[Interview] Lauri Kubuitsile

Lauri Kubuitsile writes romances novels; crime fiction; books and stories for children and teenagers; and, literary fiction.

She was shortlisted for the 2011 Caine Prize for African Writing and has won awards that include the PanAfrican prize for children’s literature, The Golden Baobab Prize and the Orange/Botswerere Botswana Artists Award.

Her books include the collection of short stories, In the Spirit of McPhineas Lata and Other Stories (HopeRoad, 2011); and the novels, Signed, Hopelessly in Love (August 2011) Tafelberg, 2011) and Mr Not Quite Good Enough (Sapphire Press, 2011).

In this interview, Lauri Kubuitsile talks about her concerns as a writer:

When did you start writing?

I started writing 8 years ago, just when I was turning 40.

I actually became a published author almost by accident. My books in my Kate Gomolemo Mystery Series were actually all first published in a small newspaper I owned in Botswana. We were changing format and wanted to see what we could do to maintain our readership. I decided I would write a serialised novel, 1,000 words each issue.

When the first book finished in the newspaper, people called the office asking for parts they had missed. On a whim I sent the manuscript to Macmillan hoping that they might publish the book so that our newspaper readers could get the parts they’d missed. Macmillan agreed, and that was my first published book. It was published in 2005.

How would you describe the writing you are doing?

I write primarily popular fiction.

I have four published romances with the South African publisher Sapphire Press, an imprint of Kwela Books. I also have two detective series. I write for children and teens as well. And I write short stories, and occasionally, literary stories.

Who is your target audience?

To be honest I write for myself, my hope is that other people will enjoy my stories too.

In the writing you are doing, which authors influenced you most?

I have many influences. I love J. D. Robb, John Steinbeck, Margaret Atwood, Kate Atkinson… actually it’s difficult to mention all of them.

I do find that certain writers, though they may not come out explicitly in my work, they inspire me to write. For example, Steinbeck. I go back to his work often for inspiration. His simple solid sentences resonate with me and my hope is to someday be able to move a story along in such an honest way.

How have your own personal experiences influenced your writing?

I think there is hardly a story I have written that does not start with a personal experience. It might be something in my own life, something I witnessed, or something I heard.

What are your main concerns as a writer?

I think my concerns are like every writer, to write the story I need to write the best way that I can.

What are the biggest challenges that you face?

Well, I’m a full time writer living in Botswana, the toughest thing for me is to try to make a liveable income from my work. It is a constant challenge. I try different things, I try to keep abreast of what is happening in the industry. For example, I recently published three of my Kate Gomolemo Mysteries on Amazon. Two have been published traditionally before but I kept the ebook rights. I don’t know anything about self publishing but I’m learning. I just try to be adaptable.

Do you write everyday?

I’m a full time writer and I treat my writing as my work. I usually get to my office (which is separate from my house) at about ten. I attend to administrative work first and then get to work on whatever my day’s project is. I usually knock off about 6:30.

How many books have you written so far?

• The Fatal Payout (2005) fiction, first book in Kate Gomolemo Mystery Series, publisher Macmillan prescribed book by Ministry of Education, Form 1 
• Murder For Profit (2008), fiction, second book in Kate Gomolemo Mystery Series publisher Pentagon Publisher 
• Mmele and the Magic Bones ( 2009) children's fiction, Pentagon Publishers, Prescribed book for Ministry of Education, Standard 5
• Three Collections of Short Stories for Std. 5, 6, and 7 (2009) Pentagon Publishers co-written with Wame Molefhe and Bontekanye Botumile. All three prescribed books by Ministry of Education. 
• Lorato and the Wire Car (2009), Vivlia Publishers (RSA), a children’s book 
• Birthday Wishes and other Stories (2009) Vivlia Publisher (RSA), a collection of three short stories for children 11-14 
• Kwaito Love (April 2010) romance, Sapphire Press an imprint of Kwela Books South Africa 
• Can He Be the One? (August 2010) romance, Sapphire Press an imprint of Kwela Books South Africa 
• The Curse of the Gold Coins  (2010) Vivlia Publishers (RSA), a mystery for children 
• Anything for Money (third book in the Detective Kate Gomolemo series), third book in Kate Gomolemo Mystery Series, Vivlia Publishers (RSA) 2011 
• Signed, Hopelessly in Love (August 2011) Tafelberg South Africa, a humorous novel for teens 
• Mr Not Quite Good Enough romance July 2011 Sapphire Press an imprint of Kwela Books South Africa 
• In the Spirit of McPhineas Lata and Other Stories, ebook, HopeRoad London, Dec 2011, a short story collection, all stories set in Botswana 
• Love in the Shadows, Romance-thriller, April 2012, Sapphire Press 
• Murder For Profit, Anything for Money, Claws of a Killer, ebooks, May 2012 , self published at Kindle Direct Publishing

What is different about your latest books?

My latest books are the self published ebooks: Murder for Profit; Anything for Money and Claws of a Killer.

The series is set in Botswana and the books are fast paced mysteries. If you love mysteries, you’ll love these books! I know as a reader I’ve always loved series because you can follow the protagonist for some time, in different places. These books are like that. Kate’s life will change quite a bit from the first book to the last. I’ve received great feedback on the books. The first book in the series, The Fatal Payout, is currently read in all junior secondary schools in Botswana and I meet people everywhere who love the book.

Murder for Profit; Anything for Money and Claws of a Killer were self published at Amazon, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), my first attempt at self publishing.

I wanted to try KDP and I was lucky to still have the e-rights for these three books.

What advantages and/or disadvantages has this presented?

The advantages are that you have complete control over the books - the covers, the design, the marketing. That’s also sort of the disadvantage too. You really need to put time into marketing. There are so many books published at KDP so you need to work hard to get some attention for your books.

My hope was if I published all three of them at the same time I might build a readership a bit quicker. I’m currently on a very steep learning curve.

Which aspects of the work you put into the books did you find most difficult?

The marketing is tough. Especially trying to get people to read the books and do reviews, and then to put the reviews up at Amazon. It takes a lot of time. Much more than I anticipated.

Which aspects of the work did you enjoy most?

I love starting a book. I work out the plot and character bibles by hand before I start writing, I like that part.

I also like writing the rough draft. I write very quickly/ I can write up to 8,000 words in a day at that stage.

What will your next book be about?

I’ve just finished the rough draft for a new romance. It’s called There’s Something About Him. I hope to have it to the publisher in the next two months or so.

What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?

I’ve won or been shortlisted for quite a few writing prizes. I’ve twice won the PanAfrican prize for children’s story, The Golden Baobab Prize. I won our national award for creative writers sponsored by our Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture, the Orange/Botswerere Prize, and last year (2011) I was shortlisted for the Caine Prize which is perhaps the most prestigious prize for African short story writers.

Related books:

,,

Related articles:

• Letter from Botswana: ET is not an alien, by Lauri Kubuitsile, New Internationalist, March 1, 2012 
• Blogging the Caine: Lauri Kubuitsile’s “In the Spirit of McPhineas Lata”, by Aaron Bady, zunguzungu, June 24, 2011 
• An Interview with Botswana Writer, Lauri Kubuitsile, Geosi Reads, January 24, 2011

[Interview] Gisela Hoyle

Poet and novelist Gisela Hoyle was born in Barkly-West, in the Northern Cape of South Africa.

She attended Kimberley Girls High School and graduated with an MA in English from Rhodes University.

