Local author publishes first novel
ELIZABETH GOLDEN/DAILY FORUM
Jason Offutt, an instructor at Northwest Missouri State University, published his first fiction book in December. “A Funeral Story” tells the tale of a normal man with an abnormal secret.
Jason Offutt doesn’t know where the idea came from.
It began in May 2012. He was waiting for a plane in Kansas City and it hit — it hit and he started writing.
Eight months later, Offutt, an instructor at Northwest Missouri State University, finished writing his first full-length novel.
Published in December, “A Funeral Story,” the novel tells the story of Deever Dickson, a normal guy with a secret. The character goes to funerals and meets strange women. This continues until he finds Marissa, a woman with the same hobby.
“The story is about him and his completely dysfunctional state,” Offutt said. “It gets so much worse when he meets a girl who does the exact same thing.”
Offutt said the writing was simple, but publishing posed a challenge.
“This really doesn’t fit into a category,” he said. “That was a major problem. With any publishing venture, it’s hit or miss. Finding people who deal with weird humorous subject material is difficult.”
As a journalism instructor at Northwest, Offutt spent 17 years working for newspapers before he began teaching and started writing creative fiction and non-fiction.
“I was impelled from a young age,” he said. “I had to do it and I still have to do it. It wasn’t really even a choice. I remember when I was 10. I walked into the living room one day and told my parents I wanted to write books. They laughed and thought it was hilarious. I have never lost that passion.”
Offutt wrote four non-fiction books about ghosts, a collection of humor essay and a humorous travel log before publishing his first piece of fiction.
“For the travel log, I drove myself from Maryville into Canada,” he said. “I’ve gotten to experience things a lot of people don’t get to experience. When I write non-fiction, I do journalism. I go places, I talked to people, I experience things, but the novel writing is a totally different animal and it’s a lot of fun.”
Offutt said his favorite part of the process was holding his first hard copy.
“Overall, it’s just a feeling of accomplishment,” he said. “I spend a couple hours a day writing. When I pull myself away from the keyboard after I’ve been writing for a couple hours, it’s a great feeling.”
Offutt said “A Funeral Story” is not family friendly, but the book has received many good reviews.
“I’ve had a lot of good comments,” he said. “I don’t know what my sales totals are, but I have my fingers crossed it’s doing well.”
Next year, Offutt will publish two more novels.
“Creative writing is a lot of fun,” he said. “It’s a fantastic way of expression. It’s creation. You create a world. You create people and you do whatever you choose with them — although it’s really strange they take a life of their own at some point. It really surprises me when a character does something I didn’t expect.”
The book is available for purchase on Amazon.
