12 or 20 (second series) questions with Tracy Wise
After an internationalchildhood lived throughout Asia because of her father’s non-profit aid work, Tracy Wise has spent her career in theatre, opera, and then higher educationadministration. She currently writes university presidential speeches, campuscommunications, and news stories in California’s Inland Empire. She has a BA inTheatre and Spanish from Washington University in St. Louis (which includes ayear at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK) and an MA in CulturalStudies (a historiography degree) from the University of East London in the UK.A life-long passionate reader, she designs social media for the Friends of herlocal Redlands, California A.K. Smiley Public Library in her free time. Facebook: Tracy Wise, Author and Freelance Writer
1 -How did your first book change your life? How does your most recent workcompare to your previous? How does it feel different?
MADAME SOREL’S LODGER, to be published by TypeEighteen Books in February 2025, is my first work to be published.So, watch this space! It is incredibly exciting to see my creative (as in,non-work related) writing entering the wider world.
2 -How did you come to fiction first, as opposed to, say, poetry or non-fiction?
I’vebeen writing stories my whole life, and so fiction is the space in which I feelmost at home. There’s a type of discipline for writing poetry which I simplylack. I know there will be somenon-fiction in my future (apart from my day job), but I don’t feel ascomfortable in it as a form of creative expression.
3 -How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does yourwriting initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appearlooking close to their final shape, or does your work come out of copiousnotes?
Itend to start writing and see if the story continues to call me forward. Ibasically have a sense of where the story is going, but what happens along theway is part of the daily discovery. To get started on a project, I need themental space to be open to it. Once the opening is there, it tends to continueuntil it says, I’m done.
4 -Where does a work of fiction usually begin for you? Are you an author of shortpieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a"book" from the very beginning?
Itis not a fixed thing for me. Projects may start as a short story and then say,there’s more here, keep going. Or not. Or they may emerge from the first as afull novel.
5 -Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you thesort of writer who enjoys doing readings?
Ilove reading out loud. I’ve done it my entire life and used to record storytapes for my younger cousins and then their children when they were small. Ihugely enjoyed recording the audiobook for MADAME SOREL, for instance. But Ihave yet to do a public reading of my creative work (apart from in writer’s critiquegroups)—am looking forward to diving in.
6 -Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds ofquestions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think thecurrent questions are?
Ifully believe writers need to be alive and aware to the current moment,including concerns about racism, sexism, misogyny, and anti-LGBTQIA issues, aswell as to issues around the question of appropriation. That being said,writers also need to be free to write. I believe that writers can tap into thatwell of creativity which is part of our common humanity, and that should becelebrated and supported.
For example, in MADAME SOREL’SLODGER, the central character who I simply name “the Artist” is trying to pullall of life down onto a painted canvas, so that the canvas comes fully alive. Iam striving to create a vivid experience for my reader using letters on a flat,white page or screen, so that this world and its characters come fully alive.
7 –What do you see the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Do theyeven have one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?
Thewriter is a fellow human being in the larger culture and, therefore, they haveas much right as anyone else to speak up. If they are published and well known,it can add weight to what they say in the public square and who is willing tolisten to them. Perhaps I am an idealist, but I believe informed thoughtfulnessand considered reflection can promote discussion and can strengthen us as aculture and as a society. Did I saw I was an idealist?
8 -Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult oressential (or both)?
Inmy view, a writer always needs an outside pair of eyes on their writing (aka, aneditor), the same way that an actor always needs an outside pair of eyes ontheir performance (aka, a director). We need another perspective, becausegetting lost in our own head can weaken what we are trying to do. So, yes, itis essential.
9 -What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to youdirectly)?
Thereare no rules when it comes to writing. Write. And read-read-read-read-read.
10- How easy has it been for you to move between genres (fiction to news storiesand speeches)? What do you see as the appeal?
Writingis how I best express myself, so moving from fiction to press releases tospeeches is natural to me. That is, once you understand the “feeling,” format,and intention of each “mode,” it becomes an easy switch. And it all provides anopportunity to hone your writing. No effort is ever truly lost. Honestly, Icredit my years spent on Twitter as providing an excellent training ground fordistilling what I want to say into as clear and concise a statement aspossible.
11- What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one?How does a typical day (for you) begin?
