----------Interview by Renee Roberson
WOW: Hello, Bianca, and welcome! I loved your winning story, “A Forgiveness of Crows," which discusses a family curse and the ability to break the cycle of generational trauma. How did you first get the idea for this piece?
Bianca: I’ve always admired crows for their gentleness, mischievous nature, and their extreme intelligence. Recently, I watched a blip of a video, maybe 45 seconds long, about crows’ ability to form relationships. Crows are familial creatures that have long memories and can hold grudges for up to 17 years! If you hurt one, you can end up catching a thwack on the head from its grandchild years later—they mean business. As an African-American in the South, connecting crows to Jim Crow came as easily as saying the word “crow” out loud. So, I started there, and the “family history” unfolded all on its own. I’m interested in exploring this idea in an extended format, maybe as a novelette, in the future! There’s a small detail of my narrator being a woman—a break in the cycle of sons that become fathers who are killed by the crow curse—that could have several meanings. Was it actually her tiny son’s kindness that broke the curse? Did the curse require a “male sacrifice” of sorts, and that’s why she was spared? Or was it something else entirely? I’m quite eager to know myself.
WOW: I did not know that about crows! I can definitely see this being extended into a longer story. Have you published any flash fiction or short stories prior to this one? Where do you find your ideas?
Bianca: I actually haven’t published any flash fiction before! I’m a novelist, and I’ve never considered myself strong at writing short fiction; I’m far too long-winded for that. In fact, I wrote “A Forgiveness of Crows” as a 2,200-word short story before I re-read the contest rules and realized I was supposed to be writing flash fiction, so I had to cut down this story quite a bit! It was a lovely challenge, though, and it’s made me more confident in my ability to write short fiction. My ideas come from odd tidbits and things I learn, or from inspiration in books that I read; working at a library gives me a lot of inspiration to work with all day long.
WOW: You are represented by Ladderbird Literary Agency. Could you tell us more about your path to finding an agent and what books you have in the works?
Bianca: I’m so proud to be represented by Ladderbird. I’ve been writing young adult contemporary fiction novels since college. Around big life events like marriage and children, I queried on-and-off for nearly twelve years before writing a story that centers around the lives and mental health struggles of Black and brown people; in particular, it’s a love story between two high school seniors, one Hispanic and one Black. I decided to, for the first time, query Black and brown literary agents. I found Ladderbird, read its bold, front-and-center mission statement on their website that says, “We have a passion for bringing marginalized voices to the forefront,” and I felt like I and my work would be supported and seen in a way that we hadn’t before. I reached out to Leah Pierre, and she loved my story as much as I do. It was very “right moment, right time,” but built upon years of writing, scrapping, writing again, and quite a few dozen rejection letters. Currently, we’re querying my YA mental health romance and a YA rom-com, and I’m also editing a YA paranormal novel with a touch of romance and a whole lot of spooky. We’re crossing all of our fingers that an editor will bite!
WOW: Kudos to you for sticking with it! I know writing and querying for so many years is not for the faint of heart. It sounds like you found the perfect champion for your stories and I can't wait to see how your journey progresses. I noticed you work in a library (and I work part-time at an independent bookstore!) so I’m curious what genres you are seeing grow in popularity with your patrons.
Bianca: I’ve worked in public libraries for 13 years, and I’ve seen so many genre trends come and go. Having one foot in the publishing world helps me see the trends before they even hit the library sometimes! Currently, the focus is less on genre and more on author and author read-alikes; aside from romantasy, which is still a major player in our circulation numbers, authors like Freida McFadden, Colleen Hoover, Kristin Hannah, and Taylor Jenkins-Reid always fly off the shelves. Any author who writes a lot of edgy intrigue is going to be a must-borrow. A touch of historical fiction usually makes a book even more coveted. And with books older and newer being turned into films left and right, I see renewed interest in stories that were popular ten or twenty years ago. Sometimes I get to see a classic, such as Wuthering Heights, start circulating more, and that’s really exciting!
WOW: And don't you love recommending books to people looking for their next great read? I concur with all you said above. What is the last book you read and what was it about?
Bianca: I read a cozy little book called Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa. Takako, the 25-year-old main character, is broken up with in a painful and embarrassing way, and she gets locked in a mundane cycle of depression in her city apartment. She moves to the outskirts of Tokyo, into the tiny apartment above a bookshop owned by her eccentric uncle. Previously a non-reader, she becomes engrossed in the second-hand books as she organizes them and begins selling them alongside her uncle. Over the course of the few months she spends living above the Morisaki Bookshop, she learns about herself, love, and gains a new perspective on the importance of consistent, healthy relationships. Lately, I’ve been reading sweet, human-centered stories from Japanese and Korean authors, both as a way to gain insight into another culture and to read something different from my usual rotation of spooky, spicy, and non-fiction.
WOW: Those stories are very popular, and now I have to put Days at the Morisaki Bookshop on my list! I have also been wanting to check out Jesse Q. Sutanto, who's been writing in a variety of genres. Bianca, thank you again for being here today and please keep us posted on your publication news!
0 comments:
Post a Comment