Saturday March 7, 2009
This interview was done by email and no content has been changed.
1. Congratulations on your new book, Light Boxes. Tell us a little about the process of writing it and how it got published.
SJ: I wrote the book in about four months and it took twice as long to find a publisher. As far as the writing of it, I wrote all these really small sections with different narrators in the town and once I had about 120 of these I started to piece it together. It was an easy book to write in the respect that if I got bored I would just end one section, move onto a different narrator and write something different. Concerning how it got published, I sent out tons of emails and letters to presses. Some were interested, but nobody wanted it. I got lucky with PGP because the publisher was looking to do a short novel and my book just clicked with him. A combination of being somewhat relentless, having a good book, and timing/luck are all important when it comes to finding a publisher I think.
2. When I was reading Light Boxes, it reminded me of a creation myth or a kind of folk tale. Have those types of story telling influenced you and your writing?
SJ: Absolutely. I find myths and folk tales, and even stories-around-the-campfire, allow me to be more loose, playful, and imaginative. Those types of story telling and doing it in new ways I find interesting and refreshing. There's something comforting about it for me.
3. What other writers/artists/musicians have been influences on you and your writing?
SJ: That's a massive question. Writers like Marquez, Calvino, Flaubert, D.H. Lawrence, Anne Sexton, and tons more play a large part. I like looking at art - one of my favorite magazines is NEW AMERICAN PAINTINGS which is always amazing. Music is kind of a tough one for me. I like noise. I like quiet. When I was writing Light Boxes I listened to Radiohead's pyramid song a lot.
4. When did you start writing and why?
SJ: I started writing when I was 16. I just turned 29 a few weeks ago. Why? I really don't know how to answer that. I remember being 16 and stumbling across some Emily Dickinson poems and something kind of clicked. I think this has probably happened with other writers. You read something and it sparks you. "I want to do that." You want to recreate that feeling. Just creating is something I enjoy. The idea that I can do whatever I want in a story or a book and have it grow from nothing is an amazing feeling.
5. Page 98 of Light Boxes, is titled: List of Artists Who Created Fantasy Worlds to Try and Cure Bouts of Sadness. Would you put yourself in that same category?
SJ: I think the publisher wanted me to add my name in there. Or I thought of doing that but decided against it. I'm not really comfortable with calling myself an artist. I'm not sure I am. I guess the answer is yes, to some degree. Part of writing is retreating into a fantasy world because it's safer, happier, you can control it, compared to your reality which is probably kind of boring and full of nonsense. Sadness and depression plays a large part in the book and how we cope with it. It's also a very hopeful book I think. I don't think I'm a sad person but I can be at times, especially in February.
6. I really like how you develop the characters in Light Boxes. You don't necessarily describe them or have them use internal dialogue in the beginning. You describe instead their actions and have them interact with conversations, which leads to a more gradual introduction of the characters over the first 25 pages or so. I especially like the 2 main characters Thaddeus and February. I guess I don't really have a question related to that so what is the next book/project about that you are working on?
SJ: Thanks for mentioning that, about the characters developing in that way. There's a part in the beginning where Thaddeus tips his tea cup so his daughter, who is the bathtub, can see the balloon painted on the bottom. This is after all flight has been taken away. An action like that says more about both characters and their relationship than a whole bunch of dialog and description. My next book is a novella, THE FAILURE SIX, which will be published in January by FUGUE STATE. There's also a chapbook, a long poem, called THE NIGHTMARE FILLED YOU WITH SCARY that will be published in September by CANNIBAL BOOKS. I recently completed a full length poetry manuscript called A CAKE APPEARED that I'm not sure what to do with.
7. Anything else you would like to say?
SJ: I just hope I can keep writing books. I don't want to bore people.
***The Scrambler recommends that you buy Light Boxes here. It is worth it.
