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Myriam J.A. Chancy, award-winning author of What Storm, What Thunder, is a Haitian-Canadian-American writer, the HBA Chair in the Humanities at Scripps College in Claremont, California and a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
1 - How did your first book change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?
When you publish a first book, it feels like you'll never write another, but then you do. Life doesn't so much change as it gets bigger in terms of reaching readers and finding that what you had to say resonated with others. My first published book (not the first written), was on Haitian women's literature and created a subfield. It made it possible for others to do their work and established me as a senior scholar fairly early in my career. So, that was a great boost, but it took much more time to get my novels out. What I've learned in the process of publishing my books (ten in all at this point) is that what matters is writing the next book, and each one will have varying degrees of success but each will find their intended audience in time. So, it's not so much life changing as taking a step towards one's writing life, towards coming to terms with exposing one's inner self to a greater world through writing.
My most recent work, a novel, Village Weavers compares to the previous in that it depicts Haitian characters as connected to a complex culture and also to global affairs. It differs in that it has fewer characters than my previous work, which was narrated by ten characters, whereas Village Weavers has only two.
2 - How did you come to fiction first, as opposed to, say, poetry or non-fiction?
As a reader and professor of literature, I've always preferred the novel form for its complexity and breadth so I gravitate to fiction over other genres at the same time as I write academic essays and nonfiction pieces alongside the fiction.
3 - How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does your writing initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close to their final shape, or does your work come out of copious notes?
Each project is different in terms of the time it may take. Some works have taken me several years while others have only taken months. I think the time a project takes depends on external factors, whether I'm teaching full time or not, whether I have to undertake a great deal of research or not and how tired I may be at any given point. If the structure is particularly trying, that may also take me more time to work out. Village Weavers took me roughly a year and a half to write, whereas the previous novel, What Storm, What Thunder, took six to eight years. Having said this, the process is more or less the same each time: I begin with an idea and start writing, then I determine if I want to block out the book's structure or just want to write my way through. If I write my way through, I write several drafts before arriving at the version that will go out to an editor. The initial drafts I consider the writer's draft and can look very different from the final product. I take notes while I'm writing, usually on research and points of plot that I don't want to forget but I don't essentially write from notes; they're there to keep me on track as I write and revise.
4 - Where does a work of prose usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?
I'm always working on a novel; it's the genre that interests me, the complexity of the relationships between the characters and the larger scope of their lives. It's what keeps me engaged. So, I'm definitely always working on the “book” rather than shorter pieces.
5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?
I do enjoy doing readings. As a kid, I participated in French declamation contests and the objective was to bring someone else's piece alive for an audience. Readings from one's own work is similar in that it brings the work alive for the reader but it also marks the definitive end of a project for me as its writer. Public readings are a letting-go process: it's not an act of creation but an act of release - to give up the finished project and to free myself up to work on something new.
6 - Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think the current questions are?
Well, since I'm also an academic, I'm always animated by theoretical concerns having to do with the postcolonial condition, feminist issues, race, gender, and so on, and I think about the intersection of the theories developed in these fields with the themes I'm trying to bring out in my fiction. By the same token, I don't think there are particular questions I want to answer in the works generally. My creative projects also differ from my academic ones in that they address spiritual concerns that can't be addressed in the academic work. Each project brings with it its own sets of questions - or a particular question - that I then seek to work out through the arc of the novel and the relationships of the characters to one another. These questions from one project to another while the overarching issues having to do with the postcolonial and identity remain more or less stable: how does the history of colonization continue to impact individuals within formerly colonized nations? How do factors such as gender, race, clas and sexuality alter the scope of possibility for characters and color their perspectives?
7 – What do you see the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Do they even have one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?
To my mind, the role of the writer is to illuminate, whether that is to examine various aspects of human nature or to shed light on forgotten histories or communities. Literature exists in order to provide us with tools for examining ourselves, our beliefs, societies and to better understand others. It should serve as a means to sympathize with others on the human condition. Empathy might be the end goal but that might be too much to hope for.
8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?
Editors have been key to my publishing life whether early in my career or at present. Earlier on, editorial feedback helped me to work out my strengths and weaknesses, helped me to make decisions about what aspects of the craft were valuable to me and which were not. At this point, editorial feedback has more to do with assisting me in reaching my goals as I've set them out in a given project. A good editor provides the necessary external perspective, especially when a project is complex or emotionally charged. In the revision process, an objective editorial eye is essential.
9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?
Read poetry. Raymond Carver (in a letter of response he sent me when I reached out asking for writing advice when I was a teenager).
10 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?
No typical days. I write mostly when inspiration moves me to do so. When I'm deep into a project, my usual routine is to get up very early in the morning to write, usually between four and seven or seven to ten in the morning. I write. The cat joins me, then I go back to sleep or go teach. The earlier I can get some writing in, the more I can get out of my day. Then I just keep going until the full first draft is completed. Sometimes I revise as I go until I feel that I'm nearly done. It depends ont the project. I know the work is done when the characters no longer have anything to say and aren't waking me up to get to work! I also drink a lot of tea when I write and take daily walks.
11 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?
Music. Always music. I usually have particular recordings I play related to each work. Sometimes I compile a playlist as I go, sometimes afterward. Music is a touchstone so if I get stalled or need to rethink some aspect of a project, music is always the way to go. And walks.
12 - What fragrance reminds you of home?
The scent of laundry. This always reminds me of my mother.
13 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?
I'm a very visual person and worked with photography when I was younger. I like to think of my novels as cinematic so thinking in terms of film sequences, lighting, mood, setting, all of that comes into my writing. Music too.
14 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?
I'm inspired by the work of many contemporary writers and read widely. Historically speaking, the works of James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Paule Marshall, Toni Cade Bambara, Margaret Laurence, Margaret Atwood, have been formative, among others.
15 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?
Create an alternative small press or run a creperie/bookstore.
16 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?
If I had a different constitution, I would have liked to have been a chef, or a painter. When I was in College, an aptitude test claimed that I would have been a good florist - that might still be something interesting to try.
17 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?
I really don't know. I've been writing since I was seven and publishing since I was a teenager so it seems I was always meant to be a writer. But, in the end, I think I'm an artist and if I weren't writing, I would have found another outlet for self expression.
18 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?
The last great book I read was Jacque Roumain's 1946 classic, Gouverneurs de la Rosee (Masters of the Dew), in the original French.
The last great film - Jessica Lange in The Great Lillian Hall.
19- What are you currently working on?
A novel focusing on the entwined themes of race, gender and travel, and some essays.
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