Audrey Schulman is the author of the critically acclaimed best-selling
novel The Cage, which has been translated into nine languages, and Swimming with Jonah.
In addition to writing, Ms. Schulman programs software,
teaches creative writing and travels the globe in search of adventure.
Born in Montreal, she now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Margot Early
picked up The Cage in paperback, read it, recommended it to her editor (who
also read it), bought copies for other people, bought a hardcover copy, and
bought Swimming with Jonah.
in hardcover. She is delighted to interview
Audrey Schulman.
MARGOT: When in life did you recognize that you were a writer, and how has your relationship with language evolved since that time?
AUDREY: When I was 12 years old I started writing what I called a "novel" in English class. This was handwritten and had illustrations so if it were typed up it would probably not be more than 10 pages. Still, to me, it was a novel. The teacher and students were so fascinated with this extra work that would not in anyway plump up my grade, that they asked about it every day. I liked all this attention and decided becoming a writer was what I wanted to do.
It wasn't until I got to be about 16 that I began to be fascinated with
language itself and how it could recreate a sound or smell or touch. At
first I went way overboard with this, putting in so much imagery and tactile
information that the plot sort of suffocated underneath it all. I thought
plot and character were really rather below me. Now, of course I have come
to appreciate and revel in plot and character, while trying still to enjoy my
propensity toward language.
MARGOT: That sounds as though you finally got around to adding some plot and character to your stories. But your plotting and characterization are mesmerizing, stunning, perfectly executed--and unforgettable. What are the aspects of the craft of writing that you find yourself struggling with repeatedly?
AUDREY: Every aspect. Writing to me seems like a nautilus shell, a process of circling round and round the same concepts, relearning them, trying each time to master them. I hope for the rest of my time to continue struggling with these same problems in as honorable a way as I am capable of.
MARGOT: Who are some dead poets, authors, playwrights, philosophers, artists, etc., who have influenced your craft? How and why?
AUDREY: Mostly my influences are still alive. I seem to have a rather disturbing love of only modern writers. However, I believe Kay Boyle (author of Death of a Man ) and Barbara Comyns (author of The Vet's Daughter) are old enough that they have a good chance of being dead.
MARGOT: Do you do much revising, and do you enjoy the process of revision?
What
are your feelings about revision?
AUDREY: Oh, I HATE revision. When you write a first draft, it is so exciting. You start off with a blank piece of paper (or computer screen) and then, afterward, you have something on it. It might suck, but it is a sucky something that didn't exist beforehand. That seems like such a miracle to me. Revision, on the other hand, mostly has such nitpicking tiny progress to it.
Still, revision is critical. Nothing I write in a first draft is more than wildly energetic. Revision after revision after revision are what make that first draft finally (hopefully) worth reading. Most writers I meet are no more interesting than anyone else. It is just they spend years putting all their best thoughts on paper and revising and revising until they LOOK brilliant, fascinating and emotionally complex.
MARGOT: Which practices in your lifestyle do you believe help you with your writing? (Reading poetry or plays, no t.v., walks)
AUDREY: For 7 years I didn't have a TV. It was a wonderful time, filled with reading, time for friends and healthy boredom. Now that I am no longer single, my husband insists on a TV and on watching it every night. As I am older and less hungry and less demanding, I have become hooked on The X-Files. It is a sad fall.
For any beginning writer, and perhaps even for writers like me, I give the advice of kicking that TV out the door, out the window. It is a leach sucking at your life blood and time and remaining years on earth. Still, tonight I'm looking forward to seeing very well-pressed FBI agents struggle against evil yet again.
MARGOT: Do fairy tales, myth, legend or oral-storytelling have any place in your creative process? If so, what?
AUDREY: I once wrote a whole novel based on my version of the Medea myth. I always thought she was framed. Writers all write (when they're writing most powerfully) about a few central obsessions. Toni Morrison about being black in a white society, Cormac McCarthy about violence and wilderness, Ann Beattie about sadness and loss. These obsessions are mostly formed in childhood, and I bet many are from early stories told to children. So don't try to read anything namby-pamby to your child. Give the kid a real chance at becoming an artist. Read them Grimms' fairy tales.
MARGOT: Please tell me about your upcoming book, A House Named Brazil?
AUDREY: My next novel, A House Named Brazil, is due out from William Morrow in September of 2000. It is about a girl, Fran, who was abandoned by her mother at the age of 14 to live all alone on the family farm. Five years later, the mother abruptly starts calling up each night to tell Fran the family stories. She doesn't want to talk about anything else: where she is, why she left, if she will return. She just wants to tell the family stories. All the stories are larger than life and start with the story of Fran's great great grandmother whose body never decomposed, but smelled so strongly of lilacs that bees from miles around built hives around her body. The great great grandmother's children are too scared to bury what they aren't totally sure is dead, so they charge admission instead, sell the honey and put themselves through school on the proceeds. I told you the stories are larger than life. As the stories continue, Fran and her mother's relationship begin to change.
Look for A House Named Brazil by Audrey Schulman, due out from William Morrow in September of 2000.
Learn more about Audrey Schulman--writing advice, her favorite novels, and more.