She taught at Rhodes University and then at various schools in South Africa. Currently, she lives and works in the UK.

The White Kudu (Picnic Publishing, 2010) is her first novel.

In this interview, Gisela Hoyle talks about her writing:

When did you start writing?

I have been writing since I was a child -- mostly poetry and mostly for occasions in the family or at school (I am a teacher).

I decided to get published about 18 months ago now -- because I had written my first complete novel, The White Kudu.

I took my manuscript to a Writers’ Clinic, where it was positively received, and I got some good advice on how to approach publishers; which I did.

How would you describe your writing?

Well I don’t think I’m a genre writer. I just write and let other people put it into categories.

The White Kudu has been described as both an Indiana Jones type of adventure story and a literary novel. I suppose this is because the plot follows this young geologist and his discoveries. These lead him to the local mythology -- which is what always seems to happen to Indiana Jones; and then the literary side, I suppose, has come from readers finding several layers of meaning in it, and perhaps the way it is written, I’m not sure. Also, because it is a story about stories and the role of narrative in defining identities, in the interaction between people and places.

Who is your target audience?

I don’t really write with a particular audience in mind -- I think ‘audiences’ are commercial categories for publishers, rather than real people. I’d like to think my writing would appeal to those -- of any age or gender or nationality.

What are the biggest challenges that you face?

Writing about South Africa’s past is a challenge. I want to do that compassionately and truthfully.

South Africa’s past (and present still) was fraught with conflict and violence -- brought on by deliberate injustice. There are so many stories and versions of stories and they each will have some element of truth, but they will each also be utterly subjective and almost inevitably biased.

When I was growing up there, everything you said, the most ordinary daily details -- like what you had for breakfast -- were politicised; placed you in a camp, somehow. It was extraordinarily tense and loaded. So, how can one speak about it clearly, fairly, objectively? I think this is what the Truth and Reconciliation Hearings were trying to address -- speaking about such a past is always a risk: it risks being unfair, it risks being misunderstood and yet if there is to be a future, it must be done and done in a spirit of reconciliation. It was abused, of course it was, but it was an astonishingly brave thing, too.

For me, writing about it now, from another country means risking rose-coloured spectacles and nostalgia on the one hand, and dramatisation on the other; both of which will skew the real, the human story. I have tried to focus on individuals within such a situation of strong group identification and the resulting violence -- what does it mean to live your life, and live it decently, in such a world?

In the writing you are doing, which authors influenced you most?

Probably mostly South African authors, such as Marguerite Poland, Andre Brink and Etienne van Heerden, who all share an interest I think in the mythology of South Africa and the relationship of various people (coloniser and native, missionary, shaman and farmer) to the land and the landscape.

How have your personal experiences influenced your writing?

Well, The White Kudu is set in the place where I grew up: a farm in the Northern Cape of South Africa. The place is a mission farm in an area, where land ownership was deeply contested -- and the questions of who the land belongs to, whether it can belong to anyone ; or whether it is not rather a question of people belonging to the land have always interested me. Also because of my own hybrid nationality. The time is the mid to late 90s -- so early post-Apartheid South Africa.

What are your main concerns as a writer?

I am interested in language: its role in defining our identities and how that works in multi-cultural or more specifically hybrid societies.

It is, I think, especially through stories that we achieve an understanding of ourselves and our societies. So The White Kudu is really a novel about stories -- their power over us, their beauty and their danger. But also their power to connect people and to help with understanding history.

You make reference to "hybrid nationality” and "hybrid societies". What do you mean by this?

I mean people and societies which are not defined by a single culture and that have been so for a time long enough to feel that they belong to both -- so, more than just multi-cultural.

I grew up in a German-speaking family with very close ties to Germany, as my parents worked for the Berlin Mission Society; but I also grew up in South Africa, went to South African schools, am ‘at home’ in South Africa. I belong to both. I think it is best expressed by a kind of ‘both and’; rather than ‘either/or’ approach to life -- it is always looking from two angles at once, and being OK with that.

Do you write every day?

I do try to write every day -- this is not always possible, especially during very busy times of term.

I get up early and write between 4 and 6 o’clock in the morning -- before school or anyone else in the family is even up. I love the quietness of that time.

I simply made a decision that a day in which I have not written is a day wasted and so I get up make a cup of tea and write.

At times I set myself a word target or just aim to get a certain scene or poem written. It ends because the rest of the day starts and I have to get to work.

How many books have you written so far?

The White Kudu is my first novel to be published.

It is the story of a young geologist, who is posted to a farm in the fairly remote rural area of the Northern Cape. He encounters there the legend of a white kudu as well as the story of his predecessor’s scandal. During his search for mineral wealth he uncovers an ancient skeleton, which adds another dimension the land claims battle raging in the area at the same time.

How did you choose a publisher for the book?

I chose Picnic Publishers because they stated very clearly that they were interested in the writing, the story or the poetry and not in the biography of the author. It is a small independent publisher, which is great as one stays far more involved in the entire process of publishing than I imagine one would with a bigger publisher.

Which were the most difficult aspects of the work that you put into the book?

There is quite a lot of anthropology in the novel -- that was an interesting challenge to work into the story. It was important for understanding the resolution, but it is not the sort of conversation people outside universities have much. So, I needed not to get too involved in that -- but it was very tempting, because it is so interesting.

What did you enjoy most?

I really enjoyed ‘reliving’ many of the stories of my childhood -- also doing the research on them and finding them to be a part of the authentic mythology of San people of South Africa. So the most difficult was also the most enjoyable, really.

What sets The White Kudu apart from other things you've written?

The strong mythological content makes it very different to many other books. The only other work I published is poetry, so as a novel it is very different. As a story it is also very closely linked to very specific places in the world -- poetry is not like that, or my poetry is not.

In what way is it similar?

The interest in language, in the power of naming things is present in all my work and the power language has to make connections: between people and the place in which they live, between people. The way shared language can create a sense of belonging -- but also the power of language to confuse and alienate.

Questions around who owns the land and who the land belongs to are contentious in many parts of Africa. Do you see a time when these questions will be resolved?

Yes, land ownership is very contentious, because it goes to the heart of the injustice of South Africa’s existence. When I was growing up, it was something constantly looming over our lives. The Nationalist government at the time did not trust the Berlin Mission at all and were constantly threatening to appropriate the land. So I grew up knowing that ‘home’ did not belong to us -- we were outsiders, from all sectors of South African society, but that did not prevent the feeling of belonging to the place. And I think that is perhaps a useful distinction: people belonging to the land and the land belonging to people.

People, for various reasons, have a right to live in a certain land: politically in South Africa the white farmers as a group had no right, because they had come by that land unjustly. But then, when you consider a farmer individually, who has worked the land, has got to know the land, has loved the land and taken care of it, perhaps even suffered for it -- what does that mean for ownership?

On the other hand, there are traditional claims to land ownership, there are blood-ties to land -- and the facts of stealing and war and conquest in history remain, too.

The farm I grew up on had been ‘given’ by the queen to the Mission Society as a refuge for those Black people, who had become Christian and were being persecuted by their people for it. So it occupies an interesting, ambiguous place in that history: it was both taken from the people but also being used for the people. The descendants of these communities still live there and the process of establishing their ownership of it is underway.

I have no answer to these problems but think that if history is so intractable, why can we not think about it practically -- what would be best for the land? I do not think that individual people owning an unworkably tiny piece of land as restitution for the past is a practical solution or is even fair in any real sense of the word.

