Six degrees of separation meet a literary chain letter: The Next Big Thing interview series allows writers to talk about their latest projects and tag fellow authors to do the same. What is the title of the book? IN THE GRAVE: A Hybrid Tale is a chapbook slated for release on Birds of Lace Press in March 2013. Where did the idea come from for the book? My process is to write with abandon in notebooks and computers strewn about my apartment before revising or quantifying anything. My poetry rarely revolves around specific individuals because it’s more elliptical; however, specific entities started making appearances in my notes and I was keen to explore them further. The characters who eventually take center stage in this chapbook began cropping up and having great exchanges, so it was only natural to see where they would lead me. What genre does your book fall under? This is definitely a hybrid collection falling in between poetry and prose, but leaning towards the former in terms of construction and reliance on language. Three sections comprise the narrative, with text broken up into justified blocks on each page that roughly resemble the shape of graves. What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition? Wow, good question. For Reese, Inés Efron (XXY and The Fish Child) would be phenomenal. Rory Culkin (Twelve and Electrick Children) could produce a suitable emodiment of Ty. And, Minttu Mustakallio (Producing Adults) would serve well as Mica. What is the one sentence synopsis of your book? IN THE GRAVE is a punch in the face, a non-stop journey navigating the innards of humanity through violence and emotional release. How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript? I had been developing the characters for some weeks before launching into the first draft. It became a hybrid narrative after three weeks of work, but the form was revised considerably in the months thereafter. Who or what inspired you to write this book? I find that I’m inspired merely by the process of writing, and in this case, the storyline really told itself and took me along for the ride. Reese and Ty have such a charged and tumultuous dynamic that my task was simply to convey their journey together, at this point in their lives, as accurately as possible. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? The main character, Reese, is not defined in terms of their gender, sex, or sexuality. All these details are left ambiguous and I think that makes for a more realistic read, altering the normative gaze that audiences have grown accustomed to. Is your book self-published or represented by an agency? This chapbook is forthcoming on Birds of Lace Press in March 2013. I will have copies at AWP and I will hopefully present a section at an offsite reading as well. There is a limited hard-copy print run for IN THE GRAVE, but digital e-book copies will be available through Amazon in the near future. If you have any questions, or would like to review this chapbook, I encourage you to contact me. Tagged by: Alyse Knorr (Annotated Glass) Fellow Taggers: Jordan Scott (Funerals & Thrones); Carina Finn (Ganymede: A Myth); More Coming Soon |