WhileI dream of having a set, orderly routine (just as I dream having a tidy,minimalist, organized house), I have come to the realization that I will alwaysresist that. I am very Type A—I map each day out, with all my tasks, deadlines,and goals, and then set to work getting them done. Which then also involvesrearranging like mad as the day throws new things at you.
12- When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack ofa better word) inspiration?
Forme, the biggest hurdle is carving out both the time and the headspace to letthe creativity free. I tend to overschedule myself.
13- What fragrance reminds you of home?
Mycollege roommate was from Pakistan, one of the places where I grew up as achild. I came back to the dorm late one night after a theatre rehearsal. It waswarm and humid, and she had the window open, the lights off, a couple ofcandles burning, and some Pakistani music playing softly. I opened the door andI was enveloped by the sound, the sight, and the smells, and I did not knowwhere or even when I was. I have never forgotten that moment.
14- David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there anyother forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visualart?
Honestly,for me, everything I do is somehow connected to music. When I am writing, it isthe rhythm and cadence of the sentences as well as the sounds of the wordsthemselves which I listen to. And I also want to put clearly down on paper thescenes I am seeing in my mind so the reader can see them, too. But all of that is also informed by alifetime of being read to and then, from the age of 6, reading ferociously onmy own.
15- What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply yourlife outside of your work?
Thereare so many incredible writers out there, it is hard to narrow it down. As achild, poetry was hugely important for me. A childhood writer I loved was Joan Aiken. Recent discoveries include Sarah Winman and Alice Winn. Maggie O’Farrell’s THE MARRIAGE PORTRAIT moved so well into the mind of an artist andmade her come alive, which added a whole other level to the impact of Robert Browning’s poem “My Last Duchess” for me. I have loved Barbara Pym’s novels agreat deal. Also, Robertson Davies has been very influential. Edward Carey’s LITTLE really spoke to me—the rhythms of his writing in the novel conveyed thestrangeness and familiarity of fairy tales. Julie Otsuka’s ability to pack sovery much into her short novels seems extraordinary to me—you get lost in herworld and think you’ve been gone for hours, but you haven’t been. And Honorée Fanonne Jeffers’ THE LOVE SONGS OF W.E.B. DUBOIS was just incredible (you cantell she is a poet in how she constructs her sentences and tells her story). Thereare also some amazing non-fiction writers in history and philosophy—I read alot of history these days, especially in the years since I earned my M.A. Iknow I will leave someone off whom I love…
16- What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?
Ialways knew I wanted to write, but I also knew I wanted to perform. I decidedto do the performing when I was younger and spent several years as an actressand then an opera singer (the first was something I had only dreamed of and thesecond I had never dreamed of; getting to do both was magical). I am revelingin my opportunity now to finally give time and attention to my writing.
17- If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or,alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been awriter?
Ido wonder what it would have been like to have gone fully into academia and theprofessoriate, instead of just dabbling around the edges (I call myself a“closet academic”). I also wonder what it would have been like to have goneinto the non-profit aid work my father did or into the diplomatic service.
18- What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?
Writingis like breathing for me. I tried balancing it with my full-time work when Iwas living in Chicago but woke up one night just before my head hit thekeyboard. I couldn’t afford to quit my day job at that time, so regretfully hadto put it all away. So, it feels like coming home.
19- What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?
Thelast non-fiction book I really appreciated was Sebastian Smee’s PARIS IN RUINS:LOVE, WAR, AND THE BIRTH OF IMPRESSIONISM. The last fiction book I really enjoyed was Chris Bachelder and Jennifer Habel’s DAYSWORK: A NOVEL and now I am re-thinking Herman Melville. I confessthat I have largely stopped watching films, after a lifetime of being an avidfilmgoer, and I am looking forward to that switch being turned on again.
20- What are you currently working on?
Ihave lots of ideas! When you put off doing something for so long and then yousay, okay, it’s time, everything that has been in the back of your brain jumpsup and says me-me-me-now! I have completed the first book in a trilogy which isagain literary fiction and that flirts with the Regency trope and format butmoves away from it at the same time. I have an idea around the years I spentcaring for my mother through her dementia. And I have some ideas based on myrather itinerant and international lived experience.
