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Conversations with Authors: Ron Austin

Ron Austin’s collection of short stories, Avery Colt Is A Snake, A Thief, A Liar, recently won the 2017 Nilsen Prize. The book is due to be released in the fall of 2019, but until then, we sat down to ask him questions about his writing, his method, and his vision.

You hold an MFA from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Can you recall a pivotal experience that you had while working towards your MFA that defined you as an author?

That’s a tough, chewy question—the whole experience helped me better define myself as a writer! Before entering the program, I didn’t have a body of prose work at all. I had spent my years in undergrad working for a small press comic book company and churning out a ridiculous amount of comic book scripts. So being introduced to the vibrant literary culture here in St. Louis, nationally, and abroad was a revelation. But to hone in on a moment, I’d have to say working to complete my thesis made a major difference for me. Generally, when a student is putting together their thesis, they select the strongest works that they produced over the years, with some of the stories having been seen multiple times in workshops. Getting a bit reckless, I decided I wanted my thesis to be all new stories, and luckily, Mary Troy, my thesis advisor, agreed to this madness. To be honest, when I entered the program, I just wanted to become a better writer and understand myself better. With that being considered, I didn’t have a baseline of my overall strengths and weaknesses, or even what topics I wanted to focus on. I decided that if I wanted to get the most out of my thesis defense, I needed to apply everything I had learned in the last two years to all new work. And for me, that was the test of whether or not I was going in a fruitful direction. Thanks to the supportive community at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, I was able to complete a thesis that led to my first book.

You’ve called Avery Colt Is A Snake, A Thief, A Liar a “semi-autobiographical” collection of stories. How did you balance including your own life experiences in the text and creating an independent character while writing the story?

To answer this question from the detached, high-end, academic angle, I forget who said it first, but I subscribe to the theory that every good story is actually a series of smaller moments and stories stitched together that resolve in a whole which either facilitates an experience, emotion, or larger point.

Generally, my stories are a combination of situations I’ve experienced, plus other stories I’ve heard, plus my desire to better understand myself, others, and circumstances. With this being considered, I believe I come from an environment and experience that is underrepresented in mainstream media, and it’s important to share a perspective.

Now on the personal level, to be honest, I’m using Avery as a proxy to bind my own conflicted feelings and experience to the page while also creating a dialogue with others who may have experienced similar situations or those who are unaware of the constant struggle young black men, and black folks in general, face every day.

And lastly, to swing back to some meta-theory, I chose to use a close persona character for my first major project, as if I couldn’t understand my own ugliness, strength, joy, short-comings, how could I understand anyone else’s?

How could I lay bare anyone else, if I wouldn’t lay bare myself?

I’d never ask anyone else to cry, bleed, emote, if I’m not willing to do so myself.

Avery Colt Is A Snake, A Thief, A Liar is your first collection of stories. What’s a “first” experience you had in line that ties to the publication of this novel?

Oh man—it’ll be super difficult to distill the experience of publishing your first major work. The whole experience has been overwhelming, but in the best way possible. Right now, the hardest part is reaching out to people I greatly respect and admire and actually having the audacity to ask them for blurbs. So far, everyone has been super generous and nice, and I can’t explain how grateful I am! To meander a bit, it was really surreal getting the call from James Brubaker, director of South Eastern Missouri State Press. I spent the rest of the day at work trying my best to not cry or float away. I succeeded at both, lol. But then after that, I had a week of the prize win not sinking in a fully, and even though I had been working for nearly a decade to see this happen, I still wasn’t mentally ready. Basically, I kept thinking, what do I do now? But at least the answer to that question is easy—keep writing!

You’re hoping to produce a graphic novel to accompany the textual novel. Why did you decide to this? Can you elaborate on the relationship between narrative and visuals as you see it? If I’m keeping it all the way real, comic books were the greatest influences on my love of reading as a kid. My uncle kept his collection of old comics in our attic, and I’d often spelunk through the various books and pages to find new sagas.

As I grew older, and began to understand and admire poetry and prose, I also began to gain more respect for the visual storytelling medium. There are a lot of awesome, high-quality graphic novels coming out every year. And essentially, I think it’s important for artists of all types to collaborate, and comics are a viable opportunity to do so. Also it’s a way for me to test my adaptation and overall storytelling skills.

Finally, I think if you get the idea and emotions behind a story right, the story can thrive in any medium, and different audiences may be naturally attracted to different mediums, but you can create overlap by attempting to reach folks in different ways.

I hope by turning some of my stories into graphic narratives, I can inspire more folks to connect and express themselves.

Tell us the story of the first story you wrote.