The more I think about it, the more I find the concept of owning a piece of the earth strange. Perhaps we should only own time on the land, rather than the land itself?

What will your next book be about?

My next book is a coming of age story. It is also set in South Africa, but in the Knysna Forest in the Western Cape and further back in time -- still in the Apartheid era.

What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?

I think it is very much too early to tell.

Possibly Related Books:

,,

Related Interview:
[Interview] Jason Blacker, author of "Black Dog Bleeding", Conversations with Writers, September 30, 2009

[Interview] Jason Blacker

South African author, Jason Blacker was born in Cape Town but grew up in Johannesburg. He moved to Vancouver, Canada when he was 18 years old and currently lives in Calgary.

He spent some time at art college before getting a degree in English Literature. He has worked, among other things, as a police officer, a privacy analyst, a school bus driver and a Starbucks Store Manager.

His first novel, Black Dog Bleeding (Lulu, 2008) explores South Africa's apartheid era and the personal cost paid by individuals who found the policy abhorrent and resisted it.

In this interview, Jason Blacker talks about his writing:

When did you start writing?

I started writing as soon as I could pick up a crayon. In the early days, kindergarten, I started off drawing and exploring colours before learning to write letters and and words.

I think, for me, writing was a natural evolution from drawing. I love drawing and took a couple of years at art college. But to write words that are transformed into images in the reader's mind is a great thrill. Especially if you get that poetic turn-of-phrase.

In grade 7 or 8 I wrote a poem about a man looking into a mirror and the poem was written as a mirror-image of itself. My teacher loved it, gave me an "A" and wrote some really generous comments. It was that experience that really turned on the light bulb for me. My A-ha moment where I thought: "Wow, people can really enjoy this thing I do with words just for fun." And that was the beginning of my journey to being a published and financially successful author. Prior to that, I had just messed around scribbling my own comics -- in the vein of spiderman and star wars. Huge fan of both. I'd do the drawings and writing and just dunk myself deeply into those imaginary worlds. Still today, there is nothing I like better than getting immersed in the story of my characters.

In university I took an undergrad in English Literature to explore some of my favourite authors. One class was on mystery fiction and we had the option of writing our own story. I did this and the professor loved it. She gave me another "A" and encouraged me to publish [the story]. It was at this time that I decided to write my first novel. Up to this point I had written poems and short stories.

My first novel, Black Dog Bleeding, was born during these days. It has been self published and is available at Lulu.com. It was important for me to write it. It deals with the life of someone like Stephen Biko who I greatly admire. Although fictitious, I needed to come to understand the sacrifice and courage of the heroes -- both men and women, black and white of the apartheid resistance. And I wanted to share that with the world.

How would you describe your writing?

My writing is informed by my poetic experience. And what I mean by that is that because I started out writing poetry in its various forms, poetry infuses my prose. I'm very interested in imagery and metaphors. And I love finding that phrase that captures an image in a poetic and original way. Some of my influences would be the poets -- Dylan Thomas, e. e. cummings, [Charles] Bukowski and Walt Whitman to name a few.

Some of the writer's I've enjoyed would be [John] Steinbeck, [Ernest] Hemmingway, [Chuck] Palahniuk and Dashiell Hammett. I think all of these folks have influenced my writing to degrees.

Who is your target audience?

This is an interesting question, as I have two answers to it. I started out writing literary fiction and wrote stories that I wanted to tell. I had no real audience in mind. These stories were character-driven. Based on characters that came to me and wrestled with me like a monkey on my back. I had to tell their tales without much thought to who would read them. But if I was pressed I'd say my stories focus on the theme of the triumph of the human spirit under duress. I write about the hopeful and optimistic potential of humanity. Although my stories are infused with suffering. I guess my audience would be those seeking more understanding of the human condition, and what it means to live this human existence.

On the other hand, I have started to write hard boiled detective novels too. My audience there is certainly for detective fiction fans. Especially those who are more interested in character than tricky story development.

You mentioned a number of authors who influenced you most. In what ways did they influence you?

The poets, as mentioned above, influenced me not only in their wonderfully fresh and innovative imagery but also in their understanding and compassionate take on life. I think, that is, the most influencing flavour is the writer's understanding and ability to relate, through his characters, the struggles of what it means to be human.

I love to be entertained too. And for me being entertained is enjoying the writing and the characters. The style the author has. These, too me are more important than tricky plots or clever red herrings.

With Hammett, he infused in me an abiding love of the hard boiled detective genre, escalating to the level of literary fiction, in my opinion. Also, I have yet to find many others who can write dialogue as forcefully and ironically as he does.

A couple of others I should mention are Nadine Gordimer, J. M. Coetzee and Alan Paton. All three being South African writers and their styles and empathy and my affinity for them as a fellow South African expat draw me into their works. A fourth South African writer deserves separate mention. K. Sello Duiker, a bright flame extinguished too soon showed great promise and is a sad loss to the global literary scene.

What are your main concerns as a writer?

My main concerns as a writer are what I would hope concern any caring and compassionate creative person. I am deeply concerned with the human condition. Especially the inequities and inequalities rampant even to this day within society. These affect me deeply and are what flavour most of my writing.

My goal in writing is one of uplifting the human spirit to greater heights, if that is possible, through writing -- which I hope and believe it is. I deal with my concerns through my artistic endeavours. Be they art, poetry or prose.

The concerns for my fellow man drive me in the pursuit of more generosity, more compassion and more equality as themes in my novels.

How have your personal experiences influenced your writing?

Well, as a first generation, white South African I have been affronted by the glaring disparities forced upon my countrymen. And both white South Africans as well as black South Africans were, I believe fractured by this disjoining. And to this day it creates difficulties that South Africa is confronted with and struggling to fix.

For me, even now living in Canada, I rage daily against these unacceptable disparities and they continue. I find solace in this sad state through the struggles my characters go through in their day-to-day lives.

Perhaps writers are mirrors to which society can see its faults and hopefully remove them.

What are the biggest challenges that you face?

On a professional level, the biggest challenges faced are trying to find publishers and agents. The road at times is long and the incline terribly steep. This is likely the biggest challenge to most emerging writers.

On the personal level, it is finding the time and energy to continually stay focused on a daily basis. Especially when there are multiple distractions and expectations attached to me. My family and employment income are challenges that continually need to be juggled in order to find the motivation and time to write.

Do you write everyday?

When I have a book on the go I do write every day except for weekends. But if I'm in the groove I'll write then too. I just sit down with my laptop to write and I review the previous day's writing and make very brief edits. I'm just looking for spelling and grammar mostly. Doing this review gets me into the character and it is easy to start up again.

Once I've done that I just start writing away on my laptop with the goal of 1,000 words. I use words rather than time as I occasionally will drift off. So some days it may take me an hour and others it might take two. I will write at least 1,000 words and I find I like to stop when I'm really into the story and things are going along smoothly. It is then easier the next day to pick up again if I've left off when I would have liked to continue on.

How many books have you written so far?

I have written three so far. The first Black Dog Bleeding is self-published through lulu.com. I published it in 2008.

As mentioned above, Black Dog Bleeding is a fictitious account of what I imagined the life of Stephen Biko might have been like. It follows my protagonist (Steven Bankulu), same initials on purpose, as he deals with immense personal loss but yet even in the midst of all of this finds a way to fight for the justice of all South Africans. Even though he ends up in jail on trumped up charges of treason. The novel is set in the 70's and 80's in South Africa.

