Identical twins Noah and Logan Miller talk about writing with Suite101's Marissa Bell Toffoli. The Bros, as they call themselves, published Either You’re In Or You’re In the Way (HarperCollins, 2009) to tell their story of writing, directing, producing, and starring in Touching Home, a film they made in one year starting with no money, no contacts, and no experience. Touching Home is based on the brothers’ relationship with an alcoholic, homeless father (played by Ed Harris). Movie and book are dedications of the bros’ love for their dad.
Quick Facts on The Bros
- Touching Home
- Home: Northern California
- Comfort food: Our girlfriends (comfort people). Bacon cheddar cheeseburger with avocado, coffee, a good muffin.
- Top reads: Jack London, Charles Dickens, Tess Uriza Holthe, Kurt Vonnegut, JRR Tolkien, William Goldman, JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, Inferno by Dante Alighieri
- Current reads: 365 Tao by Deng Ming-Dao, How to Be an Adult in Relationships by David Richo, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn, re-reading The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
What are you working on?
Promotional screenings and material for the release of Touching Home. Also, writing a TV pilot, a new screenplay, a book of humorous essays, and a young adult novel.
Who do you picture as the ideal reader of your work?
Our girlfriends, some other friends, and our brutally honest buddy, Editorro, keep us on track. We read messages from fans, pay attention to comments at events. Publishers have their own conception of a book, where to place it in bookstores, market it. It’s like the disconnect between the Pentagon and the guys in the trenches.
Where and when do you prefer to write?
Morning is when we usually knock it out. Fewer interruptions, good for brainwork, laying the foundation. When you’re writing something it never really shuts off. Afternoons are good for editing.
Where would you most want to live and write?
Fairfax, definitely. We're fine anywhere though. Our perfect day would be: get up, light exercise, hit the keyboard at 6:30/7, at 11/11:30 go to the gym, then take a nap, write until evening, read a little, and walk for dinner and wine somewhere, see our girlfriends.
Sometimes we like writing in hotel rooms. No attachments, it feels like nobody knows where you are. Okay, not ideal, but it can be cool. We pride ourselves on not being distracted by noise outside or anything.
What do you listen to when you work?
If anything, classical music. Vivaldi. We’ve had the Four Seasons going and going and going. When we break? Anything, heavy metal or rap, usually not love songs. Generally classical, like Mozart or Vivaldi, sweeter sounding music.
Do you have a personal approach to how you write?
When writing a book, 2,000 words a day; a screenplay, ten pages a day—first draft only. We don't try to make it pretty. We just get it down. We do as little editing as possible. Puke it out: beginning, middle, end. Don’t try to be overly descriptive. The reader’s imagination is better than ours.
Logan: Our voice tends to—
Noah: He writes more than me [points to Logan]. I don’t like to write a bunch of shit, I’m sorry for swearing, but I am very passionate about it.
Logan: I’ll get excited and try to read a lyrical passage from Fitzgerald or someone. Noah always says, ‘I don’t care! I just want to tell the story! I want them to understand the story—that’s it. I don’t want to lose the reader, ever.’
Noah: I like direct, short sentences [he shrugs].
Logan: That’s what tends to make our voice: what feels comfortable for us.
Ultimately, we want a good story.
Which writers would you love to see your work shelved alongside?
We wouldn’t be any more proud of our work because it's mentioned in the same breath as an author we deeply respect. Hudson Booksellers named us in Ten Best Nonfiction Books of the Year, with Dave Eggers, Michael Chabon, Jonathan Safran Foer. We were hugely flattered, honored to see our book on that list.
Are there any quotes that motivate you?
[The Bros recite] Theodore Roosevelt: “It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again. Because there is no effort without error and shortcomings, he who knows the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the high achievement of triumph and who at worst, if he fails while daring greatly, knows his place shall never be with those timid and cold souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
Frederick Douglas: “For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupery: “Perfection is attained not when no more can be added, but when no more can be removed.” This one reminds us to streamline everything, make it simple.
What advice would you give aspiring writers?
Do it because you love it. Nobody knows your story better than you. Your voice is as good as any voice. Write how you feel. You’ve got everything inside you; just be yourself when you write. The basic stuff is always best—don’t try to be profound.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given as writers?
Read a lot. Write a lot. Describe what you need to describe, and move on.
About The Miller Brothers
Logan and Noah Miller, raised as roofers in Northern California, dreamt of being baseball stars. When that dream failed, they found professional success as bingo callers. Always staying together, the brothers were briefly suckered into the world of modeling, somehow avoided the circus, and with 17 credit cards, pursued a career in filmmaking. They hold no degrees.
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