Interview: Catherine Gigante-Brown & the NYC Writing Life

Writing and NYC go hand-in-hand. Not for nothing, this is the city that people move to in order to succeed as writers. Not for nothing, this is where the publishing business is centered. Not for nothing, tons of novels and short stories are set here. Not for nothing, many of our greatest writers, like F. Scott Fitzgerald and JD Salinger, are either from here or have lived here for a time.

There is an alchemy between this city and the written word, a frisson between life here and the desire to write about it. (See how I used just used some big fancy word? That means I'm a big fancy NYC writer!) That said, it's never been easy to actually make a living as a writer in NYC. 

And that's what makes Catherine Gigante-Brown such an interesting person: she's written everything! She is not only a successful writer who has lived her whole life in NYC but she is truly the consummate writer: novelist, interviewer, poet, speechwriter, scriptwriter, ghostwriter, copy editor/proofreader -- to be cliche, you name it, she's written it. She has worked in nearly every literary form. It's an amazing, versatile achievement. Cathy was kind enough to tell Mr NYC about her long career, how she made it as a freelancer writer -- and yes, about her work as an writer in the gone-but-not-forgetten glory days of the adult film business.

If you're an aspiring writer, either in NYC or anywhere, you'll want to read what Cathy has to say! 

Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you built a career as a freelance writer.

I’m a rarity these days—someone who was born and bred and still lives in Brooklyn. I grew up in Bay Ridge and have lived all over the borough … in Brighton Beach, Gravesend and now in Windsor Terrace with my husband and son. Probably the best advice my mom ever gave me was to learn how to type—she said no matter what, I could always get a job if I had solid typing skills. She was right. For a short time after college, I worked as an editor but the pay was low. I doubled my salary by becoming an administrative assistant and doing my own writing on the side—mostly poetry and short stories. When I was “terminated,” I took advantage of Unemployment and focused on freelancing full time. My pieces have appeared in publications like Essence, Time Out, New York, The New York Daily News and online at The Huffington Post and Ravishly. I have a bunch of short stories in collections and also have an essay in Riverdale Avenue Books’ anthology #Me Too—the ebook is free.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think I read that, once upon a time, you wrote scripts for adult movies. If so, please tell us all (or something) about that!

Working in the adult film industry was a lot of fun. I found the people very upfront, brave and honest. Many of them are still close friends today. It all started with a nasty letter I wrote to Bob Rimmer in the late 1980s about the many inconsistencies in his adult video review books. He agreed and asked me to be his editor. This led to us collaborating on porn star Jerry Butler’s biography Raw Talent. By then, I had written a few erotic short stories and poems and even tried my hand at screenplays. Soon after Raw Talent came out, director Paul Thomas bought my script The Swap. PT and I worked together for several years, me writing “couples films” for Vivid Video. The softcore versions air on the Playboy Channel and other cable networks. As “Ariel Hart,” I loved the freedom of writing adult scripts. PT let me explore topics like the complexities of relationships and infertility. I think my favorite project was the four-part Passages series which followed two female college roommates. In many ways I miss the creativity and the camaraderie of the adult world. But the industry changed and didn’t use scripts like mine anymore. So, I prostituted myself and began working as a corporate communications consultant for a Fortune 500 company. 

As I said, you seem to be the consummate writer: fiction writer, journalist, scriptwriter, proofreader/copyeditor, speeches. What kind of writing do you enjoy the most and what is the most challenging?

I think to survive as a freelance journalist, you have to do all different kinds of writing. This way, you have a lot to offer and it doesn’t get boring for you—it exercises your creative muscles. I’ll write anything a client pays me to write. I’ve done speeches for CEOs and phone sex scripts for gay porn star Jeff Stryker. I most enjoy working on novels and writing profiles like the ones I’ve done for Industry. The most challenging is probably helping a client write a book. I’ve worked on about seven so far. You have to focus on capturing their “voice” and leave your ego at the door—it’s about them; not you. One of my clients calls my expertise in this area “that Cathy magic.” 

What advice would you give to a freelance writing trying to start a career today? Is it possible to make a living at it, particularly in NYC?

