Empress of the World

Back in 2001, librarian and novelist Sara Ryan captured folks’ attention with her young adult novel, Empress of the World. The book (described as “about friendship, love, and the sometimes blurry lines between the two”) is an Oregon Book Award winner, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award. Recently the book was re-released in an expanded edition. Ryan and I conducted an email interview about it, as well as delving into her upcoming comics work, which includes Bad Houses, a collaboration with Carla Speed McNeil. This interview goes in some pleasant directions and I was lucky to get to interview Ryan.

Tim O’Shea: In researching our interview, I searched for your Tumblr page but accidentally discovered the number of people that quote your work (and hashtag it “Sara Ryan”). I think it safe to assume that any writer wonders how much their work resonates with people. How affirming is it when you see people quoting your work? 

Sara Ryan: Here’s where I expose my ignorance of the finer points of Tumblr. Until you pointed it out, it hadn’t occurred to me to check if anyone had tagged posts about me/my work. Now that I know said posts exist, I’m certainly pleased!

Speaking of Tumblr, visiting your Tumblr page it becomes obvious (at least to me) that you love the power of photography.

I do. Photography actually connects very much to comics writing for me; I can’t draw, but I can compose images with my camera. I try to use that same visual sensibility when I write panel descriptions — while leaving enough room for the artist to bring their own interpretation, of course.

With that in mind, can you tell me how the cover of Empress of the World came to be designed/selected?

I was super lucky. My publisher set up the shoot and I was thrilled with the results. For instance, both the models have short non-manicured nails, exactly as I describe Nic and Battle’s in the book. And if you compare the original release to the new edition, you’ll see that the new edition has a scratchy pencilled border, a subtle nod to the presence of comics inside.

The new edition is full of all sorts of goodies that I want to talk about, but what first attracted my attention was the “musical archaeology wherein I construct a playlist based on my vague memories of what the heck I was listening to when I was writing Empress”. How does music impact your writing?

The right music definitely helps to reinforce the mood of a scene.

And sometimes I’ll fixate on a particular few albums or mixes while working on a book, and simply pressing Play will trigger a Pavlovian response of Ok, time to write. While I was writing Bad Houses, for instance, I tended to rotate between Little Sue, Laura Cantrell, and the soundtrack to The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford.

And in reconstructing the playlist did you rediscover some music you had not enjoyed for a long time?

I did! Looper and Kruder & Dorfmeister got back in the rotation.

What prompted you to ask David Levithan to write an introduction for the reissue?

We asked him because he is awesome. David’s done a tremendous amount to advance queer YA publishing, both through his own books (including his collaboration with John Green, Will Grayson, Will Grayson, the first queer YA title to make the NYT bestseller list) and via his editorial work at Scholastic.

I have never been sure exactly when he sleeps.

The new edition features three short stories, one with your spouse Steve Lieber, while the other two are by Dylan Meconis and Natalie Nourigat. What was it about Meconis and Nourigat’s work that made you want to work with them on these particular stories?

Subtle but significant shifts in emotional dynamics are a big part of “Click,” so I needed someone who was really good at conveying facial expressions and body language. Those are two of Dylan’s many strengths as an artist, which you can see in her Eisner-nominated Outfoxed  and her current graphic novel in progress, Family Man.

It also didn’t hurt that Dylan’s pastor gave her permission to take photo reference of the childcare room at her church! Related bonus fact: the kids in those scenes are all named after actual children of folks in Portland comics.

In “Comparative Anatomy,” I’m playing with the idea that Nicola Lancaster herself is drawing the story, since it’s told from her point of view. So I wanted an artist who’s arguably working with some of the same artistic influences Nic would have grown up absorbing — including the Studio Ghibli films that Natalie credits with making her decide to be a comic book artist. (See When Totoros Attack.) And there’s a sincere, straightforward quality to Natalie’s storytelling that feels right for Nic.

In repackaging the book for this expanded re-release was there any temptation for 2011 Sara Ryan to tweak the novel by 2001 Sara Ryan?

None at all; possibly in part because I worked on it for so long before its original publication!

You recently tweeted “Just finished a writing a chapter. Now I need to overcome the feeling of being ‘done’ to start writing the next one.’” How hard is it overcome that done feeling and keep moving?

It depends. Sometimes I can skip ahead to a scene I’m especially excited about, or switch briefly to work on something that requires a different part of my brain (like answering interview questions!) and then returning to the manuscript.

Other times I’m just tapped out for the day, and if I try to power through I write stuff I’ll end up deleting.

How often do you hear from readers, struggling with their sexuality, who were helped by your writing?

Often. And I also hear a lot from readers who are happy that Empress isn’t primarily about a coming-out struggle, that it’s more concerned with friendship and love and the sometimes blurry lines between them.

And, in that same vein, were there novels that you read as a teen that helped you when you were finding yourself?

Actually, I’d say the most helpful work to me — as I acknowledge in the recommended booklist in the expanded edition — was Alison Bechdel’s long-running comic Dykes to Watch Out For. That said, I also read classics like Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson, and Zami: A New Spelling Of My Name by Audre Lorde. I wish I’d known about Nancy Garden’s Annie On My Mind when I was a teen, but I didn’t discover it until I was in my twenties.

Total comics question, where do things stand with Bad Houses, your collaboration with Carla Speed McNeil.

I’m so pleased that Dark Horse will be publishing Bad Houses. They’ve been doing a terrific job with Carla’s Finder books, and I also think it’s a nice fit to have an Oregon publisher for a book set in Oregon. Carla’s art is tremendous as usual — the things I’ve thrown at her to draw in Bad Houses include but are not limited to creepy antique dealers, a carnival, an aikido dojo, and an abandoned brewery. Also: makeouts.

