Interview with Author Jim Wright

Jim Wright caught our attention by taking a popular trope and giving it a fresh spin in "Last Night at the Dollar Store." We love the working-class heroine's perspective when the apocalypse comes calling in this creative and authentically voiced piece. Read more about the author's writing process, reading suggestions, and about his childhood mouse's astronaut adventure below.

What makes you keep writing, even when it's hard?

When I find myself stuck and in the doldrums with my writing, I pick a scene or character or stretch of dialogue to write and dig into it to find at least one strong emotion that resonates with me. I might find an angle to a character that elicits my admiration or disgust, for example. Powered by this emotion, I can usually build a head of steam and write my way out of that temporary rut.

Advice on creating that you’ve learned by trial and error.

Every writer has an inner voice that criticizes, finds fault with, picks apart one’s writing. When scribbling a first version of anything, I now consciously disconnect from that complaining voice, refuse to take its calls, until I have hacked out the initial draft. Only then do I evaluate my work through a lens of judgment. I found that, when I can block out the first snipings of my inner critic and instead just write, I am a hell of a lot more productive.

What's your favorite underappreciated novel or short story (a work you never hear anyone else talking about)?

I am a fan of John Dos Passos’s USA trilogy, a work that has been largely forgotten since the 1930s. The way that he constructs a grand and sweeping plot through a montage of dialogue, excerpts, spare descriptions, and pictorial elements inspires me to search for alternate ways to tell stories than simple, flat narrative.

Do you have a favorite book on writing or creating that's been a helpful resource?

I swear by that workhorse of fiction-writing advice: Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King.

What are your short-term writing goals? 

Completing whatever short story I am currently working on is my all-consuming short-term writing goal. And, while I’m writing it, that under-construction story is always the most amazing work I’ve ever produced.

What is your writing strategy? Do you write every day with a rigid schedule, or are you more flexible with your practice?

Writing is a highly idiosyncratic activity, and every writer must discover what routine works best for them. For instance, I cannot write a story unless I first have a fully formed plot in mind. So I write episodically, whenever a plot seizes my imagination. When I am between story plots, I can go for a week or longer without writing. However, when I am deep into the white-hot work of drafting a story, I can write for 3-4 hours a day.

What do you hope readers gain from your work? 

Most of my stories are speculative fiction. I hope readers perusing my tales enjoy the quality of my writing (of course). But I also hope that they experience wonder and suspense as the plots unfold and surprise at the stories’ endings.

If you were a cryptid, what would your name be and where would you dwell?

If I were a cryptid, I would hover submerged among the cattails in a farm pond in Vermont, lying in wait for unsuspecting livestock. And the animals would know me as Cow-Bane …

What’s your favorite musical instrument? Why?

I am attracted to the banjo, because it creates such an upbeat, cheerful sound. You could play a banjo at a funeral and the congregation would jump up and start to dance.

One sentence soapbox: 

Diversity, equity, and inclusion safeguard the dignity and rights of all Americans, and these ideas are our greatest bulwark against oppression and tyranny. 

How is your closet organized? 

My closet is intentionally organized according to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and all the objects contained within it are ruled by entropy. Nonetheless, an uninformed observer viewing my closet may overlook the science and call me a slob.

Have you ever had a supernatural encounter?

When I was five, I dreamed that I was standing in the attic of our old farmhouse, where I witnessed a pale, silent woman dressed in white with red, red lips watching me. The fact that I can still recall her stark stare across the ensuing decades convinces me that there must have been some fraction of the supernatural about this encounter.

Most unconventional place you’ve spent time writing in? 

When my family and I visited Spain two years ago, my wife and daughter were clothes-shopping in Valencia. Killing time, I loitered on the street, typing ideas for stories into my phone.

Do you know any magic?

No. But I occasionally like to slip parlor and mage magic into my stories.

What’s the one problem with the human condition you wish could be fixed? 

Evolution drives humans to acquire, and our hunger for wealth and status is never sated. So, the eternal urge for more, more, more results in emotional unhappiness and a damaged world. I wish as a species that humankind could just learn sometimes to say, “Enough.”

Why are manholes round?

Manholes are round because people in the abstract resemble cylinders. So in cross-section, humans approximate circles and thus fit round holes most efficiently.

Tell us a secret. 

This disclosure doesn’t really rise to a juicy secret or anything … but I really like crows and dandelions.

What is your favorite museum or gallery?

I love the NYC Museum of Natural History because of the phenomenal collection of dinosaur skeletons (and the Egyptology exhibit!).

Most triumphant thing you did as a child?

I wouldn’t typically associate the word “triumphant” in any way, shape, or form with my own childhood. One time, though, my brothers and I launched our pet mouse in a model rocket. The rocket soared high above our farm, and the mouse (named Haley) survived reentry.

Unpopular opinion, go: 

I believe that social media may be distorting human social and emotional development in ways so profound that we won’t realize its full negative impact for 20-30 years or more. And that scares me.

Jim Wright (he/him) lives in central New York State, USA. He writes short stories when he can and works as a school psychologist when he must. He is a past member of the Downtown Writer’s Center in Syracuse, NY.