American River Review 2019 - Flipbook - Page 78
An Interview with
Distiguished Author
Lois Ann Abraham
1. How do your female protagonists reflect your
interpretation of the potentiality of women in the
world?
I am interested in opening up women’s real experiences to view, hopefully without prettification or apology. It
seems like an unmined vein in literature to me. I write a
lot about women because we are so interesting!
2. Humor is often one of the most demanding kind
of writing to not only convey, but to also convey
thoughtfully. In your writing, specifically with this
piece in the magazine, it often comes off as a natural
inclination. Within that inclination, there are hints of
tragedy as well. How do tragedy and comedy coexist
within your work?
Ha! Humor is a natural inclination to me, but it’s
usually about how people are, and it’s an organic part of
character development, not a farcical turn in the plot. In
“The Sixties,” the humor, I realize now, is both natural
to the protagonist and a shield she uses to defend herself
from feelings she can’t handle alone. Plus she’s just
funny.
3. It is often a concern for female writers to not be
received as intellectuals when they implement humor
into their writing—how do you feel as a writer who
blatantly stares at that presumption in the face? Was
this concern one you ever shared? If so, how did you
get past it? Particularly in the story, “The Sixties,”
you are stripped of your comfort and naked within
the confines of cancer—you allow such vulnerability
to shine through the humor within.
I want to be clear that this story is NOT autobiographical. I’ve never had this diagnosis or neighbor or husband
or life. I am a good gin rummy player; all else is fiction.
I do write close to the bone sometimes, but I don’t really
worry about how I am perceived. If I’m read, that completes the circle and makes me happy.
76
American River Review
4. There are many aspiring writers who wish to pursue a writing career, be it creative or not. As a former
professor of English, what would you say to students
who wish to follow a similar path to your own? Was
there any particular turning point in your life at
which you were uncertain of the future and what it
would bring?
I really just wandered into this, more or less accidentally. When Ad Lumen Publishing started up, I had a
body of work in hand, written over years. So that’s luck,
and being ready for luck. I suggest a lot of daydreaming
about the story you want to tell and a lot of writing. And
reading good stuff. I don’t think of writing as my career.
Basically, I would advise people who like to write to
spend no time at all wondering about ego concerns and
lots of time creating.
