Time for a writer is hard to specify because 99% of the process happens in the real world, not when sitting in front of the page. Observing people, places, and things are as much of the process as forming sentences and phrases that describe our interpretation of these perceptions.
Emily Jon Tobias – 17 May 2024
The Back Flap
MONARCH: Stories subverts the reader’s common perceptions about how love can heal, how loss and suffering can transform, and how every character deserves a second chance. America’s city scars, sewers, alleyways, and bars are landscape to their wars, as characters heal and transform under wind turbines and on open roads, in golden cornfields and with the wails of Chicago blues. Heroes in this collection are the marginalized, the sufferers, the down-trodden, the misfits, the wanderers, and the wounded, shaped by grief but not defined by their scars.
About the book
What is the book about?
MONARCH honors each human being’s capacity for change. Characters drive the collection, turning up the dial to raise the volume of voice for unsung heroes who are shades of the sufferers and healers in all. In collection, MONARCH is an exploration of the human condition through a lens of the damaged who learn to love through small acts of kindness, given and received. MONARCH‘s characters bear traumas with their bodies, and often, they transgress. They break in, break down, and ultimately, break open.
An inclusive invitation, MONARCH aims at an intimate portrayal of scarred characters on American streets beating the drum of current culture against the fierce rhythm of critical social justice issues. With this at its heart, the collection Includes a reading guide written by the author with prompts intended to inspire discourse between readers, writers, and students making the work of special interest to librarians, teachers, book clubs, and beyond.
When did you start writing the book?
The oldest story in the collection was written in 2014. Beyond that, I began immersion into the process in 2018 at the beginning of my MFA program. But creating this book was so much more than the writing of it. For me and my process, putting pen to paper, so to speak, is symptomatic of the process and occurs in the latest stage, long after deep memories have been harvested, the subconscious has risen to the surface, and imagery has been described through the mind’s eye. In this way, I could say I have been writing this project all my life.
How long did it take you to write it?
Three years consecutively, plus years before that dabbling in what would become the collection. Time for a writer is hard to specify because 99% of the process happens in the real world, not when sitting in front of the page. Observing people, places, and things are as much of the process as forming sentences and phrases that describe our interpretation of these perceptions. The most intense and time consuming part of the process for me is birthing the image and translating what is an solely internal experience into that which is accessible for my readers. My work begins with a sensation, a feeling, or an image. These forms traverse before ever making it onto a page. The road can be rocky sometimes, and I have been known to spend days on one line. Other verses flow freely. Time often bends when I write.
Where did you get the idea from?
My life, how I’ve hurt and healed, how others in my world have hurt and healed. Mostly through witnessing how people I love and know change and become better versions of themselves. The title, MONARCH, refers to how we become sovereign rulers of our own worlds based on our perspectives. Originally, the stories were meant to exercise freedom to explore my process, different points of view, and all aspects of craft that excited me. Later, it became clear that a collection was taking shape. In this way, the “idea” for the book came after the stories were written. In other words, the characters told me what the collection was all about when I gave them free reign over their own little worlds.
Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?
All of it! Because of the specific time in my life and all of the healing I was enduring, nothing quite came easily. I see the project as being birthed through me. I am a different person today than I was back then, and this collection was written at a very unique crossroads period of time. I entered a life of recovery and sobriety in 2015. The book was created in my early days of becoming a new version of myself. So in many ways, my writing process guided my healing process.
What came easily?
I can’t say that any of the writing came easily. Writing, for me, never does. My process takes an extraordinary amount of courage and discipline because I have to allow the characters to tell me how they feel, what decisions they will make from these feelings, how they are hurt, and why. Sometimes, I have to wait longer than I would like for the characters to tell me. As is in all relationships, these are things I can’t always control.
Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?
My characters are all fictitious. They are manifestations of the surfaced subconscious mind, deep imagining, and memories often locked in the safe of my mind. Creating characters requires me to break the safe. Each character is a tapestry, woven from threads of perceptions throughout my life. A character is born from a conscious rendering of the subtle energetic systems like feelings or thoughts and the sensory systems.
We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?
Women authors like Roxane Gay, Carmen Maria Machado, and A.M. Homes are particularly influential because of the risks they take to be real with their readers. They sacrifice nothing to be authentic, bold artists, and their works come from a true space. Other writers like Stuart Dybek, Charles Baxter, J.D. Salinger, Chris Abani, Lucia Berlin, Amy Bender, Lydia Davis, Flannery O’Connor, and Toni Morrison teach me mastery of craft. Ultimately, craft is my greatest passion, and these writers have become like silent mentors for me. Works from these writers have earned a permanent place on my writing table.
Do you have a target reader?
Adult readers who have an appreciation for exploration of craft in literary short form fiction. Readers who have grieved and healed, lost and loved—those of us who have been transformed by life. There is a universal quality to the stories, but they do involve some difficult issues. The work is not for the faint of heart.
