Ask the Author: Nancy Kricorian
Answered Questions (12)
Nancy Kricorian
I'm sorry to say that I don't have much experience using Ancestry.com so I can't tell you. Some years ago I joined the Armenian DNA Project, but I'm not sure whether this would be of help with your research. https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/...
Nancy Kricorian
Henry -- A good way to start might be the Armenian Genealogy group on Facebook. I have seen many people post questions such as this who have been pointed in the right direction by members of the group.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/57334...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/57334...
Nancy Kricorian
Thanks for the note! If you haven't read Zabel Yessayan, you should check out her memoir THE GARDENS OF SILIDHAR. Another wonderful Armenian author from the past is Leon Surmelian. His beautiful I ASK YOU LADIES AND GENTLEMEN can be found on used book sites. A new edition will be forthcoming later this year. A non-Armenian author on an Armenian subject: I LOVE Vasily Grossman's AN ARMENIAN SKETCHBOOK.
Nancy Kricorian
Unfortunately, I won't be there because of another commitment in New York.
Nancy Kricorian
I'm going to answer this one about the book I'm currently writing. When I was working on my third and most recent novel, ALL THE LIGHT THERE WAS, about Armenians in Paris during the Nazi Occupation, I took a research trip to Paris and while there I spent a lot of time with a friend from Beirut and his circle of friends. They were Armenians, children and grandchildren of genocide survivors, who had built a thriving arts community in and around the Armenian "suburb" of Bourj Hammoud in the late 60's and early 70's. When the Civil War hit in 1975, they were all dispersed and exiled again. The idea of Armenians rebuilding their lives and communities after repeated calamities is the inspiration for the three novels I have written so far, and for the fourth of what my editor has called "The Armenian Diaspora Quartet," I'm writing about the Armenians of Bourj Hammoud.
Nancy Kricorian
To be honest, the actual writing is more about discipline than inspiration. I make a daily schedule, and try to stick to it. Sometimes the writing comes easily and well; on other days, it's uncomfortable and I have to ditch everything I did. The important thing is the daily practice.
Nancy Kricorian
Dear Ann,
Thanks for the note. I'm glad that you found resonances from your own family's experience in the novel. Zabelle Chahasbanian is a fictional character, but her story is a composite of my own grandmother's experience blended with episodes from the lives of her friends and women in our church, along with a good dose of novelistic invention. The narrative of the Deportations in "The Tin Cup" is based closely on stories my grandmother and her friend Alice Kharibian told me. Alice was the model for the Arsinee character.
Best,
Nancy
Thanks for the note. I'm glad that you found resonances from your own family's experience in the novel. Zabelle Chahasbanian is a fictional character, but her story is a composite of my own grandmother's experience blended with episodes from the lives of her friends and women in our church, along with a good dose of novelistic invention. The narrative of the Deportations in "The Tin Cup" is based closely on stories my grandmother and her friend Alice Kharibian told me. Alice was the model for the Arsinee character.
Best,
Nancy
Nancy Kricorian
Sarine, Thanks so much for the kind words. I wish I could tell you that my new novel about Armenians in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War were close to done, but I'm a slow writer. It will be a few more years! In the meantime I'd like to recommend a book to you--Vasily Grossman's memoir AN ARMENIAN SKETCHBOOK. And if you like that then you could read his masterwork, the novel LIFE AND FATE. Best wishes, Nancy
Nancy Kricorian
If you have never published a story in a literary magazine or journal before, I would suggest that you try an Armenian community publication. My first poems and stories were published in ARARAT Quarterly, and the ones after that were published in small literary magazines with Armenian editors. Once I had a track record of publication, it was easier to place pieces in mainstream outlets (with no Armenian connections). One lesson I learned early was that you should be familiar with the publications to which you submit--if you like the work they publish they will be more likely to respond sympathetically to your writing. Wishing you the best of luck!
Nancy Kricorian
For two years now I’ve been researching a new novel, the fourth installment in what my editor has dubbed “The Armenian Diaspora Quartet.” It’s about Armenians in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War.
Nancy Kricorian
You hear all kinds of advice about writing, and there are dozens of handbooks offering guidance, most of it is abstract and pretty useless, or else it’s so specific that it doesn’t suit. Many years ago when I was a student, a poet and teacher gave me a piece of advice that didn’t mean much at the time, but which I understood much later to be the best writing tip ever offered to me.
“Respect your process,” is what she said, and she said it before “writing process” had become a registered trademark. Her words echo in my head at moments when I am annoyed with myself for how slowly I write, or for how much time I spend researching before I even start to write, or for the fact that I don’t have the book mapped out in my head before I begin, which means that I will have to do multiple drafts to get it where it needs to be.
What I have recognized lately, however, is that process, like everything else, doesn’t stay the same. I have written three novels, and each time, the process has been different.
“Respect your process,” is what she said, and she said it before “writing process” had become a registered trademark. Her words echo in my head at moments when I am annoyed with myself for how slowly I write, or for how much time I spend researching before I even start to write, or for the fact that I don’t have the book mapped out in my head before I begin, which means that I will have to do multiple drafts to get it where it needs to be.
What I have recognized lately, however, is that process, like everything else, doesn’t stay the same. I have written three novels, and each time, the process has been different.
Nancy Kricorian
The best thing about being a writer is the writing itself. Right behind that for me is the research that goes into the writing of my novels.
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