Tim Sandlin - 1943
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Campbell County High School, Gillette, Wyoming
I. Biography
Tim Sandlin, author of many creative books that deal with his surroundings, still dazzles us today with his ingenious way of writing. Born on June 17, 1949, Sandlin looks for themes and settings right out his front door. Living in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, finding things to write about isn't difficult. With its unique Teton Mountain surroundings, Jackson Hole is full of the Ol' West and is what Sandlin originally wanted to write about; however, because of money problems he began writing fictional tales that deal with teenagers and their potential sexual experiences. Sandlin's best work comes from his trilogy novels: Social Blunders, Skipped Parts, and Sorrow Floats.
II. Professional Life
Tim Sandlin went through many towns in Wyoming to find themes and
settings to write about. He went through Cheyenne, Wyoming, and was on a local live-at-noon TV show. He was only on there for about three minutes to give cooking tips and the weather. The next day he had an
interview on the radio for a college station in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Working as a dishwasher, house sitter, and other doer-of-odd-jobs for the past 20 years, has taught Sandlin to appreciate life and has been a motivator through his writing.
III. Regional Influences
Living in the West Sandlin wanted to write about old west tales with duels, round-ups, and cowboy and indian battles. Sadly, Sandlin didn't write about the westerns he had dreamed but still used his surroundings to write all six of his books of his professional books. The Gros Ventre trilogy: Social Blunders, Skipped Parts, and Sorrow Floats, got its name from the surrounding mountain range, The Gros Ventre Mountains. All three books take place in this region. One of Sandlin's other books, Western
Swing takes place in the cold mountain air of the Snake Range, which is south of the Gros Ventre.
IV. Other Influences
Sandlin doesn't want to base his writing about issues or similarities that other writers possess. The thrilling six books that have been published by Sandlin are ideas and conflicts unique to him. However, Sandlin does take pride when he is compared to famous authors such authors as J.D. Salinger, Tom Robbins, Jack Kerouac, and Larry McMurtry.
V. Interview
Pieces of interview with Sandlin by WAG
WAG: I want to talk first about your GroVentre trilogy. Rumor has it there might be a fourth one coming out.
Sandlin: Well, I'm working on it. They go ever ten yeas. Skipped Parts was 1963, and then there's '73 and '83. So I'm working on a 1993 installment.
WAG: This will be the fourth part of a trilogy, so we've hot a tetralogy? A quartet?
Sandlin: I'm calling it a four-book trilogy. Larry Mcmurtry wrote a four-book trilogy, so I can too.
WAG: The first one was probably the most controversial of the trilogy so far. Skipped Parts deals with a couple of teenagers who decide that since they're only going to be friends, they might as well experiment sexually with each other--that way, when they get somebody who really counts, they'll know what to do and not make any mistakes.
Sandlin: Exactly.
WAG: There's certainly a lot of action in you novels, but you seem to have mush more fun with the characters themselves. Is that that a fair assessment?
Sandlin: Sure. All good books that I know of are character-driven. You've got to start with the people and throw things at them and see how they handle it.
WAG: What about those who say it's hot to be plot-driven? You've got to be able to sum up the plot in twenty-five words or less for the public before they'll buy it.
Sandlin: That's more for movies, I think. I've never really known that for books. Category genre books are traditionally considered plot-driven--science fiction and romances. But the really good ones--like Kurt Vonnegut or something like that--they're really character-driven too.
WAG: It's all cycles. We had the science fiction cycle a while ago. And, of course we're enduring the romance cycle now. But maybe Westerns will be back about the time you come out with the next book.
Sandlin: The West seems very popular in books nowadays. They're just not the traditional Western set in 1880. I'm more interested in places like Sun Valley and Taos and Mojave, where the big influx of the newpeople and new money runs into the old West. That's the part of the West that I find exciting.
WAG: One of the trilogy novels has been turned into a movie, and there's another on the way, right?
Sandlin: Right. Sorrow Floats is a Showtime Original with the title Floating Away. It came out last summer. And it looks like we're going to shoot Skipped Parts in August up in Saskatchewan.
WAG: It's going to be interesting to see how that gets translated. Did you work on screenplay?
Sandlin: Yeah, I wrote the script. It's quite close to the book. Floating Away wasn't really close to the book. We had to get rid of a lot of stuff. It was too complex for a movie. But Skipped Parts is basically the book.
WAG: Well good luck in your career in the future. I'm sure your movie roles and author talents will be very successful in the future.
Sandlin: Thank you.
VII. Literary Works
Skipped Parts
Social Blunders
Sorrow Floats
Sex and Sunsets
Western Swing
The PYMS: Unauthorized Tales of Jackson Hole
This essay was submitted by students of Nathel Coca, a teacher at Campbell County High School in Gillette, Wyoming.