12 or 20 (second series) questions with Myriam J.A. Chancy

Myriam J.A. Chancy, award-winning author of What Storm, What Thunder, is a Haitian-Canadian-American writer, the HBA Chair in theHumanities at Scripps College in Claremont, California and a Fellow of the JohnSimon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

1 - How did your first book change your life? How does yourmost recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?

Whenyou publish a first book, it feels like you'll never write another, but thenyou do. Life doesn't so much change as it gets bigger in terms of reachingreaders and finding that what you had to say resonated with others. My firstpublished book (not the first written), was on Haitian women's literature andcreated a subfield. It made it possible for others to do their work andestablished me as a senior scholar fairly early in my career. So, that was agreat boost, but it took much more time to get my novels out. What I've learnedin the process of publishing my books (ten in all at this point) is that whatmatters is writing the next book, and each one will have varying degrees ofsuccess but each will find their intended audience in time. So, it's not somuch life changing as taking a step towards one's writing life, towards comingto terms with exposing one's inner self to a greater world through writing.

Mymost recent work, a novel, Village Weavers compares to the previous inthat it depicts Haitian characters as connected to a complex culture and alsoto global affairs. It differs in that it has fewer characters than my previouswork, which was narrated by ten characters, whereas Village Weavers hasonly two.

2 - How did you come to fiction first, as opposed to, say,poetry or non-fiction?

Asa reader and professor of literature, I've always preferred the novel form forits complexity and breadth so I gravitate to fiction over other genres at thesame time as I write academic essays and nonfiction pieces alongside thefiction.

3 - How long does it take to start any particular writingproject? Does your writing initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Dofirst drafts appear looking close to their final shape, or does your work comeout of copious notes?

Eachproject is different in terms of the time it may take. Some works have taken meseveral years while others have only taken months. I think the time a projecttakes depends on external factors, whether I'm teaching full time or not,whether I have to undertake a great deal of research or not and how tired I maybe at any given point. If the structure is particularly trying, that may alsotake me more time to work out. Village Weavers took me roughly a yearand a half to write, whereas the previous novel, What Storm, What Thunder,took six to eight years. Having said this, the process is more or less the sameeach time: I begin with an idea and start writing, then I determine if I wantto block out the book's structure or just want to write my way through. If Iwrite my way through, I write several drafts before arriving at the versionthat will go out to an editor. The initial drafts I consider the writer's draftand can look very different from the final product. I take notes while I'mwriting, usually on research and points of plot that I don't want to forget butI don't essentially write from notes; they're there to keep me on track as Iwrite and revise.

4 - Where does a work of prose usually begin for you? Are youan author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or areyou working on a "book" from the very beginning?

I'malways working on a novel; it's the genre that interests me, the complexity ofthe relationships between the characters and the larger scope of their lives.It's what keeps me engaged. So, I'm definitely always working on the “book”rather than shorter pieces.

5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creativeprocess? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?

Ido enjoy doing readings. As a kid, I participated in French declamationcontests and the objective was to bring someone else's piece alive for anaudience. Readings from one's own work is similar in that it brings the workalive for the reader but it also marks the definitive end of a project for meas its writer. Public readings are a letting-go process: it's not an act ofcreation but an act of release - to give up the finished project and to freemyself up to work on something new.

6 - Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing?What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do youeven think the current questions are?

Well,since I'm also an academic, I'm always animated by theoretical concerns havingto do with the postcolonial condition, feminist issues, race, gender, and soon, and I think about the intersection of the theories developed in thesefields with the themes I'm trying to bring out in my fiction. By the sametoken, I don't think there are particular questions I want to answer in theworks generally. My creative projects also differ from my academic ones in thatthey address spiritual concerns that can't be addressed in the academic work.Each project brings with it its own sets of questions - or a particularquestion - that I then seek to work out through the arc of the novel and therelationships of the characters to one another. These questions from one projectto another while the overarching issues having to do with the postcolonial andidentity remain more or less stable: how does the history of colonizationcontinue to impact individuals within formerly colonized nations? How dofactors such as gender, race, clas and sexuality alter the scope of possibilityfor characters and color their perspectives?

7 – What do you see the current role of the writer being inlarger culture? Do they even have one? What do you think the role of the writershould be?

Tomy mind, the role of the writer is to illuminate, whether that is to examinevarious aspects of human nature or to shed light on forgotten histories orcommunities. Literature exists in order to provide us with tools for examiningourselves, our beliefs, societies and to better understand others. It shouldserve as a means to sympathize with others on the human condition. Empathymight be the end goal but that might be too much to hope for.

8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editordifficult or essential (or both)?

Editorshave been key to my publishing life whether early in my career or at present.Earlier on, editorial feedback helped me to work out my strengths andweaknesses, helped me to make decisions about what aspects of the craft werevaluable to me and which were not. At this point, editorial feedback has moreto do with assisting me in reaching my goals as I've set them out in a givenproject. A good editor provides the necessary external perspective, especiallywhen a project is complex or emotionally charged. In the revision process, anobjective editorial eye is essential.

9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (notnecessarily given to you directly)?

Readpoetry. Raymond Carver (in a letter of response he sent me when I reached outasking for writing advice when I was a teenager).

10 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or doyou even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?

Notypical days. I write mostly when inspiration moves me to do so. When I'm deepinto a project, my usual routine is to get up very early in the morning towrite, usually between four and seven or seven to ten in the morning. I write.The cat joins me, then I go back to sleep or go teach. The earlier I can getsome writing in, the more I can get out of my day. Then I just keep going untilthe full first draft is completed. Sometimes I revise as I go until I feel thatI'm nearly done. It depends ont the project. I know the work is done when thecharacters no longer have anything to say and aren't waking me up to get towork! I also drink a lot of tea when I write and take daily walks.

11 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn orreturn for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?

Music.Always music. I usually have particular recordings I play related to each work.Sometimes I compile a playlist as I go, sometimes afterward. Music is atouchstone so if I get stalled or need to rethink some aspect of a project,music is always the way to go. And walks.

12 - What fragrance reminds you of home?

Thescent of laundry. This always reminds me of my mother.

13 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books,but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music,science or visual art?

I'ma very visual person and worked with photography when I was younger. I like tothink of my novels as cinematic so thinking in terms of film sequences,lighting, mood, setting, all of that comes into my writing. Music too.

14 - What other writers or writings are important for yourwork, or simply your life outside of your work?

I'minspired by the work of many contemporary writers and read widely. Historicallyspeaking, the works of James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Paule Marshall, Toni Cade Bambara, Margaret Laurence, Margaret Atwood, have been formative, among others.

15 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?

Createan alternative small press or run a creperie/bookstore.

16 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, whatwould it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doinghad you not been a writer?

IfI had a different constitution, I would have liked to have been a chef, or apainter. When I was in College, an aptitude test claimed that I would have beena good florist - that might still be something interesting to try.

17 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?

Ireally don't know. I've been writing since I was seven and publishing since Iwas a teenager so it seems I was always meant to be a writer. But, in the end,I think I'm an artist and if I weren't writing, I would have found anotheroutlet for self expression.

18 - What was the last great book you read? What was the lastgreat film?

Thelast great book I read was Jacque Roumain's 1946 classic, Gouverneurs de laRosee (Masters of the Dew), in the original French.

Thelast great film - Jessica Lange in The Great Lillian Hall.

19- What are you currently working on?

Anovel focusing on the entwined themes of race, gender and travel, and someessays.

12 or 20 (second series) questions;