At this point, I always feel kind of cheesy when anyone asks me about my first story or when I decided to become a writer. Generally, I tell folks I “officially” decided when I was 15 or 16, but really, I was more like eight. That’s right, I’m one of the suckers that says “I’m going to be this—” in second grade, and then just sticks with it.

I believe my first stories were somewhat raunchy riffs on “Where’s Waldo?” I remember on in particular where I drew an underwater setting—that was pretty cool though.

Later, in high school, my first attempt at a novel was a riff off of Silent Hill, which is a game that still holds up pretty well. As I was drafting the novel, I wondered why I was so attracted to gothic settings, and it didn’t sink in until later on, that as I was living in a neighborhood literally crumbling because of neglect, bad politics, and all of the –isms, that a gothic setting—a setting were beauty is defined by a backdrop of decay—was the most natural and familiar to me.

If you lived in a world without pens or keyboards (or any other writing implement), how would you tell your stories?

I always tell people I’m a shy introvert who also loves people, so then I enjoy mediums that connect me with others, even though I am pretty shy. Where my introvert-ness shines through, is that I can’t stand small talk—I always want to have expensive conversations about what’s strange, what’s interesting, what’s personal.

So without any other instruments, I’d orate around a fire alongside others, and press breath into word.

You can read Ron Austin’s short story, The Gatecrasher of Hyboria, on Zarf.

[tanmulabs]

Conversations with Authors: Ann Bogle

Ann Bogle holds an MFA in English and Creative Writing from the University of Houston and has been writing for several decades.We asked her how she maintains her dedication to the craft, her writing style, and why she loves short-form writing.

What was the first book you read that inspired you to pursue writing?

The Illustrated Treasury of Poetry for Children with an introduction by Mark Van Doren, Grosset & Dunlap, New York, 1970.

You’ve been writing for several decades. How do you maintain a persistence and dedication to your craft in the face of various hurdles?

I believe that creative writing programs help establish in the writer a set of habits. Since I was fortunate enough to be present in long-residency programs, I learned that writing is the workday or workweek. I maintained friendships with other writers and poets who understand the drill, the routine, the discipline of writing and submitting work. It can be hard for people who are not writers to take it seriously. It can be hard for writers to take it seriously. Nothing is more serious than phrasing a sentence in the most ingenious way possible. It is a craft.

How has writing changed the way you read?

I account in my mind for the author’s techniques. I find it nearly impossible to read without performing that analysis. That is how I discovered the work of Alice Munro. Her writing resisted my efforts to describe how it had been written. I gave up and read the stories without knowing how she had made them.

How would you describe your narrative style to someone who has never read your work?

When I write a longer fiction short story, the narrative is linear. When I write a memoir piece I digress and create a prismatic structure. This is partly to give myself a hiding place.

Have you ever written a story that challenged you from an intellectual, mental, or emotional perspective?

My essay-story “Hoss Men” challenges me intellectually and mentally. There are others. One called “Steady Keel” is a concert review with literary subtexts. Writing very short stories challenges me intellectually. I learn everything there is to know about grammar from it.

What is appealing to you about short form fiction?

I like the way the finite space of the story can be opened onto infinite space.

You can read Ann's short story, The Sitzer, on Zarf.

#zarf #conversations-with-authors

[tanmulabs]

Conversations With Authors: Jay Hoffmann

Jay Hoffmann produces The History of the Web, a weekly blog where he uncovers some of the most iconic pieces of Web history. We asked him some questions about history, non-fiction writing, and the future of the web. Read on to see what he had to share!

What’s the most surprising innovation in the history of the web that you’ve written a piece on?

Can I say people? Because I really think it's the people. What fascinates me the most, what prompted me to even start this whole thing up in the first place, is the strange and wonderful communities that have sprouted up from what is, at its core, a really simple technology. The web was invented so that computers with one kind of software could talk to computers with different software. That's it. That's all it took for people to start saying to each other, "hey you like that thing? I like that thing too!" And we've gotten some really incredible ecosystems and subcultures from just that. People have built their whole lives on top of a few simple protocols. So yea, it's what people do with the web that always surprises me.

What’s your research methodology like when producing this timeline of the history of the web?

It starts with a big list of ideas. I'm fortunate because I've been on the web just long enough to have some awareness of a good amount of its history. So when I started this thing I had a long list of topics I wanted to get to, and I'm nowhere near the end of that list yet. I also have truly incredible readers and some of my ideas come from my subscribers. Each week, I'll pull out one of these ideas and just start diving in. I keep track of every link I come across using Pinboard, jotting down notes as I go along, slowly putting all of the pieces together.