Livid Blue is my second novel. It is not yet published though I continue to seek publishers and representations. It is a novel that follows two protagonists. The first is Janko who is dying from complications related to AIDS. The second is Michael, the psychiatrist who spends many sessions with Janko in order for him to come to terms with his difficult childhood in order to prepare for a peaceful death.

Janko carries a lot of anger and resentment having been abandoned by his mother and not knowing who his father is.

The novel explores different types of relationships and the validity of them. Why are blood relations seen as so strong when in fact they are often the weakest and most antagonistic? These are the kind of questions the novel deals with.

First Feature is a hard-boiled detective novel and has also not been published. Anthony Carrick is the main protagonist who is an ex-LAPD homicide detective now working on his own. He has been hired to find out who killed a high-powered Holllywood producer.

All is not as it seems in pristine Beverly Hills. And Anthony's employer (the production company) are eager to find out any skeletons before the mass media have a chance to feed on them. This novel follows Anthony through drug-adled Echo Park, a hippie vegetarian restaurant with the coroner and a fashionable gay bar all for the sake of solving a murder.

An interesting tidbit about this novel is that Anthony is named after my father and Carrick in Ireland where my ancestry is from.

What is your latest book about?

I'll talk about my fourth book, Red Reign, which I am in the process of writing. It will likely take me about a year for the first draft. Six months, if I could focus on it full time. And perhaps another six months to do all the edits where I feel it is well-dressed and presentable to the public. And the public in this case being agents and publishers.

I would likely choose a publisher based on a number of factors. Most often how well I get along with their representative I am dealing with. Oftentimes money will also be a factor as well as some of the other authors they publish too.

Which are the most difficult aspects of the work you put into your books?

The most difficult aspects of my books for me is the researching. I usually start a novel with a character and they will present their story to me and I head off under the bunker and start writing.

I research as I find it necessary to do so. But the major drawback of this is the break of continuity and rhythm that occurs when this happens. I deal with this by stubbornly sticking to only the research I need to do and ignoring any drifting or extraneous research that might catch my eye.

What do you enjoy most?

I enjoy really getting into the story of my characters. I enjoy the times when the writing flows and time stand still. It is at times like this when the character's really take on a life of their own and it is as if I am getting to know real people. When this happens it is magic. And I'm at the top of my game.

What sets Red Reign apart from other things you've written?

I'm getting better at writing all the time. My writing feels more fluid and the character more palpable.

What sets this book apart is also the fact that it takes place under more current political conditions. It deals with terrorism and corporate greed.

It [is similar to the others in that it] deals with the similar themes that infuse all my writing. That is human suffering and indifference and lack of compassion. But also the overcoming of these things to a spiritual salvation if you will.

After Red Reign, what will you work on next?

I will return to my hard boiled detective novel. It will be called Second Fiddle and will have intrigue, death, perhaps some romance and, of course, greed and fear.

What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?

Just to be able to keep going under difficult circumstances. To keep it up after hundreds of rejections and many personal difficulties and changes in personal environments. To keep going at it while so many things rail against me. To not go gently into that good night as Dylan Thomas would say. And in the end... frankly, I'm just a stubborn bugger.

Possibly Related Books:

,,

Related Interview:
[Interview] Jennifer Armstrong, author of 'Minus the Morning', Conversations with Writers, September 27, 2009

[Interview] Mark Kaplan

Novelist, school teacher and screenwriter, Mark Adam Kaplan was born in Staten Island, NY. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a Masters of Fine Arts from the American Film Institute’s Center for Film and Television Studies.

He has worked as an Associate Editor and then as a public school teacher in New York City before relocating to Hollywood, CA.

His film credits include, A Time to Remember (Tai Seng, 1998) and Echoes of the East: Tibet, 1997.

His writing includes book and music reviews which have appeared in magazines that include Rapport Magazine in Los Angeles; “Date with the Chairman”, a short story which was published in the anthology, Wicked: Sexy Tales of Legendary Lovers (Cleis Press, 2005); and, A Thousand Beauties (BeWrite Books, 2009), his first novel.

In this interview, Mark Kaplan talks about his concerns as a writer:

When did you start writing?

I’ve always written, although I think I made a formal decision to give writing more importance when I was in college. I was directing plays and found myself inspired to speak my mind that way. Several of my own plays were produced in New York and Los Angeles, although nothing took off.

How would you describe your writing?

I do many different kinds of writing at the moment.

I write articles about teaching and education, prose, and screenplays. I find it difficult to stick to one genre (or media for that matter). Some stories are made for the screen, I believe, and some require deeper insight into a character’s thought process. There is room for crossover, of course. But I believe that truly interesting works in one genre do not translate easily into another.

For example, I really do not care what goes on inside of John MacLane’s mind, but I love watching the Die Hard films. On the other hand, I found Snow Falling on Cedars quite moving as a novel and unwatchable as a film. There are exceptions, of course. But I believe the rule generally holds.

I am reminded of an interview I read with Milan Kundera. After having The Unbearable Lightness of Being made into a film he swore that he would never write another novel that could be adapted. After reading his Immortality, I understand what he means.

Who is your target audience?

I do not write with a single target audience in mind. Perhaps that is what impedes my greater success.

Some of my screenplays are written for families, others for young adults. A Thousand Beauties was written without a target audience in mind, but I have found great interest among adults, middle-aged and above. Naturally, the audience is not confined to this age group, but when discussing the book with them, I have seen genuine surprise and interest once I disclose the nature of the story. It is certainly too adult for teenagers.

Who influenced you most?

My mother wrote stories which she read to us as we grew up, and I loved hearing them. She pursued her writing throughout my life and that taught me to keep going regardless of how my work was received.

My father, on the other hand, is not a writer, but always offered his honest opinion, which was sometimes very painful for me to hear. He did, however, keep my feet on the ground and offered me a more pragmatic outlook on life.

I began writing A Thousand Beauties after the death of my paternal grandmother who succumbed to pancreatic cancer. My maternal grandmother died shortly thereafter. I have been fortunate to lose few loved ones during my lifetime. Their passing forced me to stop putting off my novel writing and sit down to work.

What are your main concerns as a writer?

I have many concerns as a writer. I want to touch my readers’ hearts, to entertain them, but I also hope to reveal something they may not have considered.

I am most concerned by what appears to be the approaching disappearance of the casual reader. Computer games and the internet have provided the next generation with such a wealth of hands on, interactive amusement, that I fear the loss of a public that reads books for pleasure.

Young people are reinventing the language with text messages, and their growing need for immediate gratification, (which was a punch line twenty years ago) does not bode well for entertainment that delays satisfaction for two- or three-hundred pages. J. K. Rowlings’ books, and the runaway success of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series are encouraging signs. But I fear the tide is turning away from a novel reading public.

How are you dealing with these concerns?

I have seen some books that have generated interest among our disenfranchised young people. Townsend Press puts out The Bluford Series, a number of books set at the same inner-city high school. I have seen kids who have never finished reading a book devour these one after the other. They deal with what used to be adult themes, but are more and more teen issues. The prose itself is accessible, and writers like Paul Langan and Anne Schraff have proven there is still hope.

I am now working on my own young adult novel that deals with teen issues, Dangerous, in the hopes that it has a similar effect on our young people.

