Ruin & Want interview excerpt, pt. 3

Continuing sharing excerpts from my Sundress Publications interview with Izzy Astuto. Here I react to Izzy’s awesome note about “syncopated format.” I definitely wanted the troubled sense I felt while writing to have a formal role in the project. Getting there was another thing, haha.

Do consider pre-ordering if you’re able and interested. Either way, enjoy my rambling route and stay tuned for more!

Izzy Astuto: When did the almost syncopated format of this book come to be?

José: Syncopated—what a great word! That feels right. As you can tell from above, the living / writing of this book was messy! From the start I wanted this to be a distinct reading experience, one marked by fragmentation and juxtaposition. I wanted the reading experience to be like walking across an old wood floor, each passage a step inviting creaks and give. That’s what it felt like writing it, like I was up at a time no one else was and didn’t want to disturb anyone or draw attention to myself. 

José: At one point in the memoir, I talk about trying to write of L and looking over my shoulder anxiously. Part of how this effect was created was formally through the lack of essay titles and the brevity of passages. I also approached this effect conceptually. A number of early drafts had me printing out the manuscript in a “shrunken” form (four pages per page) and cutting those pages up so that the manuscript looked like a deck of tarot cards. I then shuffled and reshuffled, literally, inviting chance to help guide the mix of narratives.

More tomorrow!

José