I'm lucky because I can do my research from home. It's all on the web, maybe in a few books. I used to have to go digging through archives but now I can use use Google to filter results only from the past, and if I hit a dead link I can use Internet Archive to dig it up. What I find important during this step is to keep my mind open and let the research tell me what the story is going to be. I don't want to assign value to anything until I have all the answers, and that's led me in some pretty interesting directions. Sometimes I'll read an article and write down a sentence or two about it. Maybe that goes in the final article, maybe it doesn't. But the whole thing usually starts with a single sentence. After that, it's basically write, rewrite, revise, edit, publish.

You studied history in school. What’s one thing that you learned in your academic career that you utilize consistently in your writing?

I wrote a few academic research papers in school and the thing I really learned was just some follow through. When you're writing your thesis on this and that, your first instinct is to give everything a single pass, write it up from start to finish, and edit a few things here and there. But the truly great stuff comes when you rewrite the entire thing from scratch, paragraph by paragraph. I'm a firm believer that your final draft should have very little from your first draft. That's something my professors taught me and that's what I do now. My first draft is basically an outline which I come back to and restructure, reorganize, and rewrite.

It's not all great though. Sometimes I think my writing comes off as a bit dry and, well, academic. I've been trying to inject more and more of a personal touch into my writing but I often fall back on a kind of rigid tone. I'm working on that.

Have you ever learned something about the history of the web that might cast an interesting insight into the state of the web today?

So many things. You hear the cliche that history repeats itself all the time, but on the web it happens in such tight circles. The web repeats itself like every 5 years. Frank Chimero just wrote up a really interesting talk about that. It means we sometimes repeat the same mistakes over and over in a rush to add as much to a platform that has, for some time now, been a little underdeveloped. There's a lot of ground to cover to catch up to users expectations after using phone apps and voice controlled devices and smart homes. Web development is moving very quickly right now because it has all that ground to cover. It can all be very confusing.

But I'm a historian, so I kind of know what's coming next. I think there will be a brief period of clarity, a call from people to slow down a little, and take stock of what we learned. Let us all catch our breath. There will come a moment, or a technique, or a person that ties all of these fast-paced discoveries together and makes them clear, that paves the cowpath. That's what happened 10 years ago when the iPhone came out. People rushed to try out a hundred different things in a hundred different ways. Luckily, we all started to realize that we needed to slow down and really figure the whole thing out. Which is how we got responsive design, a clarifying technique for a lot of people. Then the next 5 year cycle began.

Given what you know about the history of the web, what do you think the future of the web will look like?

The most important thing about the web is that it's open. That was its founding principle. It's decentralized by design which is kind of incredible when you think about it, because no centralized technology has even come close to the level of ubiquity of the web.

What really worries me is that this openness is used as a weapon. These large, centralized platforms that are collecting data about us every second of every day like to throw their weight behind the ideals of an "open web." They say that they have to let people be themselves on the web, that everybody should be allowed to do whatever it is they want to do. All in the name this openness. Damn the sacrifices that have to be made. I mean, that's using free speech as a scapegoat. I think we're seeing the effects of that from the last election, but it plays out in smaller ways every time Reddit or Twitter or Facebook or any of these massive tech giants go to bat for a violent, toxic community. But that's really just because that's the easy way out. An open web means everyone feels like they can be themselves. That's how we felt at the beginning and it was truly a beautiful thing. We shouldn't have to feel threatened on the web, or even feel like we have to put on some fake persona. Building a web like that, with a personal touch, that takes time. So when these tech companies say open what they really mean is lazy. If they were truly open, then the web would be safe, and interoperable, and Facebook would talk to Twitter, and Google wouldn't try to create its own replica of web standards, and I could own my own data and we'd all actually be connected instead of siloed away.

All of which is a super long preface to my actual point. Because as the web's been repeating itself, it's gathered a whole lot of people along the way. That openness, that has two sides to it. And it means we've been thankfully joined by a lot more voices and diverse perspectives. I'm charting this all out on a timeline so it's so cool to trace it through history. I can actually see it. As the web's grown up, it's gone from, to be frank, a group of white guys living on the west coast tinkering away to something that's being built by everyone. I know it doesn't always feel like it because Silicon Valley is all that anybody can talk about, but it's there. Me, I'm optimistic. I think there's a new manifestation of the web on the horizon, and I think all these new voices are the reason why. It's going to be the web we wanted too, well closer anyway, the one that's open and open to all at the same time. I really hope so.

Have you ever gotten a piece of feedback about your writing that brought you great joy?

