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An Interview with Kim Chinquee |
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Q: I wonder if you could go more detail about your appreciation for Faulkner. What first caught your eye with Faulkner -- a manner of presentation, a particular novel, etc.? KC: I developed a real affinity for Faulkner while taking a Faulkner seminar at the University of Southern Mississippi; Noel Polk instructed the course, and I was one of four students enrolled. It was intense. The more I read of Faulkner, the more I loved. I think our first reading was As I Lay Dying. I'd read it before, but was challenged to look at the work in a deeper way and I fell in love with Faulkner's way of telling, the voices. I love the density of Light in August, which is my all-time favorite work of Faulkner. I recently discussed "A Rose for Emily" in an Introduction to Creative Writing course I teach, and still was surprised with the ending, even though I've read that story dozens of times; I love how he captures the voice of the whole town, that the narrator is never actually identified, yet we learn about the narrator by what he sees, how he views the people of the town, and dear Emily. Every time I read Faulkner, I discover a new nuance, something more to love. Q: The pithy vignettes that characterize one aspect of your work often feel "lived". Is there any conscious way in which it's possible to comment on the conjunction of your life and your writing? Is your own life any sort of database for your writing? KC: The vignettes might be inspired by a recent image or feel in my life, but not necessarily anything I've actually experienced. Many of my short pieces are constructed using prompt words, a series of five words that I provide almost daily for my writing group. I pick these words at random, sometimes by looking through a dictionary, or by sitting at my desk and seeing, hearing, smelling something. Like maybe I'll smell broccoli steaming, hear kids outside screaming, watch a tragedy on TV, and I might pick words like: broccoli, ribbon, rollover, etc., and the story evolves from there, taking its own route. This process helps me be imaginative. In some cases, after revision and cutting, trying to get to the core of the piece, certain prompt words and images are eliminated completely. Q: Has writing always been something which interested you, or is it something you came into later? Is there a point at which you could say you "began to write"? Was there any kind of particular spur? KC: I guess I've always been "interested" in writing, but early on I never really thought of being a writer. I wrote poems in high school about the typical things high school girls concern themselves with. I joined the Air Force right after high school and stayed in for eight years and that took a big chunk of time; I was a medical technician and worked in hospitals. I really started writing in 1996, after I separated from the Air Force and moved back to Wisconsin with my son. I was working in a hospital and realized I could go to school full-time if I used the GI Bill and took out loans. I took a creative writing class as an elective and I just couldn't stop writing. I eventually ended up getting a degree in English with a creative writing concentration. I went to graduate school in Southern Mississippi after that, got my MFA from the University of Illinois in Champaign, Urbana. Q: How has receiving a Pushcart Prize affected your life as a writer? KC: I'm not sure! Well, yes. I think it's a really wonderful thing, what Bill Henderson has done with the Pushcart series. I feel honored to be a part. I think that part hasn't hit me yet. I like to feel my voice is important, and this prize provides me with some reassurance, that yes, my voice is important. I'm still trying to process all that. I just want to write more. I feel vulnerable as a writer, and I feel more motivated to write when I hear positive feedback. And winning a Pushcart helps! Q: Would you mind talking about your "writers' group"? As far as I know, it includes writers on at least 3 continents. Could you comment upon any of the ways in which email and the Internet have had an effect -- positive or negative -- upon your writing? KC: Email and the Internet have definitely had a positive effect on my writing. I've met lots of writers through the Internet, and have formed a writing group, a virtual writing room/community called Hot Pants, where I post prompt words daily or semi-weekly, depending on how active we all are. And from those words, we write flashes; we call them FADs (for Flash a Day, which was the original intention). We then post our flashes and provide feedback for others in this open forum. Right now there are about a dozen active members, but almost thirty in the room; and you're right, from at least 3 continents! I think there's four. I doubt we'd have met any other way. We'll be hosting a panel at the AWP Conference in Atlanta in March, reading our pieces and talking more about our forum. It's really great! Q: What have you read in the past year which has most pleased you? Do you have a favorite kind of reading which is not "literature," I mean such as gardening books or ancient history or. . . ? KC: I don't read much else. Though I'm trying to cook more and when there's time, I've been reading more about cooking, and have been skimming over cookbooks, etc. I also like to read about fitness and running, though I haven't had much time for that either. I used to read Runner's World from cover-to-cover, and sometimes I still do. My next novel is about an Air Force woman who runs marathons, so I've been trying to read more about kinetics and other things that might be useful for me to know. I'm most pleased by reading stunning work by my students and friends. I love to see the work as it's created, how it blossoms. I'm a fan of James Salter; among other things, I love his structure and how his stories wind around, full circle. I just finished reading The Echo Maker by Richard Powers and loved it; I studied with Powers and am fascinated with how he incorporates research into his novels, making it accessible to his readers. These days I've also been studying the work of Diane Williams; I love how she says so much in such a small space, what's not said. And I've been reading lots of prose poems. Q: What relatively unknown or neglected writer do you like to keep directing people to? Why? KC: I'm surprised not more people read or know about Yasunari Kawabata. I keep his Palm of the Hand stories with me. I also adore the House of Sleeping Beauties. His work is so elegant and I always find something new to like in his writing, every time I read him. |
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