Black Arts & Culture Feature:
Interview by Peter Mladinic
Just as characters in stories are in settings, do you have a particular time and place where you write, a particular setting, or does that setting vary?
Like many others, I’m very particular about where/when I write. It has to be in the morning, and it has to be at my desk. I struggle to write in any other setting. Though editing, for some reason, I can do anywhere—on my phone on the train, on my work laptop in the afternoon, etc.
Do you begin writing on a keyboard or keypad, or with a pen or a pencil on paper?
Keyboard! I very rarely begin any other way. Though, I keep notes in my Notes app on my phone that I return to as I begin a new story.
This is a hypothetical question. If someone asked, What do you write? and you answered, Whatever I can get away with; and they asked you to elaborate, what might you say?
I probably write what I’m too embarrassed to say/admit in person.
Assuming the first thing about writing is to like doing it, what satisfaction do you get out of act of writing?
Writing, for me, can be so enjoyable (when it’s going right!). There’s nothing more satisfying than writing something you enjoy reading yourself, and which you feel in your gut is good.
Do you write solely fiction?
Yes!
Let’s say in fiction, an author begins, heightens and resolves a conflict between a protagonist and an antagonist. When you are writing, do you ever think abstractly about the conflict, or do you just see characters at times in places in your mind, and go with what you see, hear, and feel—in your mind?
I try not to think about the “rules” or expectations of fiction when I write, but, at the same time, there’s nothing wrong with being aware of conflict as you go. Whether readers know it or not, conflict is something they most likely crave, which is probably why it’s a rule, and so I do try exploding what I can on the page as often as I can.
Do you read writers whose fiction is similar to your own; and writers whose fiction differs from your own?
I will read pretty much anything, but I probably get most pleasure from reading the kind of writing that I know operates in a similar vein to mine.
Does the proliferation of social media impact your writing? I’m not talking about publishing outlets, but rather about what you write and how. (Here I’m thinking of writing communities, versus an individual alone with language.)
Maybe. I’ve never written a piece thinking about a specific community that might engage with it, but once I’m ready to let go, I think my mind does drift to those individuals.
Do you ever think about the difference between offending and unsettling your readers?
I think unsettling a reader is always something to strive for; I don’t know that I ever want to truly offend someone.
What does an item of your fiction’s being published mean to you, other than they people will read it?
It means I can finally let go of a piece. Otherwise, the piece will probably continue to haunt me till I die. You’ve got to move on eventually! How else to accomplish that?
Who are two or three fiction writers do you like and what do you like about them?
Mary Gaitskill, Joy Williams, Rebecca Curtis, Mary Miller, Ottessa Moshfegh, Amie Barrodale, Amy Hempel. I don’t know what I would do without any of them.
Do you have an ideal reader?
Someone who just wants to have fun reading, the same way I just want to have fun writing.
What do you do for fun?
When I’m not writing or working, I’m probably at a theater watching a movie.
About the interviewer: Peter Mladinic’s most recent book of poems, Maiden Rock is available from UnCollected Press. An animal rights advocate, he lives in Hobbs, New Mexico, United States.
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