Dangerous will be about Leon Mendoza, a young kid coming of age in East Los Angeles who faces the challenges that come with the territory. He’s been arrested for dealing and accused by his homies of ratting them out. Caught between the courts and the streets, Leon fights to survive and escape from the life that fate seems set for him.

What are the main challenges that you face?

For years I tried to write for financial success, with no success. When I started writing, I was all about the creative energy and artistic inspiration that drives most artists. Then suddenly I was 30 years old, and my future livelihood was in question. I turned to screenwriting, hoping to crack into the Business and achieve the financial success that had eluded me. To that end, I came up with “commercial” stories. I honed my craft until the writing was top-notch. But what had suffered were my ideas. I spent nearly a decade working on ideas that were not truly inspired due to my misconceptions about what I thought Hollywood wanted.

I still love much of the work that I did at the time. But none of it was original enough to separate me from the pack. I worked with countless partners on countless projects, none of which have taken off.

A Thousand Beauties was written for nobody’s sake but my own. It is, by far, the best work I have done.

What sets it apart from other things you have written?

A Thousand Beauties is different from anything else I have written not only because of its form, but because of the intimacy with the characters the form allows.

Most of my writing for the past decade has been in screenplay format, where the focus is on meaningful actions. A Thousand Beauties allowed me access to the character’s thoughts and feelings as well as their actions.

This is also the one project that I have spent the longest time developing. The growth from its inception until its present form has taken seven years, far longer than any other project in my repertoire.

It is similar to other things that I have written because I tend to embrace the darker passions, and this work is full of them.

Do you write everyday?

Unfortunately I do not have the time to write everyday. As the father and primary caretaker of two young daughters, a public school teacher and a husband, the demands on my time are extreme.

Whenever I find myself with some free time (which is rarely) I sit at the computer and try to move through whatever I am currently working on (right now, Dangerous has this questionable honor). I usually finish writing sometime after 1:00am, and have to leave for work by 6:00am.

How many books have you written so far?

A Thousand Beauties (Bewrite Books, 2009) is my first full-length book, although I have had short stories published, am an internationally produced screenwriter and of course, have essays on the Internet.

What would you say the novel is about?

A Thousand Beauties is about Rupert Ruskin, a successful but unpopular man who has isolated himself from the world to chase his family’s elusive vision of enlightenment. He believes if he can see a thousand beautiful things in one day he was achieve the perspective of angels and spend the rest of his days in bliss. But his vision-quest is interrupted when his ex-wife, Elaine, bursts back into his life with the news of her cancer. Ruskin figures that if he can help Elaine find a thousand beauties, then perhaps her last days won’t be completely miserable.

I wrote the first draft of A Thousand Beauties in about eight months back in 2002. It sat on the shelf for a while, and I wrote several page one rewrites, cutting out over 150 pages from the original length.

How did you find a publisher for the book?

I sent out submission packets, but they met with little success until I sent it to BeWrite Books, where the editor, Neil Marr responded to one. He requested the full ms, and, after reading it, rejected it. Luckily for me, his rejection came with copious notes on the text. I reviewed his notes and found them clear professional.

I wrote back to ask if he would look at the text again after I worked on it more. Fortunately, he was happy to do, since he loved the premise so much. This rewrite took about five months.

True to his word, Neil reread the ms. This time he accepted it, and we began the process of beating the text down to its shiny core. We worked for several months on the book. Without his insight, honesty, and openness, A Thousand Beauties would not be as good as it is. I was very lucky to find an Editor who actually works as a editor. It was a terrific collaboration and I am grateful for the experience. This was the biggest advantage this publisher offered.

Did the arrangement present any disadvantages?

The disadvantages are that BeWrite is a small European publisher, and I’m in the United States. Also, the company relies on Print-on-Demand technology, which means they do not print a large run and blast sales in the first few weeks. (This is not Publish-on-Demand, or self-publishing. It is an entirely different animal.) Also, they offered no advance against royalties, and due to the nature of their publishing process, the paperbacks are a bit pricey. However, they also offer an e-Book, which positions them well for the future, and is good news to all Kindle users.

The challenges posed by this kind of publishing primarily involve accepting and evaluating their criticism of the work, being open to others’ ideas regarding design of the book and cover, and working collaboratively on a project conceived and executed (until this point) on my own.

Also, without the clout carried by a big house, it is more difficult to obtain reviews by recognizable figures or papers. This is a primary focus of my attention right now.

I am also involved with the promotion of the book far more than I would be should the book have been put out by one of the big publishing houses. Fortunately, the people at BeWrite have a wealth of knowledge about ways to get the word out. It’s a great learning experience for me and a lot of fun.

What did you enjoy most about the whole process?

The most enjoyable part of the process so far has been working with the Editor. I had been looking for feedback such as he provided for years, and had even paid for it at one point. For all of that, no one gave me the specific kind of notes that he did, which I found both useful and refreshing.

Part of the reason why it was so pleasurable is the manner in which the notes came. All were handled with meticulous attention to tone and came in the form of suggestions – which I was free to either accept or reject. This courtesy and professionalism is something I have rarely encountered.

What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?

A Thousand Beauties is definitely my most significant achievement as a writer. Although I am proud of my film work, the quality of this novel, and the difficulty of the work in getting it here have made its release the proudest moment of my professional career.

How did you get there?

It all comes down to hard work, being open to criticism (but not a slave to it), and the luck of finding an editor who shared my vision, and was willing to nurture a novice writer to make it a reality.

Possibly related books:

,,

[Interview] Petina Gappah

Zimbabwean lawyer and author Petina Gappah has been writing from an early age.

Some of her work has been published in anthologies that include Laughing Now (Weaver Press, 2008), Women Writing Zimbabwe (Weaver Press, 2008) and One World: A global anthology of short stories (New Internationalist, 2009) .

Her debut collection of short stories, An Elegy for Easterly (Faber and Faber, April 2009) has been described as "a stunning portrait of a country in chaotic meltdown".

In this email interview, Petina Gappah talks about her concerns as a writer.

When did you start writing?

Like most writers, I started writing as a child.

I was not, however, as precocious as some that I have read about who started writing at age 5 or 3 or even before they were born. I started writing at about 10 or 11, and my first published anything was a story in the St. Dominic’s Secondary School magazine when I was 14.

I started writing seriously in May 2006. I joined the Zoetrope Virtual Studio, a story I posted there caught the attention of an editor at the online journal Per Contra, I entered some stories in competitions, I did well in one competition, and when I was sufficiently confident, I looked for an agent who looked for a publisher on my behalf.

Becoming a published writer was not so much a decision as it was the consequence of my writing.

How would you describe your writing?

I write literary fiction. There are various kinds of writing within this broad genre, for instance, I recently came across the term hysterical realism, which I thought was a wonderfully apt description for a certain type of contemporary fiction. I will leave it to critics and others to further categorise my writing within literary fiction, but I am disappointed to say it is not hysterical realism.

Which authors influenced you most?

I never really know how to answer the question about influences, so I will say I have enjoyed reading many writers, and have been influenced by any number you can think of in different ways, from David Lodge to Charles Mungoshi, from J. M. Coetzee to Ian McEwan, from Toni Morrison to Paul Auster.

What writers write is as important to me as how writers live, the writers that I am trying to emulate are those who manage to combine writing with a full time, unrelated occupation, writers like John Mortimer who very sadly died recently, and P. D. James.

How have your personal experiences influenced your writing?

Most of what I write is based on something that happened to me, to someone I know, or something I overheard or read.

