We love learning more about our contributors, and an interview seemed like a fun way to hear more about the writers and artists we publish, so we gave them a choice of questions to answer. We hope you also enjoy hearing more about the artists and their works. Read on and check out issue 24 for "A Long Way Down From Heaven" from Desiree Remick.
What was the inspiration for the piece published in this issue?
I’d been working on versions of this story for almost five years, and I don’t remember what inspired it originally, but the current version came about after I read a story written by one of my peers in the creative writing program at Southern Oregon University. Her story had this incredible tone—abstract and melancholy and mysterious—and it struck me as exactly the vibe I needed to complete A Long Way Down From Heaven. I went home after class and rewrote the story practically in one sitting.
Who are some of your favorite writers, and what do you like about them?
There’s too many to cover them all—plus I’m finding new favorites all the time. In fiction, I love Ursula le Guin for her visionary worlds, Barbara Kingsolver for her insight into human nature, Joy Williams for her weird style and dreamy narratives, and Salman Rushdie for his mastery of language and storytelling art. In poetry, the bleak beauty of Rita Dove, the raw power of torrin a. greathouse and sam sax, the inventiveness of Dylan Thomas, and the way Rae Armantrout makes me think so much using so few words. I am also fortunate enough to know many writers whose names are not yet well-known but certainly will be in the future!
What is your #1 advice for other writers?
Don’t censor yourself. I spent a long time holding back because I was worried about what people might think of me. I don’t mean that you should go out of your way to write something shocking or offensive, but if you’re able to express your true self without fear, your writing will be all the better for it.
What turns you off when you see it in a work? What are your creative pet peeves?
My biggest pet peeve (other than the word okay spelled any other way) is what I call “the male fantasy storyline.” It goes like this: a straight, cis male narrator encounters a woman who immediately wants to have sex with him. End of story. There’s no other plot to speak of, and the woman never gets a character beyond “interested in sex.” Please note that I’m all for sexually active female characters, as long as they have personality traits and are not just bodies to serve the male protagonist’s purpose. As the fiction editor of a literary magazine, I’ve read at least a dozen submissions that fall into this category. Please, if you’re going to write a story featuring a woman who jumps into bed with your male main character, at least do something to subvert my expectations! If I find myself saying “they’re going to have sex” the moment she’s introduced to the story, and then they do, and nothing else happens, it’s going in the reject pile.
What is your “white whale”?
I aspire to write something as massive in scope and as high in quality as Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible or Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children. Something that feels truly important from both a literary and a historical perspective. I have a feeling that no matter how many stories and poems I publish, I won’t be satisfied with my career as a writer until I’ve written a novel like that—which could very well be never.