off with a Facebook reference just seemed to capture that.”

GM: “What audience are you trying to inspire with this book?”
NO: “I wrote this book with a 15-20 year old audience in mind. My editor and I reworked the book countless times to get the tone right. We wanted something with substance that wasn't a chore to read. I wanted to write a book for people who don't like to read. I looked at the lengths of my favorite novels and realized that they weren't these gigantic sweeping epics, but rather compact and insightful works that pride themselves on the careful and right combinations of words.”

GM: “The chapters in the book are mix-tape track names. How do you come up with the tracks of each song/chapter?”
NO: “I put out a call via Twitter and Facebook for people to just send me the most random sentences they could. I got over 200 responses and used my favorite ones as the chapters in the book. Some of them were written by my friends, some were written by strangers. It plays off this lofty idea that your song title needs to have nothing to do with the message of your song.”

GM: “Are you ever nervous that you've disclosed too much about your life in the book?”
NO: “Nah...The characters in the book are combinations of people I've known throughout my life. Obviously, the main character walks in some familiar shoes, but thats the joy of writing. The character I've written acts and reacts different than I would. The supporting characters in the book are sketches of various people. I was pretty nervous about having my family read certain parts of it. My mom is a kindergarten teacher, so she understands how creativity takes you in some unique directions. My friends have been amazingly supportive of the work. The idea behind the characters is that they are people everyone meets over the course of their young life. The last line in the book reflects the main idea of the whole story. I'm a sucker for last lines so I felt pretty compelled to write a good one.”

GM: “What made you want to write a book?”
NO: “I went to Marist for Radio/TV/Film and Cinema Studies. While I was completing my degree, I realized that narratives, even those you structure around an exam question or a paper, were my real passion. I might get in some trouble for saying this, but college is this gigantic story and yes, it involves classrooms and assigned readings, but perhaps more importantly it involves how you build up relationships with other people. I had wanted to write a book since I was 18, and every summer I would write 30 pages and hate it. It wasn't until my 22nd summer that I became ok with the story. Two years removed and I still have a great affection for my time at Marist. The people I met, professors and peers, are on every single page of Two Wrongs Make a Vice. I owe them a gigantic thank you.”

GM: “How long did it take to write?”
NO: “I began the book in May 2008 and finished the rough draft in December of 2009. It went through 5 rounds of editing. The original manuscript was 250,000 words. The final manuscript is about 80,000 words.”

GM:” Is there a way for readers to contact you?”
NO: “Yes! People can e-mail me at readattheshow@gmail.com or find me on Twitter. (twitter.com/NICKORSINI or twitter.com/READATTHESHOW) I am always looking for people to read my book and I love getting feedback.”

Want a copy of Two Wrongs Make A Vice? Generator Magazine is giving away one copy of the first edition to go to print. If interested, Direct Message us at @GeneratorMag with your name and phone number.