About Writing
Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?
My writing process is messy and unruly. I have come to accept my process as a sacred gift. If I am to unwrap the gift box and take a look inside, I find darkness in wait for conversion to light through the transformation of wounded characters. This darkness presents itself through my work in layers—there’s the kind of darkness that makes us cringe, or another deeply transformative layer of darkness. My early drafts are sprawling, as I loop around the heart of the story, in concentric tightening circles, each draft further isolating the very darkest heart. I come at stories in two parts, and my first draft will always have two stories concealed within it. The lighter layer of two levels of darkness—the one easier to digest—overlays the other deeper, darker layer. This is my subconscious mind’s way of backing into the real story. Once the stories are separated, I’m onto the next draft which will be a rewrite of either one of these two stories, depending on what my subconscious is ready to offer. This revision tightens the concentric circles, and often contains yet another two separate stories like branches on a story tree. This rewrite might also contain the darkest heart—what the story’s really about—but, if not, the process continues—writing drafts, tightening the circles, until finally—like a jewel hiding at the bottom of the gift box—the heart is found. This moment of discovery causes a visceral reaction, and I feel the sensation in my body. My process principles such as time, patience, stillness, discipline, and commitment act as special care instructions for this precious, complex gift.
Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?
I do not outline. I write, endlessly.
Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?
Are we ever really finished? I think this is one of the strangest bits about being a writer: we have such a hard time knowing when we’re done! The answer to this question really depends on the piece and its character. Sometimes, my characters want to go on and on and on. This happens when they have been hurt or traumatized badly. They tend to talk around the issue, so to speak. In these cases, I must let the writing come freely and then go back for rewrite and revision. Other times, one paragraph can be picked at and teased as it’s being born. Often, this happens when I have an image that I need to describe just right. Either way, the character drives these methods.
Did you hire a professional editor?
My editor was introduced to me through my publisher, so I did not hire her. I was fortunate because she has become a lifelong friend. For us, our friendship and how she knows me was critical to how she worked through the collection with me and will continue to be important as we work on future projects together.
Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?
Sometimes. This depends on the work at hand. This ranges from heavy metal, jam bands, jazz, blues, ambient, and beyond. Sometimes I work in silence. There is no rule to how this works for me. I have to get quiet enough within myself to listen to what I need at the time. The key is to then provide the nurturing for myself in these ways.
About Publishing
Did you submit your work to Agents?
Yes. I was querying agents during the Covid pandemic while the world was in upheaval. Short story collections are notoriously a hard sell as a debut with agents. Although I tried, I did not expect that I would get signed with this project at the time I was submitting. The good news is that I now have a handful of agents interested in my novel when it is ready.
What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?
This was a gradual process that happened over time when I realized that I would not have the help of an agent.
Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?
My publisher’s designer helped create the cover from a photo I chose.
Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?
I am using NetGalley to help with finding reviewers for my ARC. Because of my lack of social media presence, marketing is difficult, at best. The most important thing to me with publishing this project is putting my voice behind the work, so I have a bunch of readings scheduled across the country after the book launches. I believe that this book can help start discussions in book clubs, schools, and libraries, so I am hoping the book finds its way there.
Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?
Expect to shoulder the weight of promotion and marketing. Expect to need an internet and social media presence to gain traction. Expect to retain a lot of creative input and freedom. Expect to self-motivate. Expect to meet many brilliant, creative, hard-working peers that will become friends for life. Expect to build a nurturing, nourishing literary community.
About You
Where did you grow up?
Milwaukee, Wiscsonsin
Where do you live now?
Dana Point, California (South Orange County)
What would you like readers to know about you?
I am incredibly shy and private when it comes to social media, but I love how community functions in our literary world. If any readers want to chat, please feel free to email me.
What are you working on now?
Currently, I am working on the first draft of my debut novel, Whiskey Milk.
When fighting to live, the craving for love can kill. At its heart, Whiskey Milk: A Novel is a love story of survival set off by the intersection of four women’s lives in a Seattle rehab. Two years later, Frankie, Aviva, Marj, and Zuzu reunite once again to celebrate Zu’s sobriety when a fateful meeting with Lennon from her past will forever change the course of her life. As Zu falls further into Len yet again, will her addictions win? While she struggles to maintain her sobriety, a family mystery comes to light for Frankie that sets the women on course to face conflict in the Midwest. Meanwhile, V’s secret affair threatens to end her friendship with Zu, but the nearing death of Marj’s father weaves the women together again. Each has demons to face and crosses to bear in the battle to stay clean. Wounds are exposed, family secrets haunt them, and love relationships may kill them, but in the end, each must choose between love and letting go.
End of Interview:
For more from Emily Jon Tobias visit her website and follow her on Twitter.
Get your copy of Monarch from Amazon.