Interview with Severo Perez

How has Texas / being a Texan influenced your writing?

There is no escaping the impact Texas and Texas history have had on my life. My indigenous roots go back thousands of years, my European roots only several hundred. I’ve lived in this in-between world all my life. Declared and undeclared wars have defined my status as a Texan/Tejano Mejicano. The reason I became a writer/filmmaker was to portray a way of life I didn’t find in books or films.

Where did your love of storytelling come from?

My enthusiasm for a good story began early. I loved often-repeated fables well told. I had uncles and aunts who could entertain for hours with grand adventures or simply a hilarious fishing trip gone awry. Starting when I was about seven, Mom read to me every night. Her steady voice brought to life one chapter per night of many authors, including all of Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer series, and memorably, Huckleberry Finn. Radio plays such as The Lone Ranger, The Fat Man, and The Inner Sanctum were important influences. I began writing radio dramas when I was thirteen. I was steeped in American Pop culture. I loved the big bands, Gershwin, Hollywood films. At the same time, my family’s history, the mariachis and huapangos I loved, and the culture that surrounded me weren’t part of mainstream entertainment. What did exist in movies and radio were the bandidos, brutish men with guns, or victimized peasants to be pitied, but not fully trusted.

          Like my uncle’s story about a fishing trip gone awry, a good story filled with self-deprecating humor and a little danger was a good story. If it takes you off the beaten path, so much the better. I wanted to do that.

How do you write? Any backstory to your choice?

For years I wrote and rewrote longhand on yellow note pads, then laboriously typed up the pages once I finished. I was a terrible typist, but my discovery of word processing was liberating. Since then, my output improved, and I never looked back.

Did you first experience rejections when submitting this manuscript for publication?

The first publisher, someone I knew fairly well, said the Odd Birds story didn’t go anywhere. When I asked him if he’d read it, there was a long pause. “Some of it,” he finally replied. The second publisher said it was too long for her readers. Later, had second thoughts and asked for me to resubmit, but TCU Press had already accepted Odd Birds.

Are you a full-time or part-time writer?  How does that affect your writing?

I am a retired filmmaker who didn’t want my creative life to end. Writing is something I’ve enjoyed doing all my life. I hope to continue as long as I have the capacity and energy. When people ask me if I still make movies, I answer affirmatively, except the films now play in the theatre of your mind.

What cultural value do you see in reading and storytelling?

As a teenager, I found reading validating. I may have been a Chicano kid from Westside San Antonio, Texas, but Stendal’s, The Red and the Black, Thomas Wolfe’s Look Homeward, Angel, and other novels made me aware that what I felt personally was universal. My own experiences and culture were valid subjects for literature. Later, Gabriel Garcia Marquez in A Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera became touchstones for my writing.

Is there any person you credit for being your inspiration for reading and/or writing?

My wife, who believed in me before I believed in myself.

Read more of the interview with Severo Perez on the

April 1, 2022 feature with Lone Star Book Blog Tours.