Don’t do it! Seriously, it’s difficult to make a living as a freelance writer today. One of the reasons is that so many people give it away for free on the Internet. Lots of online publications expect you to write for no pay or just for a byline. A byline is cool, but it doesn’t pay your Con Ed bill. Writing is a skill, a craft. You wouldn’t expect a plumber to fix your sink for free. Why would you expect someone to write for nothing? That being said, to be successful, it’s important to know things like HTML so you can post your work. I also suggest having a diverse skill set and writing about a variety of topics as well as specializing in one or two. My clients range from universities to attorneys, artists, real estate and digital marketing firms, and everything in between.

I see that you've also done interviews. Who are some of the most famous or interesting people you've interviewed and what did they reveal?

I was fortunate to do a lot of rap artist interviews for a men’s magazine called Portfolio. (Think Playboy, but in basic black.) I got to talk to people like Luke Campbell from 2 Live Crew, who was so bright and down to earth. I was surprised to learn how involved Luke was with the youth in Liberty City where he grew up and that he established a sports program for them. I also interviewed Naughty by Nature. Vin Rock was a dream but Treach spent the entire first half of the interview fishing around down the front of his pants, trying to intimidate me. It was only after I asked him about his Tupac Shakur tattoo that he got serious. He ended up giving me a really insightful interview about how much Tupac meant to him. Big Daddy Kane was also memorable, a big flirt.

I love interviewing people who personally fascinate me, “behind the scenes” people whose names might not ring a bell. Like Mark Stewart, who lives around the corner from me. Mark is a great guy, a talented musician and has been Paul Simon’s musical director for a couple of decades. Comedian Eugene Mirman was nice enough to give me a telephone interview when he was on a train from New York City to Boston.

You're a lifelong Brooklynite and wrote a novel about Depression-era Brooklyn, The El. Tell us a little bit about the book and how Brooklyn has changed over the years.

The El (Volossal Publishing) was born from the stories my dad told me about growing up in Borough Park in the 1930s. Many of my relatives inspired the characters. It’s about the challenges faced by a close-knit Italian American family and the ogre who threatens to destroy them. Readers loved the Paradisos so much that they encouraged me to write a sequel. I did. The Bells of Brooklyn was released in May 2017. It takes place about 10 years after The El, just after the end of World War II. It’s a story about rebirth,

forgiveness, hope and redemption. The Bells… has gotten a wonderful response so far. Vinnie Corbo, my publisher, tells me that trilogies do really well, so there might be third book in the series in a few years. In between those two books, Volossal came out with my novel Different Drummer, which is about a female singing drummer in 1979 New York City, desperately trying to “make it. I’m working with director Susan Einhorn and two composers to turn Different Drummer into a musical. It’s very exciting. My next book is a young adult novel set in mid-1970s Brooklyn. I just finished the first draft and it should be out in a year or so. So far, all of my novels have been set in Brooklyn. When I was growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, Brooklyn evolved from being very working class to being gentrified. It’s weird that I have no desire to write about the present—you can just pick up the newspaper to see what’s going on—and I guess I do enough of that in my nonfiction work. But I’m really interested in looking at the past and exploring how it shapes the future. 

If the musical happens and when the next book comes out, let us know!  

Finally, please tell us something we might not know about writing, NYC or life in general.

Over the years, I’ve learned that it’s not so much about the writing but the rewriting. It’s important to get it out, to write it down. Don’t worry if it’s perfect or pretty. You can polish it in the rewrites. Also, it’s important to write the truth, even if it isn’t flattering. Jerry Butler taught me that—he wrote a lot of harsh things about himself in Raw Talent, and when I asked him why, he said, “Because it was true.” I think if you write honestly, people will respect you for it. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013, I wrote about it to try and get my head around it. Ravishly published a lot of those essays. I was surprised that so many women related to them and thanked me for writing them. We’re all in this world together. Reaching out, sharing, grieving together, learning, can only help us grow. It’s almost a cliché but I truly believe the saying: “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” As a breast cancer survivor, it’s all small stuff.  

We're glad you survived and are so happy you were able to share your experience with the world. 

Thanks Cathy! Keep on writing!