Every piece of feedback has been what basically keeps me going. I consider myself very fortunate because basically everyone that has written in to me has been either positive or informative. There have been a few that have told me that I am their favorite newsletter. That they actually look forward to getting my email in their inbox each week. That's crazy to me because I have a few authors that I feel the same way about. To be that for someone else brings me an incredible amount of joy. It's an odd and rewarding feeling.

You can purchase Jay’s stories on Zarf.

#zarf #conversations-with-authors

[tanmulabs]

Conversations with Authors: Tim Young

Tim Young is an author and musician based in Sedona, Arizona. We asked him some questions about writing, music, and the things in between.

Tell us the story of how you got your first instrument.

When I was eight, nine, and ten years old we, my parents and younger brother would often spend Sunday evenings at my mom’s parents. John and Hazel Hoag. After supper, the TV would be tuned to Lawrence Welk. He had an accordion player he would feature and all the adults thought he was the best. I’m sure I did not share their opinions. When I was eleven, in 1961, my parents talked me into accordion lessons. I played for five years. I learned how to read music, which I never have to do now, it’s too much trouble. My big thrill with the accordion was learning this technique called the bellows shake. It involved moving the bellows, the part of the instrument that captured the air, back and forth rapidly as you played. It was the coolest thing about the instrument as far as I was concerned. My folks even bought me a full size accordion once I had advanced that far. The full size has 120 bass buttons, while the beginners has only 12. I even played once in an accordion “orchestra” which was comprised of all the students of my accordion teacher. Once I turned sixteen, I stopped the lessons and put the accordion away. The Beatles were now raging into my life in a big way and guitars were looming.

Have you ever written a song that inspired a story or vice versa?

I’ve written an non-fiction tale about a band I had because of a woman in the band who inspired so many of the songs we played then. She shared lead vocals with me and backing vocals too. I was way too infatuated with her but the music, the band and the entire situation were just too romantic for me to ignore.This band also had a manager, a friend who I worked with. He was from Texas and had such an awesome twang in his speaking. He and I would go around to the clubs in downtown Manhattan and pass out my cassette demos, of course always making a pit stop for a beer whenever possible. He’s in the story too. I still listen to some of the recordings the band made then and I’m pleased to report the music holds up damn well. These days were circa 1989-1990. The band was called the Tim Young Ensemble or TYE. We were the house band at McGee’s pub which was on the street level of the Ed Sullivan theatre, where later, David Letterman held court.

What’s the difference between your process for creating original music and your process for creating original stories?

Probably not an important difference, except, of course when I’m doing the music I play my guitar or keyboard. I like to have my privacy in both situations or I might feel inhibited somehow or not concentrating the way I want to. Staying focused is essential but that also means you must have the freedom to let your mind fly away if it wants to. In both processes I’ve learned how important it is to choose the right word and how to edit out something I may think is good but just isn’t going to make the cut. There is a difference during the actual writing, For songs I choose pen and paper while for stories I’m usually at the keyboard on the computer. Each is a different kind of intimacy that somehow forces me to continue, or pour another glass of wine.

How do you like to listen to music? How do you like to read books?

I love my headphones late at night and cranking my speakers in the afternoon. The CD’s are on iTunes but I also have a turntable and cassette player. So much of my back catalog of songs exists only on cassette, a situation I need to fix one day. I also make playlists from iTunes, songs I download, burn a CD and then play it in the car while driving. It always reminds me of when I first learned to drive in Easton, PA, and would blast the top 40 stations on the radio and the rock and roll would force me to exceed the speed limit.

I like to read books almost anywhere but especially in a coffee house or outside on a warm day. Reading a book can also turn into a late night thing as the house is quiet and I get comfortable on the couch and put my feet up on the coffee table. I do have a Clash biography on my phone, along with my Kindle collection, but I don’t get to it that often.

How has your lifelong background in the the performing arts affected the way you write stories?

This is a good tough question. I think being an actor for a while was influential because an actor is a kind of story teller even though he’s using someone else’s words. It creates a thing where you want people to pay attention, to hear the words you are speaking. So this transfers to when the writer feels the need to share his work. For this reason I think even though writing is not usually lumped in with the performing arts, it really is. Performing is expressing emotions, ideas, all kind of thoughts and so is writing. Being a performer forces one into the public eye, standing on a stage, platform, literally raises one to a different level and involves a certain amount of courage. Writing too demands a brand of courage facing the empty page and that relentless, pain in the ass editor in the head constantly reminding you that you are no good and should never write another word. Perhaps the old show business adage.”the show must go on” helps me to put that nasty editor to sleep!