It’ll still be a while before the book is released, but we’ve been talking about doing some exciting things in advance of publication, so stay tuned.

Encyclopedia Brown

Apparently last week the world lost children literature author and Encyclopedia Brown creator, Donald Sobol.

Most kids my age grew up reading the books. I tried to get my son interested in the series more recently, but could not get him hooked on it. I may need to try a harder sell.

Reading the obituary, I was impressed to learn that Sobol wrote almost until the end of his life. In fact, this October will see the release of the 28th book in the series, Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Soccer Scheme.

In the wake of his death, I went looking for an interview with Sobol. I was fortunate enough to discover  Just My Show: The Retro Pop Culture Podcast. Back in 2007, the show interviewed him and he shared how he kept the books ageless. He noted that he once referred to an expensive car in one of the earlier books and quoted the cost of the car ($5,000). Of course, by today’s standards, that’s not a substantial amount for a car–and Sobol expressed his appreciation that in revised releases of the book the cost had been edited.

Also in the interview, Sobol referenced newspaper column of his, the Two-Minute Mystery, that lead to him pursuing Encyclopedia Brown. Thanks to Google News’ archives, I was able to find one of the columns from 1967.

Sobol’s impact on writers and readers is far reaching, as evidenced by this tribute by crime novelist Jonathan Hayes on NPR.

Thanks for enriching a lot of folks’ childhood reading, Mr. Sobol.

He debates Irving about Michael Caine’s accent in The Cider House Rules. It makes for fun TV.

Little Red Riding Hood

Next Friday, May 11, Anna Trodglen, creator of the online comic strip Biscuits & Bellyrubs, will unveil her translation and illustration of Little Red Riding Hood, the classic children’s story, from the original German. The book celebration is set to be held at the Young Blood Gallery (636 N Highland Ave. Atlanta, GA 30306/404-254-4127), from 6 to 9 PM. As befits a children’s book, kids are encouraged to attend (bring the parents of course) the gathering, where snacks and sodas will be served. As an added bonus, Anna’s musical collaboration with husband Dugan Trodglen and John Armstrong (aka the legendary band, DQE) will perform a set. In anticipation of the event, Anna and the book’s designer/letterer Anthony Owsley allowed me to email interview them. (Eagle eye readers will note this marks the second time I have gotten to interview Anna [the first time being in 2010]) My thanks to Trodglen & Owsley for the interview.

Tim O’Shea: What inspired you to tackle Little Red Riding Hood, rather than translating one of the myriad other German folklore tales?

Anna Trodglen: I wanted to do Little Red Riding Hood because I was really drawn to the Wolf. He seemed very interesting and as a dog relative he was appealing to me. I also liked the limited number of cast in the story and that there were three distinct female characters.

O’Shea: Was there any aspect of the translation that proved more daunting than expected?

Trodglen: For the most part the translation went well but there were a couple sentences that had so many pronouns in them that I couldn’t figure out what was going on, so I just let those sentences go.

O’Shea: In translating the story, were there nuances you learned that you had not heard in previous versions of the tale?

Trodglen: There’s a postlog that’s a little different and surprising.

O’Shea:  How did you and designer/letterer Anthony Owsley decide upon a design for the book? Were several fonts considered before you settled on the final one?

Anthony Owsley: When Anna showed me the drawings she was working on, and explained how she wanted a completely traditional approach to the storytelling, I immediately got the idea of an old letterpress edition storybook. Anna and I are both big fans of late 19th Century/early 20th Century storybooks and often give each other old picture books as gifts, so that was an approach we both readily agreed on.

I wanted to color it in a way that would not distract from, or obscure Anna’s line work, which is often uniform width and highly detailed. I decided to use a limited color palette with large areas of broad flat colors which, again, would harken back to turn-of-the-Century letterpress drawings and early comic strips.

Font selection was pretty easy and I got it right the first time. I wanted something that looked antique, traditional and slightly fairytale without looking too Ren-fair. Thomas Paine has always been one of my favorite fonts and it fit the bill perfectly. It’s rustic and earthy, with enough flourish to fit into a fantasy settting. It also looks good in the 12-16 point range needed for young childrens’ storybooks. Anna loved it immediately.

O’Shea: How did getting Anthony involved make the book a stronger project?

Trodglen: Anthony has lots of experience making books and doing design so I knew I wanted to get him on board. Also Anthony is very meticulous and precise, where I am more slapdash; and he’s a lot more laid back than I am, which is an asset in working with a terrier like me. I knew Anthony could do a great job, and he did.

O’Shea: Anthony, what is it about Anna’s work that made you want to be involved in the project?

Owsley: Anna and I have been friends for many years and always wanted to collaborate on something, but nothing suitable ever came up. This was a chance to finally do something together. Also, when I learned that she was going to produce this through CreateSpace, I saw it as an opportunity to learn a few new technological skills that could help me on later freelance jobs.

O’Shea: The book will be officially launched at Young Blood Gallery in Virginia Highlands on May 11, what makes that gallery an ideal place for the launch?

Trodglen: Young Blood is a really classy place and has tons of nice looking, solid art, so it’s exciting to get to work with them. It has a gallery and boutique. The book will be on sale at the gallery at the opening and into the future. I will have greeting cards and prints as well and I think Anthony will have stuff for sale too.

