DOORMAN WANTED by Glenn R. Miller - Spotlight and Q & A

 

Have you ever wondered "how the other half" live, with all of their money and prestige?  Author Glenn Miller takes us into the lives of the 1-percent in his novel, DOORMAN WANTED (KoehlerBooks) and it's easily one of the funniest books I've read so far this year. But there are also some important ideas, dare I say lessons to take away after reading the novel.

Henry Franken has a problem with money-he has too much of it. When his unprincipled father dies, thirty-three-year-old Henry inherits a massive estate, including an Upper East Side residential building. He must confront the reality of his new financial status, directly conflicting with his well-honed identity as a "progressive liberal." When he shows up to collect the keys to his father's building, he notices a sign: "Doorman Wanted." Seeing a chance to stave off the complexities of his inheritance, Henry applies for the position under a pseudonym . . . and gets it. Now, no one in the building knows that Doorman "Franklin Hanratty" is the building's new mysterious owner.

Through interactions with residents and the homeless outside his door, Henry develops from an idealistic young person avoiding the demands of his fortune, into a man who accepts the opportunity to direct that wealth toward a broader good.

HERE'S AN EXCERPT

Interview with Glenn R. Miller, author of DOORMAN WANTED (Koehler Books, March, 2024)

How did you happen to become an author? Was it something you always wanted to do?

I have written professionally most of my career. After getting a Masters in Broadcast Journalism at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, I became a news producer, a public television producer, and, ultimately, a producer of corporate video communications and events. Those positions all required deftness in writing, storytelling, and proper communications of key facts. On top of my professional career, I have always been an insatiable reader. At some point, between writing for clients and reading for pleasure, I decided that I wanted to take a stab at a novel. When I developed the idea behind DOORMAN WANTED, I leapt whole hog into trying my hand at it. From my early drafts, I kept getting enough positive reinforcement from my wife, fellow writing students, teachers, and beta readers that I kept going. My dream ultimately turned into a reality.

How did your professional positions play into writing a novel, if at all?

Writing for clients or, especially, being a news producer, doesn’t allow for “writer’s block.” All news scripts must be finished at least 30 minutes before air-time, and clients’ deadlines are, by definition, immoveable. I believe that always working under a deadline was useful for me as I was setting my own timeline for completing DOORMAN WANTED. I’ve used the same approach for my second novel, ROUGH CUTS.

Why did you write this book?

People are fascinated by money and by perceptions around money. I wanted to examine that issue, specifically around perceptions. We are quick to give credit to those whom we perceive as powerful and wealthy and too quick to snub or ignore those we perceive to be weak or poor, rarely taking into account circumstances in either cases. My protagonist in DOORMAN WANTED is one of New York City’s wealthiest residents, yet he chooses to hide his identity by taking a position within the services industry, the doorman of the building he owns. He is treated differently as a doorman than he would be as the building owner. Throughout the book, there are misperceptions around power and wealth. A blustery gallery owner is up to his neck in debt; an older, feeble resident of the building was once politically powerful; a homeless man is an extremely talented artist, and so on. Like Henry himself, we pride ourselves on our keen, snap judgments. But we are so often wrong.

Explain your writing methodology, your process.

I have to begin with an outline. Everything in DOORMAN WANTED was plotted out within an outline before I ever wrote a full chapter. That structure was critically important to me – I need those defined boundaries. I allowed myself to be loose within a chapter itself, but not with the structure of the novel itself. For others, that approach might be too rigid; for me, it’s absolutely necessary. I’ve done the same with my second novel: strict outline, playfulness within chapters. Once I’m comfortable with the structure, I begin fleshing out the story. Within any chapter, I normally start out with the dialog – it’s simply an aspect of writing that comes the easiest to me. My professional writing was always intended to be read out loud, either by my news anchors or my on-screen corporate talent, so it had to be conversational. Once I’m comfortable with the dialog, I backfill with the action, the description, the sensory details. I hope I’m not taking away the magic of the process!

No, not at all. What were your influences for DOORMAN WANTED?

I saw my Henry Franken’s story as being a hero’s journey. By definition, he was stuck in his previous world, his previous mentality, unable to move forward. Through a series of adventures, each with greater import than the last, he is able to get to his new reality, a world of enlightenment, growth, and enhanced capabilities. He has grave doubts about his inner journey and development, but, through the help and encouragement of mentors – his lawyer, kindly residents of the building, and a homeless person – he is able to grow and development into a more enlightened human being. So that was my structure. Having given you that rather didactic explanation, I will also say that I was influenced by childhood reading of Batman comic books (how’s that for a pivot?). I would contend that superhero stories are America’s great mythology. There are several parallels between my doorman and Batman: they both have secret identities, they both wear capes, they both have secret lairs (one’s a cave, the other’s a darkened penthouse), and both have a kindly, older gentleman who acts as a gentle guide (Alfred, Mr. Harrison).

You’ve mentioned your next novel, ROUGH CUTS. Can you tell us anything about it?

Broadly, ROUGH CUTS is about censorship, intending to mirror this period we are in with book bannings in libraries and schools throughout the nation. Specifically, however, it is about censorship during the silent film era in Hollywood. It is a little known story about the power that individual states and communities had over the movies that were produced. 

Glenn R. Miller launched his professional career by working on television soap operas and game shows on the back lots of NBC Burbank. He holds a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and has served as a CBS-affiliate news producer, an executive speechwriter, and creative director at production agencies within the Twin Cities.

He and his wife live in Minneapolis and are the parents of two grown sons.

Doorman Wanted is his first novel.