What are your main concerns as a writer?

My main concern, which is probably not as lofty as this question assumes, is to write every day, to finish whatever I am working on at the time, and to find time and space for the next bit of writing.

As I have a full time job as a lawyer, and I also have a young son, my biggest challenge is to find time to write. The solution I have found is to sleep as little as I possibly can.

Do you write everyday?

I try to write every morning before I go to work, I stop when I have to get my son up and prepare him and myself for school and work.

I work directly on my computer, sometimes transcribing from notebooks. When I revise, I find it easier to do so in longhand.

How many books have you written so far?

I have written one book, An Elegy for Easterly, which is published by Faber in April 2009 in the U. K. and Commonwealth and June 2009 in the United States.

It will also be published in France, Finland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.

Easterly is a short story collection about what it has meant to be a Zimbabwean in recent times, it attempts to particularize through the stories of ordinary people what it has meant, on a day-to-day basis, to be part of a crisis that has gripped the attention of the world.

How long did it take you to write the book? And, how did you find a publisher for it?

I wrote the stories over a period of about one and a half years. They were written at different times, I had no idea I was writing a book, I was busy working on my novel. Then my wonderful agent Clare sent out the stories together with some chapters of the novel, Lee Brackstone and Mitzi Angel, two editors at Faber absolutely loved them, so the decision was made to go with them before the novel.

Why Faber? When they made the offer, I had no hesitation. In fact, I felt more than a little dizzy at the prospect of being a Faber author: Faber is just about the last of the great independent literary houses.

I received a very warm welcome from Stephen Page, Faber’s publisher, and the whole team has just been absolutely fantastic. The most wonderful thing about being published by Faber has been working with my two editors who are both committed, gifted and brilliant. If my stories hummed before, they sing operatic arias now.

The only disadvantage is that Faber is the house of T. S. Eliot and William Golding, of Ted Hughes and Ezra Pound, of Paul Auster and Orhan Pamuk. To paraphrase Stephen Page, the weight of the ghosts of Faber’s past is more than a little daunting. I can only hope that I will not disappoint.

What sets An Elegy for Easterly apart from other things you've written?

This is the first book that I have published, so unlike the other “novels” and book ideas in my head, notebooks or computer, it is word made solid, corporeal, concrete.

What will the next one be about?

My next book is called The Book of Memory. If all goes well, it will be published in August 2010. It is set in Salisbury/Harare between 1960 and 2000.

That is as much as I will say as I do not want to jinx it by waxing lyrical prematurely. The last novel I talked about enthusiastically died from all the exposure.

Who is your target audience?

I do not have a target audience. My work is for anyone who enjoys reading.

What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?

I would say it is being published by Faber. Oh, and being read, and approved, by J. M. Coetzee. That is a huge achievement.

Related resources:

• Author's website
• Author's blog
• Author's page, Faber & Faber
• Author's page, Macmillan Books
  

Get your copy of An Elegy for Easterly at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

Possibly related books:

,,

Related article:

[Interview] Zvisinei Sandi, Conversations with Writers, March 15, 2009

[Interview] Rachel Trezise

Rachel Trezise was born in the Rhondda Valley in south Wales in 1978.

She studied Journalism and English at Glamorgan University, and, Geography and History at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick.

Her books have won two major awards and have been translated into Italian and Danish. Her autobigraphical novel, In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl (Parthian, 2000) won a place on the Orange Futures List in 2002. And her collection of short stories, Fresh Apples (Parthian Books, 2006) won the 2006 EDS Dylan Thomas Prize.

Trezise is also the author of a documentary about Welsh rock music, Dial M for Merthyr (Parthian, 2007), and a second novel, Sixteen Shades of Crazy, which is due out from HarperCollins in 2010.

In this interview, Rachel Trezise talks about her writing:

When did you start writing?

I started writing at the age of sixteen. I thought I wanted to be a music journalist so I started a fanzine called Smack Rupunzel, interviewing and writing about local bands. Soon afterwards, I started writing what became my first novel, In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl, an autobiographical account of a girl growing up poverty stricken and sexually abused in the south Wales valleys.

One day a friend of mine gave me an advertisement he’d found in a local paper from an independent publisher looking for submissions for a Welsh short story anthology. By then I was studying journalism and doing creative writing as a minor so I had a short story set in Wales. It was accepted and I met the publishing editor at the launch of the book. He asked me if I’d written anything else and I sent him the novel, not expecting much because it had already been rejected by most of the major London publishing houses. A week later he told me he wanted to publish it. It came out a few months before I graduated from university.

How would you describe your writing?

It’s what’s generally called ‘literary fiction.’ I like to call it life with the names changed. That’s how people who don’t read literary fiction understand it, but there’s more to it than that obviously.

Who is your target audience?

I’ve never had a target audience. I always write for myself, and if at the end of a piece of work, I enjoy it, I just hope others will too. I’ve never tried to write for a specific age or class and I suspect that puts a lot of pressure on writers.

Actually, I did write an Afternoon Play recently for [BBC] Radio 4. It was about teenage pregnancy and I found writing dialogue a huge challenge because I wasn’t allowed to use ‘bad language.’ But teenagers do use ‘bad language,’ and it seemed unrealistic to leave it out. I worked my way around it eventually but it took up a lot of time.

Which authors influenced you most?

My favourite authors are Toni Morrison and Maya Angelou, two African American women. I studied both for English Literature, A-Level, a time when I was seriously considering writing myself, and discovering the magic of other people’s literature. Some of my own experiences were similar to that of their characters and I identified with the themes of repression in their work.

More recently I’ve discovered Annie Proulx, another American woman who writes about rural areas and the lonely, downtrodden people who inhabit them, and her themes are also very close to the themes I explore.

How have your personal experiences influenced your writing?

My first novel was autobiographical so my personal experiences influenced that book in a very obvious way.

My second book, a collection of short stories, is set in the Rhondda Valley where I grew up and still live, and the characters are amalgamations of the people I grew up with and the everyday struggles they faced -- unemployment, drugs, poverty, the social issues of the day. The stories were fiction though; scenarios I’d heard about second hand or read about in newspapers.

To write about something well, you have to care about the subject, and usually you care about it because it’s happened to you or someone very close to you.

What are your main concerns as a writer?

My main objective as a writer is to tell a social commentary.

I think people and place are tantamount to one another, and my concern is to tell a truth. Not necessarily a true story but a true human condition, to explain what being a human being is about. If you can do that well, then I think your work transcends nationality, like that of Toni Morrison or Annie Proulx.

I think a lot of social issues are brushed under the carpet by the media, and it’s important to document them as an artist.

What are the biggest challenges that you face?

The biggest challenge I have at the moment is writing a completely fictional novel.

Those short stories I just mentioned were my fictional baby steps, as it were. For the first time ever, I’ve had to plot a fictional story over 200 pages. I’ve been working on it on and off for five years and am nearing the end now. I had to plan it in a very detailed way, making sure I left no room to lose my way.

It’s also a technically difficult piece of work because it’s told by three women who are very similar in age and background. It’s set in the south Wales valleys though, an area I’m very familiar with and my next challenge will be to set a novel in another country. I’ve spent quite a bit of time in America and I’m going to set my next book there which will be a terrific change.

Do you write everyday?

I write Monday to Friday and over the weekend if there’s a deadline approaching or I’m nearing the end of a project.