Owsley: I used to have a studio space near Young Blood’s original Grant Park location so I would often drop in and look around. I always liked their DIY attitude. When I finally caught up with them in their new space, I was impressed. They had a nice boutique in the front part to sell artwork, and a huge open space in the back suitable for a live band to play. I thought it was perfect.

O’Shea: Given your many talents, am I correct in assuming there might be some live music at the book launch?

Trodglen: Dugan and John (Armstrong) and I will play a honky tonk acoustic set at 7 pm. The opening is from 6 to 9.

O’Shea: How satisfying was it to get to the finish line with this book, and to hold the finished product in your hands?

Trodglen: It’s a little scary to get to the finish line with a project, because that means it’s over, but I think we’re both pretty happy with it. The fi al stretch with multiple proofs and problems was so stressful too that when it finally got cleared up it was really a relief. All of that last bit of design and proofing fell to Anthony and he was really patient about it, which I appreciate.

Owsley: There were a few frustrating periods in the production of the book. There was a bit of a learning curve with formatting the book to CreateSpace’s template. We had to go through several proofs before getting it the way we both liked it. But the hard work paid off. I think it looks great!

Never Sit Down in a Hoopskirt and Other Things I Learned in Southern Belle Hell

When a mutual friend told me about Young Adult novelist Crickett Rumley‘s 2011 book, Never Sit Down in a Hoopskirt and Other Things I Learned in Southern Belle Hell, I immediately decided I had to email interview the author. Here’s the official scoop on the book: “Expelled from thirteen boarding schools in the past five years, seventeen-year-old Jane Fontaine Ventouras is returning to her Southern roots, and the small town of Bienville, Alabama, where ladies always wear pearls, nothing says hospitality like sweet tea and pimento cheese sandwiches, and competing in the annual Magnolia Maid Pageant is every girl’s dream.

“But Jane is what you might call an anti-belle, more fishnets and tattoos than sugar and spice. The last thing on her mind is joining the Magnolia Maid brigade and parading around town in a dress so big she can’t fit through a door. So when she finds herself up to her ears in ruffles and etiquette lessons, she’s got one mission: ESCAPE.”

This interview was conducted in late 2011. My thanks to Rumley for her time and humor.

Tim O’Shea: When did you first realize you derived creative satisfaction from writing teen comedy?

Crickett Rumley: Being a teenager is one of the most terrifying states of existence on earth. At least it was for me. On some level, everybody feels awkward and is searching for who they are, whether they are the most popular girl in school or the computer geek who hides in the corner and only comes out to answer calculus questions. Under those conditions, emotions run at full velocity – the highs are stratospheric, the lows are deeper than the sea. Everything means everything. So I’ve always felt that period in a character’s life is ripe for story-picking.

But discovering that I could write comedy? That’s a funny story! It was my third year of film school (I got my MFA in Film from Columbia University), and I was taking a class in writing television movies. At that point, I was known for writing earnest, angst-filled, twenty-something dramas, but I was not truly satisfied with anything I had written. It didn’t feel right. So we had this assignment to write ten pages of scenes based on a newspaper article. I chose a piece about a family of women who married old men and killed them for money. I thought I had written another earnest, angst-ridden drama, but when we read the scenes out loud in class, people were laughing. I don’t mean a little chuckle here and there. I mean, full-on, falling on the floor, can’t-catch-your-breath-laughing.

Cut to me, petrified. Eyes wider than the Grand Canyon. Turning redder than Rudolph the Reindeer’s nose. I couldn’t believe what was happening! My words had had that effect on my fellow classmates? What!? I started giggling, too, but not a charming, amused little laugh, noooooooo. Mine was a very high-pitched squeal of a giggle. Kinda like a pig. A stuck pig. A very nervous, freaked out stuck pig. But when the reading was over and the laughing died down, and all the tears had been wiped away, I felt amazing. I knew I had found my writing home, my writer’s voice, and I have never turned back.

O’Shea: Were you involved with the development of the trailer for the book? How enjoyable was that to develop?

Rumley: Yes, indeed! I wrote, co-directed and produced it. With my background in film, making a trailer was a natural extension of the book. Matt Kohnen and Nick Sivakumaran, my fellow instructors at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles, got on board early to co-direct and shoot it for me. They were such a joy to work with. Lake Sharp, who played the Belle, is a dancer as well as an actress, and such a funny woman, that I knew that she would be able to rock that hoopskirt. And boy, did she! We laughed our butts off watching Lake move around in that dress, and the expressions on her face, well, I could never KEEP a straight face during filming! I would have to shove my hand in my mouth so that I didn’t laugh and ruin the moment. I especially love when she tries to play soccer in the dress. The kids in the trailer, my young friends Ruby and Hart, had a blast chasing each other around the dress. And Marcello, my dashingly handsome actor, was totally game for anything. He actually fell out of that tree again and again trying to kiss Lake!

Everyone on the shoot was a superstar, and I am very grateful that they shared their talents with me.

O’Shea: What was the biggest challenge in terms of writing Never Sit Down in a Hoopskirt?

Rumley: Learning to write prose. After so many years of focusing on screenplays, I was accustomed to writing short bursts of dialogue and very sparse paragraphs of scene description. Everything has to be externalized in film, but in prose, there is a tremendous amount of internal monologue. It was quite challenging – overwhelming, in fact – to shift gears. I had to convince myself to just get it in on the page, that no matter how bad it was, I could fix it later. The first draft was over 450 pages long. 450 messy, disorganized pages. It took me a long time to figure out how to construct a chapter that was entertaining and funny. But I really felt like I had something, and I am a big fan of the revision process, so I just kept chipping away at it until I was happy.