Performing also affords an opportunity to meet people you might otherwise never meet. Then having a conversation with them might inspire a story, their story acting as a kind of prompt.

Have you created a song that challenged your creative, mental, intellectual, and/or creative capacities? Tell us the story!

Creating songs is a weird thing, since sometimes they lay naked right in front of you and other times they are covered in many layers that are difficult to peel away. Each attempt is different and also the same. I’ve read interviews where songwriters say a new song is like a gift, coming out of the blue somehow. In my opinion it may be a gift but coming from out of the blue, I’m not so sure of. It’s a mysterious process, tapping into the subconscious, drawing out the idea, words and emotions needed to have a song worth saving, worth developing, worth singing. For me, the subconscious feeds on personal life experiences, in addition to other outside stimuli, like reading, loving, listening to other music and day to day events. So, in essence what I’m saying, what I believe I’m saying, is that almost every song I make is a challenge in one form or another. Meeting and beating those challenges make for a welcome satisfaction.

You can purchase Tim Young’s story, Long Story, Short, on Zarf.

#zarf #conversations-with-authors

[tanmulabs]

Introducing Zarf, Curated

A couple of weeks ago, I sent out a survey to my network to learn a little bit more about how people discover and consume content online.

While I was reading through the responses, I discovered that folks consistently felt that they had trouble discovering exciting and new content to read away from the filter bubbles and recommendation engines that exist on the web. It's a reasonable frustration. It can be frustrating to find yourself reading the same few writers or the same few blogs as you browse through the web. We all need a breath of fresh air, a different perspective, exposure to a fresh voice. Spring is just around the corner after all!

So I'm very excited to announce the launch of the Zarf, Curated newsletter. The Zarf, Curated newsletter is a bi-weekly, that means every two weeks, newsletter that features three short fiction and non-fiction writers in every issue. Each featured author is hand-selected. What does that mean? It means that their content has been read and selected for inclusion in the newsletter, so you know it's gonna be good.

In addition to the newsletter, each author will be interviewed right here on the blog! You'll have a chance to learn more about their background, their work, and how they got to where they are.

You can subscribe to the newsletter on the Zarf homepage and check out the first issue.

Thanks,

Safia

Founder of Tanmu Labs

[tanmulabs]

Introducing Zarf v2.0

New year, new Zarf!

It's a new year and time for a new Zarf! Over the past few months, I've been running a beta version of Zarf and getting feedback from customers and sales leads about the product. All this has culminated into a new version of the product that's more focused and intuitive. Wanna learn more about the changes? Read on!

Out with the old, in with the new

Zarf now focuses exclusively on one-time purchases of content. Subscriptions are out, microtransactions are in! In the new Zarf, readers can pick and choose which posts they would like to read without having to worry about managing multiple content subscriptions. Each reader receives access to their purchased content via a unique access link, reducing the hassle of logging into Yet Another App.

More transparent than ever

Zarf now takes 30% of all transactions on the platform and consumes the cost of payment processing fees. This means that writers will always receive 70% of the revenue from each transaction. If there are any fluctuations in payment processing fees, Zarf will take the hit and writers will still receive 70% of the cost of the post in revenue.

Featuring the next great writer

Earning money from your audience is fantastic, but it's often only lucrative to writers who have a large audience base. Starting in February, Zarf will feature weekly featured posts from up-and-coming writers. These featured posts will be available for purchase but will also be promoted on the Zarf homepage and on @tanmulabs social media. This is a big part of my effort to center the Zarf product on writers and provide a space where all writers can benefit financially from their work while gaining a new audience. In addition to any revenue generate from the sale of their posts, featured writers will also earn an addition bonus from Zarf. I'll be rolling out more information about how featured writers will be selected tomorrow, so be sure to follow @tanmulabs on Twitter if you're interested in learning more.

The Complete Changelog

Here's a complete rundown of the changes coming to Zarf.

Changed fee model to a flat rate of 30%.

Remove support for subscriptions.

Restricted platform to publishers based in the United States.

Removed requirement to register in order to purchase content.

Removed ability to store drafts in platform.

Switched to Firebase for user account management and database storage.

Removed support for publications.

Switched to a fix monthly payout schedule for all writers.

Improved page load performance.

Improved application accessibility.

Updated posts catalog page.

You'll notice that I've removed quite a few features from the application. Moving forward, I'll be focusing on the most important feature of all: writers and their work.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about the latest version of Zarf, feel free to contact me. If you are interested in getting more updates on Zarf, follow @tanmulabs on Twitter.

Thanks,

Safia

Founder of Tanmu Labs

#zarf #announcement