Fictionaut Five: Ethel Rohan

Irish-born Ethel Rohan‘s most recent stories have or will appear in Hot Metal Bridge, On Earth As It Is, Bluestem Magazine, and Pif Magazine. In addition to her story collection, Cut Through the Bone, from Dark Sky Books, her second story collection, Hard to Say, is forthcoming from PANK in 2011. She blogs at ethelrohan.com.

How do you feel about the importance of having a mentor as a writer?

I’m a forever student, always seeking, always learning.

As a girl, I struggled with learning differences and every school day attended what back then in Ireland we called ‘remedial classes.’ Sister Gerethie, gray-haired under her black habit, with Multiple Sclerosis and a blackthorn cane, was my first true mentor. She took me from the mis-belief that I was stupid and a failure to the realization that I could be smart and successful.

In America’s equivalent to high school, I again felt mentored and nurtured by my English teacher, Miss Ryanie. She supported and encouraged my writing and stories, and made me feel worthwhile, as if I had something special to offer others through my words and imagination.

I felt mentored again in Mills College while earning my MFA in fiction, most especially by Victor LaValle, author of Slapboxing with Jesus and Big Machine. At a time when I was struggling mentally and emotionally, Victor championed my work and buoyed my faith in my voice, my uniqueness, and the stories that only I could tell.

Most recently, Kevin O’Cuinn, fiction editor, Word Riot, entered my life at just the right time to encourage and propel me, to reassure me that I was writing stories worth readers’ time, interest and investment.

If I’ve learned anything about myself and my writing by now, it’s that nothing will stop me putting words on the page. That said, each of the above-mentioned were vital to my growth and success as a writer, to my faith in myself and what I had to offer readers.

A mental ex-lax thing, do you have tricks to move things through when not feeling as inspired?

Honestly, I never feel blocked or uninspired. My struggle is more to remember to step away from my constant writing and attend to the rest of my life, especially my daughters. I used to worry I’d run out of material, characters, and/or imagination. That I’d have no more “good” stories to tell. That I would indeed get blocked. I don’t worry about any of that anymore. The words, characters and stories are endless. The challenge, I’ve learned, is to pick the right word, the right character, the right story.

What writers, artists, musicians (dead or alive) do you turn to again and again for inspiration?

I worry it’s peculiar to me, but I don’t usually write to music. I’ve sometimes played classical, New Age, and my favorite songs and artists while I write, but I prefer silence—just the sounds of our house and cat and the click-click of the keyboard.

I’m a ferocious reader and everything I read inspires me in one way or another—whether to aspire to, emulate, or police against.

Recent titles I’ve read (am currently reading) include (chap)books by Darlin’ Neal, xTx, Tillie Olsen, Paula Bomer, Eric Beeny, Denis Johnson, Matt Bell, Courtney Eldridge, J.G. Ballard, and Sam Lipsyte. I’m never far from a book. Never.

Three things every writer would benefit from?

Discipline, faith, and perseverance.

What is the best writing advice you ever got?

From Victor LaValle: Be interesting, strange and surprising. Also, know your weaknesses as a writer and police against them.

Tell us about your new collection!

Cut Through the Bone, from Dark Sky Books, is a collection of thirty very short stories. The stories center on my obsessions and preoccupations with missing parts, severed selves, and incompleteness. I believe in this collection and hope hard the stories will resonate with readers. Will leave them feeling moved and rewarded.

What is in the works?

My second story collection, Hard to Say, a little book of fourteen linked stories, is forthcoming from PANK, 2011. I’ve ‘finished’ a third story collection ms, The World Dented, that I haven’t submitted anywhere yet. I’m also working through a ‘final’ revision of a novel set in Dublin, titled Home Slippery Home.

The Fictionaut Five is our ongoing series of interviews with Fictionaut authors. Every Wednesday, Meg Pokrass asks a writer five (or more) questions. Meg is the editor-at-large for BLIP Magazine, and her stories and poems have been published widely. She blogs at http://megpokrass.com.