O’Shea: In addition to writing, you also teach screenwriting. What’s the most enjoyable aspect of teaching for you?

Rumley: Getting to hear stories from my students! I have a very interactive teaching style, and I encourage writers to draw from their personal experiences to create characters and dramatic conflict. Because our students range in age (18-80) and nationality (often there are only two or three Americans in a class of 12), the stories they tell, the characters they talk about in class, are incredibly diverse. Yet we are all humans traveling under the sun, and emotions are powerfully universal, even if culture isn’t. Every day in the classroom, I find myself inspired, whether it’s a story that a South African television presenter tells us about a surprise birthday party that her family threw her at dawn in the African bush, or it’s a character portrait that an American vet creates based on an insurgent he shot in Iraq. Never a dull moment, believe me.

O’Shea: How important/beneficial was social media (such as FB) in terms of marketing the book?

Rumley: I am not quite sure yet, Tim. Of course I developed a website and a Facebook fan page and a Twitter account and I try to keep up with them on a regular basis. To be honest, though, I think my live, in-person interactions with people have had a lot of impact, as well. I LOVE talking to people!

That being said, look for more action on my website come the new year [2012]. I’m excited about upcoming blog posts, including interviews with bona fide Southern belles and anti-belles, and some contests featuring Smashbox Cosmetics as prizes!

O’Shea: Who was your favorite character to write in the book?

Rumley: That’s like asking who is my favorite child! Heehee, luckily, I have no children. I love all my characters, but Brandi Lyn was the most fun to write. She is incredibly thoughtful and sweet, yet she has strong beliefs and is not afraid to express them. She comes from a modest background, yet has a work ethic that would blow many of us out of the sky. She’s a fish out of water, but she doesn’t let that stop her from pursuing lofty dreams. One of my favorite scenes in the book is when she lovingly gives her daddy a hard time for using the Lord’s name in vain, and he responds by saying “Sorry, baby” and tossing a quarter into an overflowing jar. Brandi Lyn’s so sweet, everybody just wants to love her and make her happy! Talk about catching more flies with honey…

O’Shea: In terms of the book reviews, were you pleasantly surprised that the Booklist reviewer noticed that you worked “in nice points about shaking up the status quo while still keeping things light and bright”? 

Rumley: Thrilled, actually. In fact, I am still grinning from ear to ear. In all seriousness, the fact that readers can laugh and have fun with the characters, yet still respond to the serious points that matter the most to me as a storyteller, well, that is exactly what’s it’s all about for me.

O’Shea: Is it hard for you to read reviews, or do you enjoy reading them?

Rumley: I count myself lucky that most of my reviews have been good, so I’ve been enjoying them!

O’Shea: In doing book signings, did you ever have some fun encounters with recovering and/or active Southern Belles?

Rumley: Women of a certain age LOVE telling me about their hoopskirt stories from back in the days when hoopskirts were commonly worn to proms, debutante balls, cotillions, et.al. And the stories ALWAYS involve the skirt flying over their heads, often with a cute date present, which always leads to maximum awkwardness! I love it!

The truth of the matter is, though, people have strong reactions to the “Southern Belle Hell” part of the title. They either love it and immediately start telling me about the time they committed (or had to suffer through) some horrible Southern belle faux pas, or they hate it and think I am going straight to hell. Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration, but the head of the Historic Mobile Preservation Society did write me that as a bona fide Southern belle, she took issue with my title. Being the cheeky gal that I am, I immediately sent her a copy of the book. That was in May. Wonder if she’s read it yet?

O’Shea: Sorry, but I would kick myself if I did not ask–what was it like to work for John Sayles? Did working for him have some influence on your approach to writing?

Rumley: Working for John Sayles and his producer/partner Maggie Renzi was the best gig ever! They were incredibly supportive of their assistants and interns, and I learned a tremendous amount about how a film is made when I worked as their post-production assistant on the Secret of Roan Inish.

In terms of lasting influence, that would have to be in the realm of social commentary. This touches back on that question you asked about the review in Booklist. John’s work always contains an element of social commentary, and I also believe that it’s important that artists and writers not only express themselves, but express something of value to society. Of course, my take on life is a lot more comedic than John’s, but his influence is definitely present in my core belief system.

O’Shea: As writers go, you’re nothing if not ambitious. When most folks mention their next project, they have one or two items in the hopper. You had a list, that included:
— a TV pilot called Irreverent
— a screenplay about a bunch of crazy Southern women titled Fruitcake
– the stirrings of an idea for a musical for which I have named my father Head of Music Research
— And of course, I would love to write another Southern Belle Hell book!

Which of these on your list is closest to completion?

Rumley: You’re talking about a curse of blessings here, Tim! I always have a lot going on, but I don’t have a lot of time to devote to my own projects since I teach full-time. The good news is that I have drafts of the pilot and the screenplay written. They just need to be fixed. I am tossing around various ideas for my next novel, and I think I am going to draft a TV series version of Hoopskirt for my film and TV agent to shop around. I am SO looking forward to winter break – I am going to check myself into a hotel in Palm Springs (two hours east of my home in LA) for a few days and write me up a storm!

O’Shea: Is there anything you’d like to discuss that I neglected to ask you about?

Rumley: I am thrilled that this book got published and that people are responding warmly to it. Hands down, the best thing about publishing a novel, though, has been that I’ve had the chance to reconnect with people from all stages of my life! Friends from college, high school, of my mother, of my father, of my sister, long-lost relatives – they have come out of the woodwork with a tremendous amount of support and interest. I am so grateful! It’s been such a fun year and I can’t wait to get the next book out into the world!

