This is the second story in a three-part series on young authors breaking into the writers' market.
Someone has to ask the difficult questions. Justin Heimberg and David Gomberg spent their years at Duke challenging friends and classmates with dilemmas such as "Would you rather have a moderate stutter but unlimited credit at Foot Locker or have a good short-term memory but always tack on a real sarcastic 'Einstein' on the end of any compliment?"
After they graduated in 1995, the pair released their questions to the world in Would You Rather...? Over 200 Absolutely Absurd Dilemmas to Ponder.
The book sold approximately 50,000 copies, spawning the 1999 sequel, Would You Rather...?2 Electric Boogaloo.
"It is a game that people have played in one form or another for years," Gomberg said. "Everyone knows the concept."
But while the idea of choosing between two painful or absurd alternatives may not be new, Heimberg and Gomberg, both Trinity grads, put a unique spin on the game by lacing the books with 1980s pop culture, references to professional wrestlers and obscure personal obsessions such as Carvel Ice Cream Cakes.
"We bonded on a mutual love for professional wrestling and NBA seven-footers," Heimberg said. "You can still see that in our work today."
The Would You Rather...? books are written from the viewpoint of the deity, whose
The picture of the deity is Heimberg's current roommate and a friend from high school. He and his high school friends "had a bet to see which of [us] could look the weirdest after a semester of college," he said. "I'm doing my best to popularize the picture [that won the contest]."
Heimberg and Gomberg met their freshmen year at Duke through Heimberg's first-year roommate. After many late night "would you rather" discussions with friends, Heimberg submitted the concept for an upper-level University Writing Course class assignment.
"Thankfully [University Writing Program Lecturer Christina Askounis] did not scorn me for writing that sort of thing." Heimberg said. "Everyone else was writing legitimate essays."
Askounis said Heimberg's portfolio was not typical, but she enjoyed reading it.
"Anybody who can make me laugh out loud in the middle of grading 1, 573 pages of end-of-semester portfolios deserves kudos, roses, champagne, a nice grade and publication," Askounis said.
But while Heimberg was writing up questions for his class, Gomberg was testing the material less formally.
"During rush, there were all those awkward times when you never know what to say. I would just break out some questions," said Gomberg, a member of Theta Chi fraternity. "They were great. They got everyone talking."
After graduation, Heimberg and Gomberg spent a year working on a variety of creative endeavors.
They also sent letters to editors explaining the Would You Rather...? concept, and eventually literary agent and Duke graduate Jay Mandel said he would publish it.
"When we wrote the first book we were living at my parent's beach house," Gomberg said. "We just brainstormed new questions every night. We'd discuss every question a million times."
The sequel was written mostly through e-mail, although Heimberg and Gomberg spent several days together before the final manuscript was due.
Now, the duo is trying something new.
Their third book, Do Unto Others, is set to be released this June.
"It lists funny things to do in different situations and places just to screw with people's heads," Heimberg said.
The newest book was also written long distance. Heimberg works as a comedy writer in California, and Gomberg lives in New York and is launching an Internet site for summer camps.
"We don't like to be typecast as the Would You Rather...? guys," Gomberg said. "I really am stuck with this for life. At family dinners, my uncle asks me, 'Would you rather pass me the ketchup or the salt?'"
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