Contemporary creative writers often struggle balancing commercial needs and interests with artistic vision. Author Jim Shepard, however, sees writing not necessarily as a struggle to meet the demands of a modern audience, but rather, a process of artistic play and expression. With six novels and three story collections completed, Shepard speaks as an up-and-coming voice in contemporary fiction. Shepard will speak as part of the UCLA Hammer Museum Readings series tonight. But first, he speaks with the Daily Bruin’s Jenae Cohn about his most recent award-winning story collection, “Like You’d Understand, Anyway,” his teaching position at Williams College, and how he cures writer’s block.
Daily Bruin: When you begin to write a story, do you think first of a character, a scene, a phrase, or is it something else?
Jim Shepard: Though all stories are different, I usually begin with some kind of situation that seems kind of evocative to me. All of my fiction recently has been initiated in nonfiction. So I might be reading something unbelievably nerdy, like how the Hindenburg (airship) operated. And I suddenly might imagine some version of someone I know and myself having to be part of some huge, spectacular problem, and some kind of story might spool out of that.
DB: You teach film classes at Williams College. What do you like about teaching film versus creative writing?
JS: It’s a different way of thinking. It’s a different way of constructing the evidence. If you’ve taught for a long time, it’s kind of a nice change of pace.
DB: I know you’re most well-known for teaching creative writing. So, what do you like best about teaching fiction in a small workshop setting?
JS: I like teaching close-reading, which is a lot of what a workshop does because it’s wonderful to remind people that words matter in a charged way. It’s not just that they come out of a workshop better able to read a short story, but they’re also better able to break down when politicians (lie to) them and when their friends say something that seems a little bit bizarre. They can figure out when they’re bothered by it. … I like the way it helps them in terms of negotiating the world.
DB: When students claim they feel stuck on writing or have a case of “writer’s block,” what do you recommend they do?
JS: I think that every way of getting past writer’s block is some version of relaxing a little bit in terms of prematurely turning the crabby critic in yourself loose. Mostly writer’s block is a version of people looking at their work and going, “Oh my god, is that supposed to be good?” and stopping themselves.
It is a little bit like going to a kid in a sandbox, and saying “What do you think you’re doing?” and this poor little kid says, “I don’t know,” and you tell him to get out of the sandbox.
So I guess part of what I counsel to students who feel like they’re stuck … (is) remind them that especially in the first stages when writing fiction or poetry, you really are supposed to be playing. You’re not supposed to be solely executing a brilliantly complicated plan that you’ve already worked out in your head.
DB: Do you utilize that strategy when you feel stuck?
JS: Oh, yeah. Part of what I’ll often try and do is tell myself, “Well, what’s something you want to do?” I try to find something that I’ll really enjoy doing because one of the other things ““ if you’ve ever tried writing you probably know this ““ is if you’re not having fun, the reader’s not going to have any fun.
DB: So, on days when you feel like you’re struggling, how do you motivate yourself to write?
JS: (laughs) Well, one of the reasons people become writers is that they’re so great at procrastination! Most of the writers I know that I admire are sort of bizarre combinations of totally undisciplined and procrastinating types of people.
It’s not as though the writers I admire get up at 8:45 and sit down at their desk and don’t move again until they produce something wonderful. We’re all trying to get ourselves to be a little more disciplined and work a little more systematically. So, one thing we tell ourselves to do is sit down and try ““ even if we don’t feel like it, do what you can. Try to get yourself engaged in the sense of play.
DB: In your newest story collection (“Like You’d Understand, Anyway”), you take on the first-person perspective throughout. Why did you decide to use the first-person so frequently?
JS: I actually started feeling like these acts of taking on voices were so difficult and so hubristic that the best way to do it was head-on. I’d be sort of hunting around with a coy third-person voice for the best sort of way of rendering an ancient Greek, and then I would go, “You know what? I’m just going to have him talk to the reader because that really just confronts the problem of authenticity head-on.”
DB: Would you say you enjoy the process of writing a collection of short stories or a novel more?
JS: It’s hard to say. I think in some ways, stories are less scary because there’s a shorter process during which you think the whole thing might collapse, and if a story does collapse, there’s less time that’s been invested in the whole thing. I’ve also been drawn to stories more recently because of the speed in which you can get in and get out emotionally, and the emotional directness of it. The novel feels like a more expansive form. I also joke to audiences that I’m drawn to the short story because it pays less, so I can be a lesser provider for my children, less food on the dining room table.
DB: Do you see yourself returning to a novel anytime soon?
JS: Well, that’s something that my family’s hoping! If you have any ideas, let me know. For the moment, I’m working on short stories, but it’s always possible that a short story might develop into a novel, not so much because of the scope of the story, though that’s part of it, but it’s the sense I have of not wanting to let go of this material or this character quite so easily. I want to come back to it eventually.
DB: If a UCLA student asked you how to break into the writing business, what kind of advice would you give him or her?
JS: In terms of breaking into the business, my first piece of advice would be (to) read as much as you can and try to read the stuff you love and try to read lots of different things, so you get a sense of what’s possible out there and what’s available.
A lot of times people just starting out will say with real vehemence, “Well, I don’t want to read a lot of people because I don’t want to be too influenced.” I usually say, “Well, you should be so fortunate that you’re influenced by all of these wonderful people.” And in fact, the more you read, the less likely you are to be influenced by any one of those people.
DB: What do you enjoy most about doing live readings?
JS: There’s that moment where a number of people come up and say, “Wow, I hadn’t realized what your stuff was like.” You realize there is something to be gained by getting up and trying to get people to engage your word personally and go find your book on a shelf somewhere.