The Mimic’s Own Voice

Tom Williams’ novella, The Mimic’s Own Voice, was released in 2011. Williams was kind enough to entertain a few questions of mine in this email interview (conducted in early December 2011). Williams’ story is a quirky consideration of mimicry and biography. And I’m not just saying that because of the kind sentiment he expresses at the start of the interview. As noted in his bio: “A former James Michener Fellow, he has received individual artist fellowships from the Wisconsin Arts Board and the Arkansas Arts Council. He currently is an associate editor of American Book Review” and Department Chair/Professor of English at Morehead State University. My thanks to Williams for his time and thoughts as well as Susan Henderson for helping to arrange this interview.

Tom Williams: Tim, let me first say thanks for agreeing to do this interview. One of the great things about having a small press book is that I’ve been required, pretty much, to do a lot of my own publicity. Yet I get to meet (in this virtual way) people like yourself, who do so much for writers and, it seems to me, receive so little in return. I hope I don’t stumble too much over these great questions.

Tim O’Shea: In developing this story, how early did you realize it was best suited as a novella, as opposed to a novel or short story?

Williams: As evidence of my unerring commercial intuition, I knew almost right away that it was a novella. The opening lines had a certain kind of tone and were pointing toward an almost historic sweep. I thought for a time it might be a novel but sensed the appropriate length was short of novel length after I had gone through, for the first time, my comedy history–from the one liner royalty to the vernacular story tellers to the mimics to the social critics to, finally, the observational comics. To flesh it out too much would, I thought, ruin the joke, and to try to bring it in under 30 pages would leave too much out.

O’Shea: In this Creative Loafing review, it is written: “Despite the layers of voices and styles, nothing about this book feels pastiche-ey or cobbled-together. Williams expertly subordinates each to the larger narrative, the academic story of Douglas Myles, and incorporates his source material smoothly into something more like a quilt than a collage, or like an onion.” How frustrating or taxing was it to build your narrative with the layers of voices and styles?

Williams: I’m having a conversation via email with another fiction writer, John Warner, whose debut novel, The Funny Man, shares many of the same themes and obsessions as The Mimic’s Own Voice, and one thing that he said that intrigued me was that in his own writing he needed to find ways to keep himself interested in the story. I went through a similar process. In trying to utilize all those voices and texts (I invented newspapers, journals, TV shows, all sorts of things for this purpose) in one narrative I was challenging myself and it became one of the joys of coming back to the manuscript every day. I can remember distinctly one morning inventing one of the critics, Melissa Tangier, and saying, “Oh man, she’s biracial, too,” and working to figure out where her lines would come in and blend with the other critics and the voice of the narrator. Seriously, though, I don’t think it would be the book it is without that element of multiple voices. That review,too, that you cite, by Jason Cook, is one that I think really gets at a lot of the crucial matters of the book, which is really heartening, knowing some people might have gotten what I was up to.

O’Shea: How important was it for the fuel/drive of the story that the lead character be “the only child of Angela and Ellis Myles, a black mother and white father“. And when I ask that question, I not only mean the racial aspect, but the element of being an only child?

Williams: You’re one of the first people to highlight the only child aspect of Douglas’s life, Tim, and I can’t stress enough how important I thought that was. Because I’m biracial, many people wondered how much of Douglas’s story has parallels with mine, and while I won’t say we are without similarities, what really helped make him the character I finally started to work with was his being an only child–unlike me. Had he any siblings, he wouldn’t have become a mimic, he wouldn’t have become the person he is, as he would have had somebody enough like him to identify with. As it is, when he’s finally orphaned and wholly alone, it’s as if he identifies with everyone else and never really, as we used to say, finds himself–though he’s one of the most famous people in the world.

O’Shea: In developing the novella, how much did you research the craft of being a mimic?

Williams: I hope this doesn’t disappoint, but virtually none. For one, there isn’t a whole lot, I’ve since discovered, to research. Mimicry seems one of those skills that people have or don’t have. I’m an okay mimic myself, but I’m out of practice and I was never up to the level Douglas Myles is. With him, I tried to imagine what it would be like if I could find in everyone’s voice something to reproduce and let it go from there. This lack of research might explain why I also left out in Douglas’s manuscript any of the techniques of mimicry. I feel kind of like a fraud now. Thanks, Tim.

O’Shea: How intrigued were you to read this analysis, which juxtaposed you work with Phong Nguyen’s Memory Sickness?

Williams: Speaking of great reviewers, John Stazinski couldn’t have written a better review if I had invented him. As well, in passing, he compared me to Sartre, Camus and Ellison, who belong to a club where I won’t even be invited to to clean the bathrooms. Moreover, I liked that my book shared space with Phong’s incredible collection. I don’t think his stories in that particular collection confront head on as much the issue of biracial identity, but his sensibility, shaped by being biracial, too, is very similar to mine. It’s that sense of being in-between, having connections with but never completely, to different cultures and experiences. I don’t want to speak for Phong, but as a biracial man, I’ve always felt like a spy without allegiances, bouncing between two warring nations.

He and I, along with some other first book authors, are going to read at Barbara’s Bookstore in Chicago during the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference [which was held in February 2012]. Should be a good time.

O’Shea: I’m curious, given that the novella is dedicated to your mother, do you agree with this writer’s assessment: “He keeps the memory of his mother alive in Myles’ beautifully written character.”

Williams: That is a wonderful sentiment, one that makes me wish I were the writer this person thinks I am, but in truth the book was finished long before my mother died. At the risk of sounding totally sentimental, I had always known that I would dedicate my first book to my parents. When I got the notice from Main Street Rag that they wanted to publish The Mimic’s Own Voice it was September and she’d died that May.

