Tara Laskowski lives in Northern Virginia with her husband, son, and two cats. She is the senior editor for SmokeLong Quarterly (www.smokelong.com) and has had numerous stories published online and in print. This story is part of a collection of "etiquette" stories that she is currently completing. More information about her work can be found at www.taralaskowski.com.
Her story "The Etiquette of Arson" appears in Issue Thirty-Three of The Collagist.
Here, she speaks to interviewer Joseph Scapellato about form, character, and possible revisions to submissions guidelines. Enjoy!
1. Where did “The Etiquette of Arson” begin for you, and how did it get to here?
I honestly can't remember exactly how it began. I wrote this story somewhere in the middle of my ten etiquette stories, and I was looking for a darker subject. I also thought it would be fun to try to get inside the head of someone who started fires on purpose. And this is where it ended up.
2. To me, this piece reads like a compelling and mysterious collage—a bundle of assorted chapters, appendixes, and prologues. Can you tell us a little more about how you approached this form? (How did you find/follow it? What were your goals?)
I was driving around one day and thought of this title: "The Etiquette of Adultery." I thought that was a really cool title and wrote it down. I carried around in my wallet for almost a year until I decided to do something with it. I thought about the etiquette books and how formal they are, and the instructional kind of tone, and thought I'd play around with that. From that story, I just started doing more of them in the same format—adding different elements to each one, like glossary of terms, appendix, notes, etc. These stories are really fun to write. But one of my goals, beyond just a weird format, was to make sure that a character emerged from each of these stories. An individual. And that is the most fun about it, seeing who this person is.
3. Almost every section makes use of imperative sentences—“Stop. Touch the doorknob. It is hot, so step back.” You mention in your bio that you’re writing other “etiquette pieces”—to what extent do you use the imperative in those works, and what have you discovered about the imperative while working on this project? (Its strengths and weaknesses, its surprising qualities?)
Yes, they are all written in this form. It's challenging after awhile to make them feel different. I started to feel about halfway through that maybe they all sounded the same, or maybe this would get boring. So I tried to make different voices come through in each—still using the imperative, but incorporating different tones and different language to hopefully make them individual enough.
4. Some literary magazine editors say that their position as editor affects their own writing/writing process; others say, “Not really.” How has being an editor at SmokeLong Quarterly affected (or not affected) your relationship with your writing?
I'm not sure if it has in any dramatic way. Sometimes when I read a really great story sent to us I think, "Shit. Why can't I do this?" But I think it's interesting to read submissions—I learn a lot about pitfalls people fall into, and themes I should avoid. (I joke with our editors that we should change the submissions guidelines to say we don't take stories about women getting their periods, people getting cancer, or anything about or inspired by Charles Bukowski.)
5. What writing projects are you working on right now other than the etiquette pieces?
I have a novel that still mildly interests me. My husband and I just had our first baby five months ago, so I've been struggling to find large chunks of time to write. So I guess now I'm trying to build up some more flash pieces and short stories, and really trying to decide which longer project to focus on.
6. What knockout writing have you been reading recently? Are there any upcoming releases you're excited about?
See note above about five month old son--so, I haven't been getting as much reading done as I would like, either. But I am reading Stephen King's The Stand for the first time and it is BLOWING ME AWAY. I just love it. I'm also reading Truck Dance by Jeff Landon, which is a really wonderful collection of flash. I'm pretty excited to read Matt Bell's Cataclysm Baby, too.