I start by re-reading and editing the previous day's work. After that I’m ready to proceed. I work to a strict word length, a 1,000 words a day and push to always hit it, even if what I’m writing isn’t of any quality. I can edit it later.

What is your latest book about?

The book I’m working on, and which I described briefly earlier, is about an English stranger who moves into a very small, close-knit south Wales village. He’s a drug-dealer who seduces three of the local women.

The story is about obsessive love, poverty and provincial attitudes to nationality, race and modern life. The three female characters have been effected at some time or another by different forms of abuse and so the story is also about how experiences of traumatic childhoods make people vulnerable in some ways but stronger in others.

For the first time, I’ve chosen a big London publisher. There are pros and cons to both independent and large publishing companies and my decision for going with a larger one this time is the marketing and distribution power a large house has. I want to reach as large and varied an audience as possible.

What will your next book be about?

I’ve got two new projects in mind. The first is a novel about a girl who’s sold into prostitution by her poverty stricken mother and who suffers throughout her twenties and thirties but eventually becomes a high class call girl and then in the autumn of her life finds love with an Orthodox Jewish man who leaves his religious fold to marry her. A rags to riches story set in West Virginia and Brooklyn, New York.

The other project is also loosely based around the theme of prostitution, a collection of short stories that’s half written at the moment. I’m not sure which’ll be first.

What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?

In my relatively short time as a published writer -- it’s coming up to the 10 year anniversary, I’ve been lucky enough to win two literary prizes, The Orange Futures Prize for In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl and the Dylan Thomas Prize for Fresh Apples.

The second came with a £60,000 cheque and that’s enabled me to be able to write for the past two years without any financial worries, a rare situation for an author, so obviously that’s been a significant achievement and a great reward for all the time and energy I put into my work beforehand but I’m always thrilled when I see a manuscript turn into a book with a proper cover and blurb, perhaps even more so when it happens to be in a different language.

My first hard back book came out in Denmark last year, Ned i akvariet og op igen, a translation of In and Out of the Goldfish Bowl, and Fresh Apples comes out in Italy next year.

More on OhmyNews International.

Possibly related books:

,,

[Interview] C. M. Barons

C. M. Barons was born in Rochester, New York.

He studied journalism at SUNY New Paltz and graduated with a BA in Communication Arts.

An extract from his first novel, In the Midst Of (New Age World Publishing, 2008) is available on the Leicester Review of Books.

When did you start writing?

I wrote my first short story while in grade school. It wasn't until high school -- by way of two especially inspiring educators that I began to write on a regular basis. In my senior year I became active with the student newspaper, initially as photographer, however my interest quickly shifted to writing.

I continued my interest in journalism through college, majoring in Communication Arts. After graduation I was employed as sports editor for a small-city newspaper.

I think the newspaper experience fueled my eagerness to be in print. I don't see it as ego-gratification; it's a matter of completeness. In the same sense as music requires performance -- stories need to be told.

What did you do to achieve this end?

Writing my novel was a four-year project. Once it was complete, I sampled a handful of trusted readers who assured me that my manuscript was worthy of publication. At that point I sought publishers that accepted unsolicited manuscripts. Three publishers were afforded a look at it. The third publisher agreed to publish.

Primarily -- I took my 520 page first draft and mercilessly excised every unnecessary word. The final draft weighed in at 359 pages. One, essential skill-set I possess comes from having been an editor. Being able to distance oneself from one's writing and accede to the reader's perspective is invaluable. To the best of my knowledge the publisher's editor altered two sentences in my manuscript.

How would you describe your writing?

I categorize my writing as "literary fiction". My disposition toward imaginative plot elements and devices that interrupt chronology and employ motifs both mythical and literary seem to confirm my placement.

Who is your target audience?

I don't know as I differentiate my audience. I recognize that my novel is not going to appeal to everyone. On the same note, I refuse to condescend to readers in general. I do not talk down to children, and I certainly wouldn't talk down to an adult.

One reader commented that they kept a dictionary on-hand when they read my work. It wasn't a criticism, and the vocabulary did not impede finishing the book. I do not aim to inflate my writing with "big words" nor do I intend to restrict myself to a sixth grade vocabulary.

Who influenced you most?

Richard Brautigan is undoubtedly my greatest influence. His ability to encapsulate a complex idea in a simple manner -- especially his tendency to do so in a surprising manner never fails to impress me.

Brautigan was a poet, story-teller and novelist. He moved transparently between mediums because he could transform a mundane event into a literary event without appearing the charlatan.

How have your personal experiences influenced your writing?

I am a very tolerant individual. I revel in meeting new people who confirm that variety is indeed the spice of life. That lends a certain latitude to my writing -- I can like my heroes and demons, alike.

My ability to embrace human strength and weakness abets my ability to project multidimensional characters that stand above the stereotyped good-guy/bad-guy shallowness.

Experience also feeds my imagination and lends the potential for a richness in painting my storyboards.

What are your main concerns as a writer?

My three concerns are honest characters, true-voice dialogue and challenging scenarios.

I think the easiest part of writing is theme development. The labor begins as characters become animated. The writer must not only keep the characters vital, distinct and maturing -- they must be challenged and in turn challenge the reader while exemplifying the theme. A tricky business that I am still perfecting.

What are the biggest challenges that you face?

I think the greatest challenge is keeping "me" out of my stories. I have no desire to proselytize and my books are not autobiographical.

Sometimes I simply manufacture a character that is diametrically opposite of myself. Most often I maintain a pure personality for my characters. In my mind I can see them, recognize their voices and predict their behavior based on "their" values -- not "my" values.

Do you write everyday?

I write everyday. It is often not a manuscript. I contribute to numerous blogs, websites and letters columns, etc.

How many books have you written so far?

Currently I have one title in print: In the Midst Of (New Age World Publishing, 2008).

What is the book about?

In the Midst Of is a coming of age piece. It is written in retrospective: a middle-aged man focusing on a lost friend from his college days.

The setting is the 1970s. The themes involve friendship, bonding, balance in lopsided relationships. The book features numerous literary, musical and cultural allusions.

Which aspects of the work did you find most difficult?

The difficulty was presenting the narrator, Brian -- his backward glance is dominated by a more powerful personality, Hollis.

Hollis is influential, especially upon Brian who is impressionable.

Since Hollis only exists in the past, it is Brian who must grow from the experience of revisiting the past. Modifying his feelings vis-a-vis Hollis requires modulation of devotion that corrodes with time and scrutiny.

How did you deal with this?

It was particularly difficult because not all of the novel is chronologically presented. Individual scenes required a sophisticated timing that I tinkered with throughout.

Which aspects did you enjoy most?

Writing dialogue did not come easily to me. Once I could "hear" my characters voices, that all changed. I had to tell some of them to shut up!

What sets the book apart from other things you've written?

It is the largest, fictional piece I've written.

In what way is it similar?

It reflects the same leanness that is my signature.

What will your next book be about?

I'm toying with a thriller.

What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?

Overcoming the inertia -- the writer's hymen is an idea that one hasn't the ____ (fill in the blank) to complete a lengthy work. Once that myth is dispensed with, it's like a sailor with only red skies at night.

This article has also been featured on OhmyNews International.

Possibly related books:

,,

[Interview] Kerala Goodkin

Kerala Goodkin holds a B.A. in Hispanic Studies from Brown University.

In 2001, she co-founded the nonprofit Glimpse Foundation and currently serves as editor-in-chief. She has traveled extensively and lived in Bolivia for six months, where she worked as a reporter for The Bolivian Times.