But in a way, Douglas Myles’s whole need to mimic stemmed from a need to keep people’s voices alive, even when the people themselves were no more. And of course this is, to me, the tragedy of the book, of Douglas’s art (if you want to call mimicry art)–that art can console but not quite heal. Yet what would we do without it?

This reminds me, too, that I need to get to work because I owe my dad a dedication. And my wife. And my son. And all the teachers who helped me to get where I am now.

O’Shea: Given the complexity of the novella, how much revision and editing (and how long as process) did it take you to get it completed?

Williams: I’ve shared this before in interviews, that , for one, I finished it so long ago, I’m wondering whether I’m inventing another fiction when I talk about its composition. But in truth it was such a joy to draft that I remember finishing the first version very quickly. A couple of months, perhaps. It was called at that time the Impressionist’s Own Voice, which sounds incredibly clumsy now yet the only reason I changed it was because a visit to Books A Million in 2003 shoved in my face some copies of Hari Kunzru’s novel The Impressionist.

Revision didn’t take all that long either. A month or two. I worked, as I tend to do, exclusively on this. Douglas Myles really consumed me. I wanted his world to be as amazing as he was and literally seven days a week I tried to make that happen.

The real story is how long the book sat, unpublished and nearly forgotten by its author. I am pretty sure the earliest completed version of it was part of a collection of stories I sent out in the summer of 2003; obviously, it didn’t get published. (Though the press, I point out with no glee, is no longer, so I got lucky by their rejection.) I sent that collection out to some contests, and tried too with some novella contests–no luck. I even sent out the novella to an online journal that specializes in longer works. Again, same story. That Scott Douglass (it just occurred to me that he has nearly the same last name as my central character’s first name) of Main Street Rag asked me if I had a novella to submit to their nascent novella series, and that he and Craig Renfroe said yes to it still strikes me as the most unlikely of dreams coming true.

O’Shea: Anything you’d like to discuss that I neglected to ask you about?

Williams: One thing that I have yet to hear about in the reviews and responses The Mimic’s Own Voice has generated is a discussion about the anonymous scholar narrator. John Stazinski gets it right that the narrator, in the world of the novella, is a “Comedic Studies scholar” but to my knowledge, no one has commented much on him. And to me he’s as much a mimic as Douglas, as any young scholar or even student who has to go through the paces of speaking with a bunch of others voices to speak for his point of view. That’s another thing I love about John’s review: He speaks of how the book turns on the idea of the notion of how all of us are nothing like a stable or consistent self but instead a “pastiche of voices.” But while I’m not saying that we’re all mimics, I am, or at least I thought I was, through both Douglas and the narrator, trying to have fun while exploring the notion of trying to find one’s voice through the use of other’s voices. I’m still trying to find my own, to be quite honest.

Thanks again, Tim. This was a blast.

Tim O’Shea: In a sense, do you think mentors benefit almost as much from the experience as the contributors?

Masha Hamilton: Absolutely. A bridge is being built between Afghan women and both mentors and readers abroad that I think is important to both sides. To read some of the mentors’ comments on our site, look here. Here is one quote from Stacy Parker Le Melle, but you can pick any one you’d like:

“Magical. How else to describe sitting at my computer in Harlem, USA, and connecting with young women in Afghanistan, women who want to better themselves as communicators so that they can be heard at home and all over the world? I cannot thank Masha Hamilton and her partners enough for creating this cyberspace classroom. At times, it feels like we’re meeting in our dreams.”

O’Shea: What are some of the more unique topics tackled by contributors?

Hamilton: The site can be overwhelming to a first-time visitor because there is so much information and so many wonderful essays and poems. A good place to start here here. You can read “My First Namaz,” a lovely poem on loss and prayer, or “I Thought It Was A Dream, But When I Woke Up, I Couldn’t Walk,” written by one of our writers who went to the hospital to visit her grandfather, and while there, met a girl who had lost her legs in a suicide attack. “Running for Parliament, Afghan-Style” is another favorite, by a woman writer who decided to throw her hat in the ring, and won! There is an open letter to President Obama and an open letter to Secretary of State Clinton. “Remembering Fifteen” is one of my personal favorite poems, in which one of our writer remembers being 15 years old, on the cusp of womanhood.

O’Shea: How important are donations to making this project an ongoing viable project?

Hamilton: Absolutely critical. Although we are volunteer-based, we are trying to get our writers laptops and Internet service, and provide Internet cafes for them in undisclosed locations. Rent and security as well as ongoing Internet service is not inexpensive. We have six writers now in a Taliban-dominated province waiting for us to get them Internet. It costs roughly $2,500 a year per writer to support the program.

O’Shea: Unlike writers, who are hoping to raise their profile and market themselves, as noted at the website: “Most of our Afghan writers participate in the project partially or entirely in secret from friends and family.” Clearly it is stressful for participants to risk being found out, but on the administration end how stressful is it to work with these brave women but make sure you do not accidentally reveal their talents/efforts to the wrong people?

Hamilton: We use first names only on the site and take out specific locators. We do not give out their email addresses to anyone not directly associated with AWWP. We have a security team who helps us consider ongoing issues. And we intentionally err on the side of safety. BUT, we still want to keep the project going, because we believe if we shut it down out of security concerns, we are effectively doing the same thing as those who would silence the Afghan woman, even if our motivation is different.

