Author Bites - Deborah Willis on the Shorts

It had been a while since since I connected so deeply with a set of short stories.  I'm talking like reading Flannery O'Connor in college "a while" so I got myself a little giddy.  Despite not being a target audience for VANISHING I liked it so much I asked Deborah if she wanted to stop by.  Imagine my surprise when she said yes!  Woohoo!  While I am looking to branch out a bit in what I read I know it's going to take a while and I'm glad Deborah was okay with helping me do that.  Thanks for stopping by Debbie!

As a short story writer do you find it difficult to quarantine your stories to a snapshot in time? Or is this how they form in your head? 

It doesn't feel difficult at all. I wish I had a mind for stories that were longer if only because the market demands them, but I seem to be drawn now to the shorter form. I don't do outlines, which is maybe part of it. I just start writing, with characters and sometimes a situation or an image in mind. I often write a lot more than I end up keeping, so part of why my work is short in length is because I think editing is at least as important as writing. And I also read a lot of short stories, which I'm sure has influenced my imagination. I'm reading more novels now, with an eye to how they're put together, because one day I'd like to try my hand at a longer work. Until then, I'll keep doing what seems to come naturally, which is short stories.

Are there any plans to extend any of these shorts into novel-length books?

There are a couple of stories in the collection I'm still drawn to, but most feel finished to me. I always worry that the integrity of a story will be damaged if it's expanded. That's something I've been thinking about a lot right now, as I'm writing new work. It's always difficult to know the proper scope for an idea––it seems you often have to actually write it out, then put it aside and come back to it to know how much time and space it deserves.

You wrote from a variety of different perspectives. Is there any particular head you found rather difficult to get in to? Which did you find the easiest? (gender or character, really)

One of the pleasures of writing fiction for me is getting into someone else's head. It's an adventure from the comfort of my own desk! I don't remember having terrible difficulty with any of the characters in the collection––usually if I can't get a voice, I give up or put the story aside until it feels more alive and real. As for writing from the perspective of men, I've never given it much thought and this naive attitude helps a lot! I think that as a writer you simply have to go wherever you're drawn to going, especially in terms of character. And you'll know when it works and when it doesn't. I also always believe that people are people––complex and strange and unknowable, whether men or women, rich or poor, young or old.

That said, the easiest characters for me to embody are often the young women. Lise in "This Other Us" and the sisters in "The Separation" all came to me fully formed and I wrote those stories quickly and easily.

Are any of your stories based on your life experiences at all? 

When they are, the experience is so changed it's almost unrecognizable. I really did live in Alberta when a tornado hit, and "The Weather" came out of that experience. But the characters and their situation were entirely fictional. It's mysterious to me where they came from, but I feel oddly attached to them!

What's in store for your next book? 

I'm working on linked stories all about the same family. I'm at the horrible spot where I've written several of these stories but it's unclear to me whether they work together, whether I'll ever deem them publishable. It's an uncomfortable grey zone, but I think it happens to all of us. The trick is to be honest with yourself, or to have people around who will be honest. My fingers are crossed!

Vanishing and Other Stories by Deborah Willis

Published August 17, 2010.

Author website.

In Vanishing and Other Stories, secrets are both kept and unearthed, and lives are shaped by missing lovers, parents, and children.  With wisdom and dexterity, moments of dark humor, and a remarkable economy of words, Deborah Willis captures an incredible array of characters that linger in the imagination and prove that nothing is ever truly forgotten.  (book back blurb)

Every once in a while I'll come across a book with such stunning writing that when I get to the end of it I can't help but heave a great big sigh of relief.  There is hope.  There is talent.  There are WORDS.

I like reading anthologies but they're usually a compendium of stories from different writers so each work is, by default, going to be different.  Different styles, different prose, different methods.  Personally I find it a lot harder for an author to write a single anthology composed entirely of their own stories and have each story differentiate itself from the last.  My experience in that is pretty even keel; one working out not so well and the other I ended up loving.  VANISHING?  Yeah, I pretty much loved it.

VANISHING has stories told of life.  They're not all that action-packed.  In many not much really happens outside of a character's internal monologues.  But the way they're all written Willis just sinks her claws into each and every one of her characters and forces them off the page so that you can't help but see them as their own individuals.  And that's exactly what they are.  From the grieving scientist in ESCAPE to the lonely teacher in THE FIANCEE to the boy-turned-man in AND THE LIVING IS EASY, each are individuals, each are wholly separate and each are as vivid in my mind as if they were all given their own books.

VANISHING is one of those books that one SHOULD read because it's that kind of book.  These are the stories that would get taught in literature classes, dissected for meaning, subtext, intent.  To some that's a bad thing but I loved reading good short stories when I was in school.  It was how I was introduced to the likes of Flannery O'Connor.  And she's pretty awesome.  But just because people SHOULD read it doesn't make it bad or dull.  They're all engaging stories, each and every one of them, with a range of protagonists, a range of ages and a good mix of both sexes.  There is literally something for everyone in VANISHING and the writing is so good all the rest would just suck you in anyway.

All of the stories are inherently real, spun golden by words that would make any writer envious (including this one).  But it's not a high falutin, overtly showy type of writing.  It's glorious, simple enough to hook the resistant but intricate enough to ensnare the more well-read, those with noses held higher than others.  When literary does it right, it REALLY does it right.  Willis's writing is effortless.  She doesn't come across as trying to impress or show off her writing prowess.  Her words are for the stories and the stories are for you.  It's that simple.  And they're wonderful.

There may not be anything supernatural in VANISHING but that doesn't make it any less engaging.  It still hooks, it still drags you in and then spits you out, leaving you reeling in your book hangover because the writing . . . THE WRITING.  It stuns.  It really does.

Ban Factor: Low - It's pretty innocuous.  There might be a couple of salacious pieces in there but that would require the banners to read and that's just downright silly to expect.