TBR [to be read] is a semi-regular, invitation-only interview series
with authors of newly released/forthcoming, interesting books who will tell us
about their new work as well as offer tips on writing, stories about the publishing
biz, and from time to time, a recipe!
Give us your elevator
pitch: what’s your book about in 2-3 sentences?
How to Sit is a
collection of essays and stories meant to represent a memoir or memory based
writing. It is meant to confuse the line between fiction and nonfiction, while
examining elements of my life and identity.
Which piece did you
most enjoy writing? Why? And, which piece gave you the most trouble, and why?
I really enjoyed writing “Thoughts on My Ancestry.com DNA
Results.” It’s my favorite piece in the collection because it is the one I had
the most fun writing. I embraced my speaking voice and syntax completely. I
went outside my comfort zone with structure, even including footnotes. I kind
of just threw up my hands and decided I was going to go for something I felt
was completely new and different. It’s the first time I ever explored
speculative essay writing. This is where I am speculating on possible facts
based on the information in front of me. For an essay on ancestry from someone
whose ancestors were slaves, really the only thing you can do is speculate. And I had a lot of fun
thinking about all the different stories my ancestors could’ve been a part of.
“How to Mourn” was the most difficult to write. It is was
the most technically difficult because I wanted to play with point of view.
Ultimately, it’s a craft essay wrapped up in the story about my grandmother’s
death told in first person, but through third person. It’s complicated to say
the least, but deceptively not hard to read and that took a lot of work. But,
it is also one of my favorites and the essay that received a notable in Best American Essays.
Tell us a bit about
the highs and lows of your book’s road to publication.
Well…I think the highs and lows for me came in trying to
conceptualize what this book would be and look like. Early on, I had this
thought that I wanted to a chapbook that was flash creative nonfiction novella.
That changed when I wasn’t getting any traction or bites. I was speaking to my
friends Donald Quist and LaKiesha Carr and they asked me why I was so married
to the idea of a chapbook and if I had enough pieces for a full length
collection. They were the ones who encouraged me to go back to the drawing
board, put the fiction and the nonfiction together and see what happens. This
all coincides with learning about other collections that combine fiction and
nonfiction. I had no idea that that could be a thing. After that, I submitted
to a few open calls with independent presses because I knew that something
genre-less with no defined bookstore shelf would be interesting to agents or
big publishers. Luckily, I found Mason Jar.
What’s your favorite
piece of writing advice?
Actually, something you told me, Leslie*, which was to write
the stories that scare you the most. I really took this advice to heart when
drafting the pieces in this collection. But, my question for you is, when those
stories see the light of day, are we allowed to hide?
My favorite writing
advice is “write until something surprises you.” What surprised you in the
writing of this book?
Almost all of these pieces started off as memoir, or an
attempt to write about a real life situation that happened to me. What
surprised me were those instances where I realized that the way this happened
in real life is pretty boring. I was surprised by those moments where I felt I
needed to jazz it up and turn it into fiction because you always think that
your life is much more interesting than it really is. And maybe at that time,
that moment is full of emotion and tension, but later on when you are trying to
reenact it on the page, its dull and “so what.” I wasn’t expecting that to
happen as often as it did.
How do you approach
revision?
I am a slow writer. I have no idea how people churn out
think pieces or write so quickly about the news. 800 words can take me a month
to write. This is because I edit as I go along. I revise what I’ve written
before every time I pick up a piece of writing I’ve started. It is hard for me
to do a quick and dirty draft. So, when I revise, my hope is that the piece is
as close to what I want it to be as possible. That isn’t always the case. When
I need to do a heavy revision, sometimes I start off by rewriting the entire
piece. It helps to find holes or problems I did not see before.
Inquiring foodies and
hungry book clubs want to know: Any food/s associated with your book?
Nope. However, if you want to bring ME some food, I will eat
it. I am more of a heater-upper than chef.
***
READ MORE ABOUT
TYRESE COLEMAN: www.Tyresecoleman.com
BUY THIS BOOK FOR
YOUR OWN TBR PILE: www.masonjarpress.xyz/chapbooks-1/how-to-sit
READ AN EXCERPT, “How
to Sit”: https://pankmagazine.com/piece/sit/
*Blushing! And always
pleased to see former students leap forward so beautifully, sparked by
something I have said.