By Rachel Buchanan
One of Towson University English lecturer Thomas Bechtold’s earliest memories is telling his mother about wanting to be a fireman.
“I also remember wanting to be a police officer and a basketball player, which is strange because I never played basketball and never really wanted to,” Bechtold said. “I think I just admired how high they could jump.”
The 31-year-old from Hines, Minn., also wanted to be a computer scientist his freshman year at Harvard University before he changed his major to philosophy. But by the time he graduated, Bechtold went back to something that had interested him since he was 7-years-old: fiction writing.
“I enjoy writing fiction,” said Bechtold, who later received a Master of Fine Arts at Johns Hopkins University on his way to becoming a published author. “It is a struggle, but it is a struggle I enjoy. You find a character, a set of characters, and you drive them into situations where they have to act according to their secret fears, and that’s always a puzzle – to try to find out what is at the heart of every character.”
The first piece Bechtold wrote is what he called a “short-short fiction piece” titled “Deadened,” which was published in the literary e-zine BURST. He then wrote a poem and a flash fiction, “Two Fists,” for Pearson Publishing’s In-House Literary Journal. According to Bechtold, a flash fiction is a story that skips the exposition, gets straight to the rising action and ends right or shortly after the climax.
“Writing a beautiful sentence is a thrill; it’s cathartic,” Bechtold said. “Even if I’m describing emotions that are stronger or slightly different from ones I’ve ever felt it still feels like a relief. There’s also a joy when you get deep into it, when the imagination really takes over and it’s just like you’re playing with words. It’s incredible.”
Bechtold also said he wrote non-fiction pieces, what he called “some talk-of-the-town type stuff” for 02138 magazine’s online blog-roll. Additionally, he published a personal essay in a Pakistani newspaper called The Friday Times. He wrote it about the six months he spent teaching English in Japan at a conversation school, English Village, shortly after he graduated from Harvard.
“A friend of mine, after college, was in Pakistan, working for The Friday Times and I was in Japan, and she asked me if I would write about my experiences in Japan,” Bechtold said. “I don’t know how many people in Pakistan are going to be looking for my work, but whatever. If anyone ever read it and got pleasure from it, I’ll accept that.”
In four years’ time, Bechtold worked for Pearson Custom Publishing as a rebind editor, for Kaplan Test Prep as an instructor, for Monotype as a project manager and for the Johns Hopkins University Press. He got his job at Hopkins in early 2009, which is around the time he was accepted into the Hopkins Writing Seminar. After graduating, he lectured at Hopkins in 2012 before becoming a part of Towson’s English Department.
This being his first full year at Towson, Bechtold said he is dedicated to teaching creative writing and encouraging students to express themselves through the power of the written word.
George Hahn, the department chair, read some of Bechtold’s work before hiring him in Spring 2013. Hahn said that he was impressed with Bechtold’s credentials and abilities as a writer.
“His fiction pieces, especially, were always incisive and, stylistically, very skillful,” Hahn said. “I’m very confident in everything that he does and am very happy to have him with us. He’s a great credit to the department and I’m very happy to have him as a colleague.”
Hahn said Bechtold has passed the paper test in every way, including his degrees, course syllabi and the papers he has graded. The evaluations Hahn also read about Bechtold from faculty and students have been overwhelmingly positive.
“As chair, I know when complaints come in,” Hahn said. “Students will make complaints and, for him, I’ve never had a single complaint, major or minor.”
Bechtold teaches two introductory creative writing courses: Elements of Fiction and Writing for a Liberal Education.
Christopher Krueger, who is a student in one of Bechtold’s creative writing classes, said he enjoys the subject, especially with Bechtold as his professor.
“He’s, by far, one of my favorite professors I’ve had,” Kreuger said. “He’s extremely intelligent and witty and class is never dull. He truly cares about your success, both in the class and in the real word. He’s very easy to talk to and very passionate about teaching and writing.”
“I enjoy what I do,” Bechtold said. “I think it goes back to my love of creative writing. I love it and I’m willing to talk about it forever, and I think that may be the best qualification there is. It probably doesn’t hurt that I have those degrees.”
Bechtold said the job market for people with his skill set is tight. He said there are a lot of people graduating with similar qualifications.
“There are only so many spots, so to find a place [at Towson] is miraculous,” Bechtold said. “I feel very lucky.”
Bechtold enjoys fiction, poetry and non-fiction, whether he is writing it or teaching his students about it. To advance his career, he is currently at work on a few larger-scale projects that he would like to publish at some point in the near future.
“Anyone anywhere, in any job, can be a writer,” Bechtold said. “You can write fiction, poetry, essays, no matter what you’re doing. But I love teaching. This is what I would like to continue doing while I’m writing.”