An Interview with Nichelle Tramble
June 2, 2006
1) When you wrote THE FRUIT 'N FOOD and DISPATCHES FROM THE COLD what did you
know for sure about each book?
Frankly, not a whole lot. THE FRUIT 'N FLOOD was my first novel, and I had
already written two very different drafts, both of which I subsequently discarded.
However, writing those two drafts allowed me to arrive at the third version,
which eventually became the published version. I knew I wanted to write about
a Korean grocery, but that was about it. With Dispatches from the Cold I knew
even less; I just started writing about a misdirected letter, following a character
to see what happened if he began reading and opening mail not addressed to
him. The story for that one wrote itself. I generally don't do much planning
or plotting or outlining. For me the fun is discovering the story as I write
it.
2) To borrow a question from NOVEL IDEAS: CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS SHARE
THE CREATIVE PROCESS, how did OVER THE SHOULDER, the first book in a series
that
includes
UNDERKILL and FADE TO CLEAR "gather" for you? What was the seed of
the story and how did you pull it all together?
After I finished DISPATCHES FROM THE COLD, I began wondering what else to write,
and I asked myself what kind of novel did I want to read? This is often how
I begin a project. If I have a desire to read something, but cannot find it
out there, then I'll write it for myself. I become my own entertainer, in a
way. So I wanted to read Noir novels with an Asian American protagonist, and
didn't find many out there that spoke to me. So I began thinking about the
protagonist of those novels, Allen Choice, and began with him.
4) Did becoming a published author turn you into a different kind of reader?
How so?
Not really. Being a writer in general has turned me into a different kind of
reader. Being published surprisingly didn't change much, except that now when
I tell people I'm a writer, they actually believe me. No, when I began writing
fiction I began reading fiction as a writer, as a craftsman, and in some ways
that diminished the pure pleasure of reading, since I started paying very close
attention to how a writer was trying to achieve a certain effect. I began rereading
novels, taking them apart as a mechanic might take apart a car to tinker with
it.
5) What about research? How does that figure into your writing?
I enjoy research, and what I love about my job is that I have a legitimate
excuse to do things I might not normally do if I wasn't researching something
specific. In the name of authenticity and research for my books I've done things
like gone to all-night raves or explored small Eastern Sierra towns. I love
learning new things, and with each new novel it's as if I'm getting a mini-PhD
in a new field. I learn not just new facts and information, but I learn about
new characters. What a job, right?
6) How do you find the voice for each of your characters?
Trial and error. I do quite a bit of character sketches, often putting characters
in scenes that will most likely not end up in the novel. It often takes a while
for a character to - as Faulkner once put it - to stand up and cast a shadow.
Sometimes it takes hundreds of pages. Sometimes one paragraph.
7) Are you ever surprised by your books? Your characters?
I am constantly surprised by my characters and by my books. If I wasn't I would
know I was doing something wrong. The pleasure of writing fiction is when I
become a simultaneous writer and reader of a story, when the character takes
over and I feel as if I'm simply following him or her through the story. That's
when I know the writing is working, that the writing is "clicking".
8) Have you ever considered a writing project a complete failure? How do
you avoid that sort of thinking?
Nothing is ever a complete failure, even a novel that is abandoned. Sometimes
I need to write hundreds of pages to find the story, find the character,
find the right voice, and even though I won't use those hundreds of pages,
they
were absolutely needed to arrive at the destination. I have also written
novels that I have put aside, not because they were failures in any sense
but because
I thought I could do better, and wanted to give it a rest. One of the best
ways to achieve a strong sense of objectivity with your own work is to
put it in a drawer for a couple years, and then reread with a new perspective.
Even if I were never to publish something, it's never a failure or a waste
- publishing isn't the goal for me; writing is often a pleasure and art
in
itself. Sometimes I'll ask a beginning writer if she or he would write
knowing the piece would never get published. How you answer that in some
ways will
determine how happy you are as a writer.
9) Are there stories that you, or your family, have deemed off-limits?
No, and this question always surprises me. Perhaps because my mother is
a lover of literature and instilled in me from a very early age the
understanding that
novels and fiction are meant to explore anything and everything about
what it means to be us, who we are. Setting limits severely curtails that
function,
and defeats the purpose of why literature is so important. In fact,
I would argue it's precisely those topics that might be considered off-limits
are
the ones that need to be explored in depth. Art and all its forms sheds
light
and
understanding into those shadows, and the surest way to get me intrigued
about anything is to tell me that it's off limits.
10) Do you have a writing ritual? If so, tell us about that.
I wake up very early, usually at dawn, sometimes (in the winter) even
earlier, and make myself a cup of green tea. I then putter over
to my office, turn
on the computer, and get to work. Sometimes I'll take my manuscript
to a cafe
later in the day to edit and to think about the work; it helps
to take it into a different setting. But the real work of the writing is
in
the morning,
at
my desk.
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