AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Koren Zailckas
I’m delighted that Koren Zailckas agreed to sit down with me… (OK, sit down and email with me) for the launch of Memoir Armoire’s first (but not last!) author interview, in honour of her new book, Fury. In keeping with the bite-sized news and reviews theme, it’s short and sweet, but contains some great advice. Enjoy!
We’re all about keeping things short and sweet here at Memoir Armoire, so could you describe your latest book in five words?
Found anger first, then love.
What are some of your favourite memoirs?
Frank Conroy’s Stop-Time. Everything by Mary Karr. Nabokov’s Speak, Memory. Tobias Wolff’s In Pharoah’s Army. Michael Herr’s Dispatches. Laurie Lee’s Cider with Rosie. Richard Wright’s Black Boy.
What’s your top tip for aspiring memoir writers?
Live in denial. Write as though you will never have to show your manuscript to anyone—not a reader, not an editor, certainly not your family. Remember:
you can always use a pen name. You can always remove anything that is TMI (too much information) in subsequent drafts. In your first draft, you must be totally uninhibited, but you must also be totally self-reflective and self-aware. You need to play both the storyteller and the shrink. At every turn, you must take a step back and examine the deeper meaning of the experience you’re writing about. You must take the time to ask yourself why the memory you’re writing about is so important. You must figure out why you reacted to it in the way that you did in the moment. Resist the urge to make yourself cleverer or less flawed. Flaws are endearingly human. Just be sure to acknowledge them. If a certain scene finds you behaving like an a-hole, either repent or own it.
What are you working on now and/or releasing next?
Fury really put me through the wringer. It was a very emotional writing process and it pissed off a few people who found themselves in the story. I think I may step away from memoir for a spell. I need a flight of fantasy at the moment. I’m going to try my hand at fiction for my third book.
Please plug your website(s):
I’m on Facebook and Twitter. You can also find me at www.korenzailckas.com.
Thanks Koren!