O’Shea: Looking at the project’s Facebook page, I noticed that readers are encouraged to give contributors feedback. In most situations, writers crave feedback–but am I correct in thinking feedback in this situation is appreciated like rain in the middle of a long drought?

Hamilton: The comments are important. The writers know they are being heard. We have a writer who walks four hours each way from a Taliban-controlled province to send us a poem. We don’t want her work to sit out there without comment.

Students of course love teachers who step out of the formality of academic life, who comment on it, but very few do so as more than theater. Very few commit to it the way David Foster Wallace commits to it. “This does not mean we have to sit around smiling sweetly at one another for three hours a week. … In class you are invited (more like urged) to disagree with one another and with me—and I get to disagree with you—provided we are all respectful of each other and not snide, savage or abusive. … In other words, English 102 is not just a Find-Out-What-The-Teacher-Thinks-And-Regurgitate-It-Back-at-Him course. It’s not like math or physics—there are no right or wrong answers (though there are interesting versus dull, fertile versus barren, plausible versus whacko answers).”

Go read the article, follow the links. It’s fun stuff.

The Twelfth Enchantment

In David Liss‘ new novel, The Twelfth Enchantment (Random House), he has decided to mix historical fiction with a dash of magic and the surprise presence of Lord Byron for good measure. Set in early 1800s England, Liss constructs a tale of the young down-on-her-luck Lucy Derrick who fears her best option may be to marry an unappealing fellow. Add to the story’s mix a battle between the Industrial Revolution and Luddites. Liss is clearly an author that loves to research his subjects–and fortunately enjoys discussing his latest novel in this interview.

Not every novelist, even one known for his historical fiction, would tackle the Luddite Uprising–how did you decide upon utilizing that historical event?

It developed naturally from my interest in wanting to write about the economics of the Regency period. I’ve always been drawn to significant moments in the history of capitalism, as well as labor history, so the Luddites were a perfect fit for my interests. Guys who express their anger at the system by breaking machines and burning down buildings? That always makes for a good story! Most people think of Luddites as people who hated technology, but that wasn’t the case. They were skilled laborers who were being left behind by the industrial revolution. Communities where artisans had supported their families for generations were being destroyed by the factory system. This was serious stuff.

Did you hesitate at all in using a major figure like Lord Byron in the book?

I’ve always avoided using real historical figures in my novels before — except in The Whiskey Rebels, where it made good, historical sense. In general, I tend to dislike historical fiction that tries to rehearse everything the reader already knows by writing stories in which everyone who just happens to be famous shows up. In this case, because I was writing historical fantasy, I felt free to play around with facts and characters. My main rule going in was that I could change the way things really happened, I could not change the way things appeared to happen. So, in Byron’s case, in this novel he experiences some things that are totally fictional, but none of it is visible to people on the outside.

What was the most challenging aspect of the history behind the story to research?

I’m used to researching fairly dull and obscure material. That’s par for the course when you write about economic history. In this case, because I was writing about a young woman during the Regency, my editor kept telling me I had to include more detail about clothing and fashions. That was a bit of a challenge for me. I can keep different elements of the stock market straight, but keeping the different dress styles straight was damn near impossible.

How hard was it to incorporate an element of magic into a work partially rooted in historical accuracy?

No, there is a lot of material out there—both secondary sources and reprints of original texts. Much of the reading was difficult, and deliberately so (I explain in the book that magical texts are written to be difficult to turn away readers who are not truly committed). So while it took a lot of time to work through some of these sources, they were not hard to find. Fortunately for me, historical magic is a subject with a lot of enthusiasts, so there is no shortage of interesting books out there.

As you note in this recent Book(ed) Passage interview “this is the first time I’ve written a novel entirely from a female character’s perspective”, at what point in writing the story did you realize you had a firm grasp on Lucy’s voice?

That was one of those things that you can only nail by trial and error. In general, getting the voice right is always the hardest part of starting a new novel, and while writing from the perspective of a young woman was a new sort of challenge, I still went about it the same way: writing and rewriting the first 50 pages or so until the voice felt “right.” Unfortunately there is no exact science, but it is usually easy to tell when you’ve got it right. And even easier to tell when you have it wrong.

Among the cast of this novel, who was the most enjoyable to write?

I always enjoy writing the morally complicated characters the most, so in this case, it is probably Lord Byron—nothing quite so much fun as writing a charismatic asshole.

When you and I discussed your recent comics writing, you said of the creative process: ” I love having an editor to bounce ideas off of.” Are there certain folks you bounce ideas off of, when developing your prose?

I have friends in the industry with whom I can discuss my work, and I always talk about my projects with my wife, but in the end, writing a novel is always going to feel much more solitary than writing comics.

As a veteran best-selling novelist, do you ignore reviews of your book, or do you still get enthused by positive buzz, like the recent Daily Beast praise?

Yes! Especially when the buzz comes from famous people. That sort of thing never stops being cool. But the bottom line is that I write books that are supposed to entertain people, and it’s nice to get feedback and hear that at least some readers think I’m doing an okay job.

Some Amazon reviews are already hoping for a sequel. What are the odds of you revisiting the world of The Twelfth Enchantment again?

I love the world and I love the characters, so it is something I would seriously consider. Write now I’m working on something else, but you never know what the future holds.

Birds of Paradise: A Novel

Article first published as Interview: Novelist Diana Abu-Jaber on Birds of Paradise: A Novel on Blogcritics.

