Dave Proctor’s recent book, Blank State Volume Zero: Condopocalypse Now! is more than just a dystopian story about what happens when real estate markets crash (again), artists are left behind in factions, self-expression becomes a weapon, and empty, condo-riddled cities become war zones. It’s also an engrossing read by a U of T grad, putting our city in the spotlight in a very unexpected way. Proctor will be lecturing at Hart House this Wednesday. The Varsity spoke to him about the first book in his planned series.
The Varsity: Blank State satirizes both the Toronto condo market and art scene. Why did you decide to take on both things at once?
Dave Proctor: It started with the art scene being what I wanted to jab at. When it came to trying to figure out how I wanted to create the book’s world, I heard the doughnut-hole theory of economics from a friend [wherein neighbourhoods become prohibitively expensive due to increased pricing], and at that point I was living in Toronto, and condos bothered me. No matter where I lived, there was construction and new developments everywhere that never seemed to be finished. So the condo scene is a bit ridiculous, and the art scene is ridiculous.
TV: So you took on the mutual ridiculousness?
DP: Exactly. I took on the dual ridiculousness.There is much to be said about both.
TV: Your book is, thankfully, fictional, but how much of it can be seen as a possible truth? Do you ever fear something like this will happen?
DP: Every word of this book is entirely possible. As for how much could happen from the condo side—we could get overpopulated. I mean, even nowadays, you see little buildings and strip malls that you thought would be open forever being closed down. Anything could happen. As far as the art scene, I like to be prepared for anything, but the condo side seems more plausible than an art war.
TV: There are a lot of mentions of Toronto streets and landmarks, and the book begins with a hand-drawn map of a part of downtown. Is Blank State solely directed at people who live or have lived here?
DP: It would help to have knowledge of Toronto, as I’m not planning for national distribution yet. But I did send it to a friend in London (England, not Ontario) who sees the same pretentiousness in his art scene, so I like to say that there are universal themes everyone can appreciate. I like to keep the places in Toronto as well-described as possible. Toronto doesn’t get enough of a spotlight in literature. I want to create a living map of the city and connect it to the rest of the world.
TV: What can we look forward to at your lecture?
DP: I’ll be talking about a vague topic: DIY art. I’m approaching it from the perspective of someone who played in a punk rock band, growing up. We knew how to do different things—we put on our own shows, we made our own records…I put out my own book based on that. You can do all these things yourself. I want to talk about DIY versus. mainstream art. The most important thing about creating art is to give it the ability to be criticised.
TV: Condopocalypse Now is labelled as Volume Zero. How many books are you planning on writing?
DP: I am planning on eight. The last will be volume seven. I’ll also be working on some online, free download prequel-type stories.
TV: What inspired you to write Blank State?
DP: A lot of things were set in motion in terms of coming out of the whole music scene and seeing what goes on in terms of the labeling of people and cliques there. There is a lot of nepotism in the Toronto scene—very fine lines of who gets in and who doesn’t.
TV: So it’s like high school.
DP: Yes. Toronto is like high school. Everything is like high school. Based on that observation and applying, perhaps unfairly, the same closed-offness of the art scene, I was inspired to write the book and boil these things to their bare essential stereotypes. So many musicians failed for no reason. And so I began to think.
TV: Is there a message in the book that you want the readers to grasp?
DP: It’s not super obvious in the first volume, but there will be an underlying message of hope—and the possibility of everybody getting along. I want people to just kind of take a step back, and evaluate what they’re capable of doing, and what the people who judge them are capable of doing, and make decisions based on that.
TV: What books have influenced your life the most?
DP: The first book that I ever read in less than one week was 1984. It turned my head around. It was the first book I read without a happy ending. So then I got into the dystopian trilogy—1984, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451—and Kurt Vonnegut. I liked to giggle at the disparity of humanity. You know what works are actually really important? Those of Dr. Seuss. They’re fun, important, heartfelt, and critical. In such a basic and wonderful way. I also like Happiness by Will Ferguson, which is about a self-help book that takes over the world. You can see a recurring theme here. I like the really ridiculous, over-the-top fiction the best. Like Slaughterhouse Five.
TV: Do you find any part of writing particularly challenging? What was the hardest part of writing your book?
DP: The hardest part of writing my book was committing to two days at work, not going out, not partying, not doing any extra spending, and making a budget I could live off of. I wrote four days a week. It’s hard to make it your job instead of your whim. But then after that, the writing part went okay.
TV: Any advice for budding writers or U of T students?
DP: You’re an idiot if you think you can’t do this. Anyone can. What your parents told you—what I hope your parents told you—is that you can literally do anything. All it takes is a few phone calls and some legwork and some writing. You can do anything—write a book, make a photography album…This isn’t an unachievable frontier. People make this into an achievement, and I love that, but it’s so doable.
Dave Proctor will be speaking at Hart House on Wednesday, Nov. 25 at 6 p.m. For more information on Blank State, visit woodenrocketpress.com.
