Will Allison interview

Text Box: Photo by Olya Evanitsky This interview with Will Allison, author of "What You Have Left" (2007), was first published in July 2006.

Where were you born and raised?

I was born in Columbia, South Carolina, and have since lived in Charlotte; Columbus, Ohio; Cleveland; Cincinnati; Indianapolis; and elsewhere. I now live with my wife and daughter outside New York City in South Orange, New Jersey.

What was it that first got you into writing and when did you start writing?

I started writing fiction while taking an undergraduate workshop with Lee K. Abbott at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He was a brilliant, inspiring, demanding teacher. I ended up following him to Ohio State University, where he’d been hired to start up an MFA creative writing program.

Which writers have influenced you the most?

I suppose on some level I’m influenced by every writer I’ve ever read. Lately, for instance, I’ve been rereading Jeffrey Eugenides’s
"Middlesex", which has reshaped the way I think about first person narration, and I just finished a book by Lev Grossman called "Codex" that's made me very conscious of the value of suspense and good plotting. But in the beginning, the book that really made me want to write fiction was Pinckney Benedict’s debut collection, "Town Smokes". That and Robert Boswell’s story “Living to Be a Hundred,” which I first read in "Best American Short Stories". In both cases, I was like, "Wow, I love these stories." And then, "Could I ever write stories like this?"

Where do you stand on the nature v. nurture debate? Were you born a writer, or were there factors in your environment that enabled you to become a writer?

I don’t believe anybody is born a writer; I certainly wasn’t, at least. And if I’m any kind of writer today, it’s only because I’ve spent a lot of time reading and writing over the past twenty-odd years.

There are a lot of courses teaching creative writing nowadays, but do you think that good writing can be taught?

Workshops aren’t going to magically make anybody a good writer, but I do think a good workshop can accelerate a writer’s development. In the MFA program at Ohio State, I learned in a couple of years what it might have taken me a decade to figure out on my own. But ultimately, of course, we teach ourselves.

MFA programs have come under a lot of fire, but to me, it’s much ado about nothing: if you don’t like MFA programs, don’t get an MFA, and if you don’t like so-called “workshop stories” (whose very existence I sort of doubt), don’t read them.

Have you entered writing competitions? If so, have you won any prizes?

Once upon a time I got second place in a baseball story contest sponsored by "U,SA Today" which was fun because the story was on display for a while at the Baseball Hall of Fame. But mostly I’ve tried for grants instead of entering competitions, and the grants I've received from the Indiana Arts Commission, Arts Council of Indianapolis, and Ohio Arts Council Grant have been instrumental in helping me carve out time to write.

Do you have any short stories or poems published online? (If so, please provide the URLs):

A chapter from my first novel, "What You Have Left" (Free Press, 2007), was originally published as a short story called “Atlas Towing” in the summer 2004 issue of "Zoetrope: All-Story". The full text appears online at:

http://www.all-story.com/issues.cgi?actionfiltered=show_story&story_id=236

What kind of things do you write?

I’m attracted to stories about obsessed characters, and characters who fail to live up to the standards they set for themselves. I’m also interested in the weight of history, how it shapes the present.

What, for you, is the best piece of prose that you have ever written?

My first novel.

What are you working on now?

Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, will be publishing two of my novels. The first one, "What You Have Left", is due out in June 2007. I’m currently at work on the second novel, which is set in Cleveland and takes place in the 1880s and 1980s.

What is your writing day like?

I start at 4 a.m., before my four-year-old daughter wakes up. Then I write for a few hours while she’s at preschool, then I write for a couple more hours while she naps. Somewhere in there I take a nap, too.

Where would you like to be in 10 years time?

Still on Earth.

What’s the most exciting thing about writing for you?

I really like revising. Writing first drafts is messy and confusing. It’s usually not until I’m revising a story that it clicks into focus. That’s when I know I’m working on something worthwhile. Up till then, I’m just going on faith. It’s also exciting anytime I write something I didn’t expect to write, anytime I surprise myself. Those moments are like gifts from the subconscious. I only wish I knew how to make that happen more often.

What’s the most frustrating thing about writing for you?

Writing first drafts.

What’s the best piece of feedback that you’ve had from your audience?

Does a teacher count as my audience? I’ll never forget Lee Abbott’s criticism of the very first story I wrote for my very first workshop. He argued that my main character did a particular something not because of who he was, but because the plot required it. That’s when I understood what he meant when he’d been saying character is fiction.

Do you write for a particular audience, or is your first priority to satisfy your own creativity?

I don’t write with any particular audience in mind—literate adults, maybe—but certainly I write with a reader in mind, because I write to be read. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Do you have a homepage? If so, what’s the URL?

www.willallison.com

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