If you are a regular listener to NPR, you likely have heard one of novelist Diana Abu-Jaber‘s frequent essays. Next week (September 6, to be exact) marks the release of the award-winning author’s newest novel, Birds of Paradise [Editor's note: Of course, the book is out as of this past Tuesday]. While I was already aware of Abu-Jaber, thanks to NPR, I did not realize she had finished her new book until an early July tweet by Bethanne Patrick (aka @thebookmaven). Soon after learning of the new novel, I reached out to Abu-Jaber for an email interview–and she was more than happy to entertain my queries. As described by her publisher (W. W. Norton & Company): “In the tropical paradise that is Miami, Avis and Brian Muir are still haunted by the disappearance of their ineffably beautiful daughter, Felice, who ran away when she was thirteen. Now, after five years of modeling tattoos, skateboarding, clubbing, and sleeping in a squat house or on the beach, Felice is about to turn eighteen. Her family—Avis, an exquisitely talented pastry chef; Brian, a corporate real estate attorney; and her brother, Stanley, the proprietor of Freshly Grown, a trendy food market—will each be forced to confront their anguish, loss, and sense of betrayal. Meanwhile, Felice must reckon with the guilty secret that drove her away, and must face her fear of losing her family and her sense of self forever.” In addition to the book, we also delve into her recent mention in a New York Times piece on email manners.

How early in the development of Birds of Paradise did you realize it had to be set in Miami–and what appealed to you in terms of setting it there?

Miami was present from the very first page. My husband and I moved to Miami eight years ago and I knew I wanted to use it as a setting. Ever since my second novel, Crescent, I’ve been very inspired by sunlight and water and I always like to use a strong setting for my stories– like the city of Syracuse and the blizzard that seems to keep blowing throughout Origin, my third novel. Birds of Paradise is a reflection of Miami’s many layers– its outward dazzling tropical colors and beauty, its racial and cultural collisions. I’m fascinated by that complexity and challenged by it. Setting my new novel here gave me a way to reflect on my adopted city and to push myself to learn more about it.

Structurally the story is broken down into chapters alternating their focus/perspective between varying characters–with the chapters labeled by character names. How challenging was it to structure the story in such a manner?

Actually, I found it easier to use the alternating perspectives than a single unified point of view because it gave me a way to break up the action and to tell the story from different vantage points. It did mean that I really had to become deeply familiar with each of those characters– more than, perhaps, with a novel governed by just one or two central characters. But I felt that this helped enrich the story, so that I couldn’t rely on “prop characters” to tell my story.

With the Muir family, was there any family member that you struggled to find the right voice for them in particular (or vice versa, any family member that was easier for you write and why)?

Brian, the father, was a real challenge for me, because he was of a species that I found very mysterious– the corporate executive. At first he was pretty ruthless and unsympathetic and the people who read my early drafts pointed out that they felt like I wasn’t being fair to him. Getting his character right became an important challenge for me– to push myself past my own preconceptions and to find his uniqueness and humanity.

One character, Brian, is a real estate lawyer–how much research did you undertake to get his work as accurate as possible?

As I mention in the earlier question, his profession was very new territory to me. Luckily, I have several good friends who are lawyers– they gave me lots of insights and more leads to other lawyers. I took many, many attorneys out to lunch, dinner, waylaid them in corridors, interviewed total strangers on the phone, through email, even on Facebook. I went to city commission meetings and zoning board meetings and talked to tons of developers. I also read books and articles about the lawyer’s experience, their training, their day to day struggles. It was a fascinating project because it was all so new, and the more I learned, the more interested I became.

This GoodReads review noted that “While not marketed to the YA [Young Adult] audience, this book will appeal to both adults and teens.”Are you hoping to garner some new YA readers with this new novel?

Wow, that’s interesting! It hadn’t crossed my mind that this might appeal to YA readers. There’s some heavy stuff in this book, so I’d hope they would be fairly mature teens.

How instrumental has Twitter and social media become in terms of drawing attention to your work?

That I really don’t know. My sense is that almost everyone on social media is advertising something, so at times there can be a bit of an echo chamber effect. But I enjoy the simple fun of meeting new people in this way– it’s especially nice for people who work from home and don’t get to carouse around much with a gang of co-workers.

I was fascinated to learn from this 2008 interview that you will write periodically during red lights, when did you first realize that you were capable of creativity while driving?

Ha! You know what, I started writing at red lights years ago when I worked as a film reviewer for the Oregonian newspaper. I found that my thoughts about a film were always clearest and freshest while I was driving home after the viewing, so I kept my pad out next to me in the car and eventually realized, hey! This actually isn’t a bad way to get thoughts down quickly….

Another non-novel related question. After your participation in this New York Times email manners story, did you start getting replies from emails you sent a long time ago?

That is too funny. I’ll tell you who I heard from — all sorts of people who thought they knew who the other writer was that I’d referred to in my story. All these people had had similar experiences with a friend who never followed up on their invitations, and they were CERTAIN they knew just who my story was about….only they’d all mentioned different names and none of them was the person I was talking about. Turns out, it’s just a really common experience!

When you write pieces like this one for NPR, do you ever find that you gain new readers of your novels, thanks to this exposure?

Wait! Isn’t that how I heard from you? All I can say with any authority is: I sure hope so. I’ve written commentary pieces for NPR and other media over the years and while there’s a big difference between an essay and a book, I’d like to think the short piece gives you a nice little window into what the larger works might hold.

Is there anything you’d like to discuss about Birds of Paradise that I neglected to ask you about?

Not really– just to tell people that Birds of Paradise is now available for pre-order from places like Indiebound.com and Amazon.com, that I’ll be traveling on a book tour this September and October, and they can learn more about me and my event schedule at my website www.DianaAbuJaber.com.