It’s always nice talking to someone who created a gigantic void in your mind when they left your life. In my case, this person is Dylan Bishop. He was one of the first people on my dorm room floor freshman year that I became friends with. And though he was a man a few words, the words that did come out made an impact.
I wanted to interview him because we are the same person. Basically.
We both love to write. We have several projects we’re working on that may or may not see the light of day. And we love humor.
For your reading pleasure, I eliminated 95 percent of the "um"s, 75 percent of the "so"s, and most of the conversation about video games because, well, that’s almost 10 minutes of dialogue on its own that I didn’t want to type out.
Brandon: So, it’s recording right now. I don’t care if you have consent to this or not. I’m going to do this anyway. Here we go.
Dylan: Well, I mean, whatever. It’s not like I matter.
B: That’s right. So, how long do you have?
D: About 30 minutes or so. I was going to do this then grab lunch and head to work. So, just however long you need.
B: So, I told you before that I did not prepare a single thing. I figured I’d do like a Marc Maron kind of thing. Have the conversation grow organically.
D: Okay.
B: So, the reason I chose you to do this is because the first person backed out.
D: Oh.
B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s Andy’s brother. He’s an Emmy-winning cinematographer and I was thinking he’d be pretty cool to do an interview with.
D: So, you went from actual cinematographer to just some guy?
B: (laughs) I do want to tell you I’m going to title this “A Conversation with Myself” because I think we have a lot of similar traits. I see a lot of me in you and that is not a weight joke. I just want to point that out.
D: I don’t really see how that could be taken as a weight joke.
B: Good. So, the reason I’ve been wanting to do an interview is because I’ve been reading Judd Apatow’s new book, “Sick in the Head.” He did a bunch of interviews with comedians and writers, specifically about their journey into the business. And obviously, neither of us are comedians nor professional writers.
D: I beg to differ, but.
B: (laughs) Are you still doing the blog?
D: Yeah, I am.
B: Are you doing just video game reviews?
D: At one point I tried to do a little more. Some news and what not. But now, I’m starting my actual job because I do have a degree. I work in a hospital. But since classes are starting up again, I figured I’d just leave it as reviews and opinions of what I see going on in the video game world.
B: Full-time job, right?
D: Part-time, but I could make it full.
B: Do you find it hard to make time to write?
D: Yeah, definitely. Right now it’s a lot of coming home late. So it’s either come home and write the review or play the game I’m about to review. And since I don’t get the games early, my reviews come out relatively late to that of actual reviewers.
B: Right. So, even me, who, two months ago, was temporarily let go from a seemingly secure on-campus job, find it hard to write. I don’t know why. It’s like I don’t have any motivation anymore.
D: Mine’s not so much lack of motivation. It’s more of I can’t think of topics sometimes. Of course, I could keep doing interviews over and over but that’s not interesting. You’ve got to bring some sort of thing to the table. A voice you’ve got. And that’s gotta be more than saying, ‘this game is good and here’s why.’
B: So how big of a following do you have?
D: Um, not a lot. I think it’s mostly because of the platform I’ve chosen through Tumblr. But right now, it’s not the following that I’m really concerned about.
B: It’s good practice.
D: Exactly. I’m pretty much doing it for fun at this point. But once I get a decent portfolio that I could potentially submit for a freelancing job, I’d love to do so.
B: Do you ever feel like everything you write gets thrown into this deep, black hole? That’s how I feel about everything I do.
D: It definitely does feel that way. Anyone can go on Reddit today and post about why they think this game is good, and it’s just another random nobody on the internet. And that’s how I feel at this point.
B: It’s just so hard, you know? There’s so many people out there like us that want to do want we want to do. So, I know you have this job, but is that really your dream? There’s gotta be something else.
D: I guess my dream would be to move out west, maybe San Francisco to work for a larger game site. And of course, I wouldn’t just be doing reviews. I’d love to do something for IGN or Polygon for a living. And I know it’s not a job where you just play video games all day and everything is fantastic. Or just sit in a bedroom all day long. No, I know it’s hard work. Even then, it’s still something I’d like to do. If that doesn’t work out, I’m perfectly happy where I am now.
B: Every time I’m not writing, though I do think it’s kind of pointless sometimes, I always feel terrible not taking time out of my day to do that.
D: That’s something I’ve been trying to work on. I used to come home after work and just spend hours on end checking Twitter and Reddit. And that’s really not, like, a way to live, you know? It’s certainly not productive.
B: When you come up with an idea, how do you remember it? See, that’s always a thing I’ve had a problem with. I’ll write out a thousand things on Post-It notes and I’ll find maybe twelve the next week. Either that or they’re completely illegible. Sometimes I’ll write them in my phone, but that’s useless when you drop said phone in the toilet. What do you do?
D: I usually do the phone thing. If I have this idea in my head, sometimes I just throw it away. I ask myself, ‘where can I go with this?’ and the answer is nowhere. Sometimes I ask myself the same question and the answer is ‘I can go this direction or this direction or this direction.’ Or maybe all three at once. And if it’s an idea I can’t already stop rambling about in my head, I’ll definitely love to push and form cohesive thoughts on.
B: Who really influences you to write? Maybe what, I don’t know.
D: On a personal level, it’s probably my mom. When I was in high school, I didn’t enjoy writing that much. She always wanted to proofread my stuff and I’d end up yelling at her. ‘That doesn’t need changed!’ So I wanted to write what I thought was right, while in the meantime, getting her approval on it. So make it what I want to be, but not have it become just a random rambling of words.
B: Writing for someone else.
D: Exactly.
B: So I know you have a blog. Do you agree that there’s something about watching someone read your work right in front of you? That’s extremely satisfying for me. And yeah, it’s cool when people like and comment and share your stuff. But it’s the immediate reaction, man. Say I’ll write a script and I’ll have Tyler (Wise) sit down at my computer and read it. I’ll just look over his shoulder and when he laughs, I have to know exactly what he’s laughing about.
D: Exactly. And I think that’s part of it. When you’re getting feedback later, they’re normally attempting to form some constructive criticism, and that’s good. That helps you grow. And you need that. But there’s also something about knowing the exact parts that a person showed emotion, which is both satisfying and helpful. You think ‘oh, he laughed at my joke or he likes the story, maybe I should try to do more things like that.’
B: Like ‘Fat Man & Beardy.’
D: Um…
For your viewing pleasure, I’ve attached the ‘trailer’ we shot freshman year for our piece of cinema entitled, “Fat-Man & Beardy.” Just so you know, we swept the accolades.