In addition to her work with The Glimpse Foundation, Kerala has been a contributing editor to National Geographic Traveller On Campus and currently serves as translator and public relations coordinator for the Committee of Immigrants in Action. She recently won first place in the Elixir Inaugural Fiction Contest (2004) for her first novel, How Things Break, which was subsequently published by Elixir Press in June of this year.

Kerala Goodkin spoke about her work with The Glimpse Foundation, her own writing, and her plans for the future.

What is The Glimpse Foundation?

The mission of Glimpse is to foster cross-cultural understanding, particularly between the United States and the rest of the world, by providing platforms for young adults to share their experiences living abroad. We run a website and a print magazine, Glimpse Quarterly.

In the United States, our main means of knowing about the rest of the world is through international news - where we hear mostly about death tolls and disasters, and travel magazines - where we hear about great restaurants and tourist hotspots. But few platforms give us a glimpse into the daily lives of people in other countries, hence the name.

At Glimpse, we believe that sharing these daily realities is an effective way to make Americans care about the rest of the world. It makes the world personal. That’s where I think the real power of writing lies: making things personal. This is where hatred, judgment, and prejudice begin to break down.

When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

Before I could write myself, I used to dictate stories to my father, who would type them up for me on our family typewriter. When I was six years old, I told my parents that when I grew up, I either wanted to be a writer or "one of those people who pushes the buttons on cash registers."

When I started working in the food service industry at age 17, cash register buttons quickly lost their magical appeal. I bartend now, so I guess I'm still pushing cash register buttons, but I aim to make writing my long-term career.

As a writer, what would you say are your main concerns?

Mainly, I just like telling stories. I think stories are one of the most effective ways to bridge divides and truly communicate with people. I don't have any illusions about changing the world, but I really hope that through my writing, I can at least help broaden my readers' perspectives on the world.

Who would you say has influenced you the most?

My parents. They have always encouraged my writing and set examples for me with their own voracious appetite for books.

How have your personal experiences influenced the direction of your writing?

Though my parents have inspired me in countless ways, I always joked with them that they gave me the worst thing a writer could have: a happy childhood. But what fascinates me about writing is that stories can arise from the most mundane experiences.

I don't foresee ever writing epic novels. I like to focus on the subtler nuances of human character, experience, and relationships. I have always been the type of person who prefers listening to talking. I enjoy taking public transportation and sitting in public places just to watch people and imagine what kinds of stories they are carrying around.

What would you say are the biggest challenges that you face as a writer?

Well, my primary concern is that people don't read much anymore. Novels require time and patience, and in our culture of instant gratification, more and more people prefer TV, Internet browsing, and video games to reading.

Growing up, I was only allowed to watch a half-hour of TV a week, and it's one of the best things my parents ever did for me. I prefer curling up with a book almost any day of the week. But I would say the majority of my friends don't incorporate reading into their daily lives.

How do you deal with these?

I'm on a personal mission to get people reading again. But it's easier said than done. If you didn't read for pleasure growing up, it's hard to start now. People these days are so used to controlling their modes of entertainment with the click of a button. I think they find the task of reading an entire book from start to finish almost daunting.

What is How Things Break about?

How Things Break is about that strange time in our lives when we suddenly find ourselves in adulthood and don't quite know what to do with ourselves. Or what some people call a quarter-life crisis.

The book is set in northern Michigan, where my grandparents live. The main character, Nat, is caught between two conflicting desires: to settle down and to escape. As the world around her begins to crumble, mimicking the slow deterioration of the house she illegally occupies, she explores the boundaries of her relationships, her sexuality, and the small town she lives in.

The cast of characters includes a handicapped father who lost both his legs when his wife backed a Buick into him; an eccentric grandmother who steals blueberries; a neighbor whose life mission is to get every hole in one on the town's mini-golf course; a 400-pound blind mother; a brother obsessed with rock-collecting; and a moody boyfriend who fishes using marshmallows for bait.

How long did it take you to write the novel?

Part of the novel was my thesis in college. I was determined not to give up on it - mainly because I had become somewhat attached to the eccentric cast of characters and wanted to see where they would end up.

The problem was, after graduating, I barely had any time. I was trying to get my start-up nonprofit off the ground and was also bartending a few nights a week to make rent. But on the three or four evenings a week that I had free, I made myself sit down for an hour and write.

I had a first draft done within a year of graduating and within the next six months, after passing the novel around to various old college professors and friends and family, I had what I could call a final draft.

Which aspects of the work did you find most difficult?

One aspect I rarely hear novelists talk about is the simple task of keeping track of what you've written! Writing, of course, is much slower than reading, and you simply forget the details you incorporated into previous chapters.

When I read through the first draft, I found I was constantly contradicting myself. First, my narrator had blue eyes, then hazel, then brown, etc.!

Probably the hardest thing for me was being patient and maintaining faith that the novel would come together in the end.

I don't believe in outlines. If I try to conform fiction to an outline, I find it comes across as very forced. I like the element of discovery involved in just letting the novel take its course. But then of course the danger is that you end up with a totally haphazard story.

Which did you enjoy most?

I loved my characters! I really felt a profound sense of loss when I finished the first draft. Especially the main character, Nat — she is someone I would like to meet some day.

How did the novel get published?

Once I had a final draft, I didn't really know what to do with it. One of my old professors advised me to submit it to as many novel contests as I could find. She thought I had a good chance of winning one, and said it would be an easy way to break into the publishing world. So I sent it off to about 25 contests.

Months later, I got a call from Elixir Press telling me I had won the Elixir Press Inaugural Fiction Award. The timing was pretty funny, actually. I was in between bartending jobs, and funds were tight at my nonprofit: my coworker and I hadn't been able to pay ourselves for months. I was flat broke. I was preparing to ask my landlord for an extension on rent, and I got this call from Elixir Press. The prize was $3,000 and publication.

I had to ask them if there was any way I could get the cash prize before the first of the next month! But winning was worth so much more than the money, of course. For years and years, I had said I wanted to be a professional writer, and now it was finally happening.

What sets the novel apart from the other things you've written?

Well, it was my first crack at a novel, unless you want to count a 40-page story I wrote in fifth grade called "The Babysitter of Doom." Actually, I co-wrote that with my babysitter.

I've written a lot of short stories and lately have gotten into short creative non-fiction pieces, but How Things Break was the first opportunity I had to really take my time with a story and let it evolve naturally. Sometimes the tendency with short pieces is to forge ahead to some kind of pre-determined conclusion. After all, you don't have much time to make your point.

In what way is it similar?

Though I deal with serious issues, I like to approach them in humorous ways that everyone can relate to. One of my pet peeves is writers who take themselves too seriously. Though I do believe in the power of the written word to broaden people's consciousness and effect social change, when all is said and done, I'm just telling a good story. Of course, this doesn't mean writing always has to be funny, but it's important for us as writers to keep our work in perspective and maintain a sense of humour.

Which themes will you be exploring in is your next book?

I'm about a quarter-way through the first draft of my next book, whose tentative title is Diary of Spectacular Roadkill. It takes place in Providence, Rhode Island and draws on my relationship with my boyfriend, which is interracial. The book will raise a lot of questions about the state of race relations in this country, but I don't plan on preaching anything. Again, I just want to tell a good story.

Possibly related books:

,,

Related article:

Kerala Goodkin & Dave Francois, National Geographic Weekend Radio, June 14, 2008.