What has your journey as a writer been like and what was behind the decisions that you made to get to where you are today?

I think my journey, like that of many other writers, has been a fairly unpredictable one. I was bitten by the writing bug when I was around fourteen or fifteen years old, but didn’t begin trying to actively pursue it until I was in my early twenties. That decision came after the death of my mother, which as a bit of a wakeup call for me to try and chase my dreams with more fervor. Once I made that decision, I committed myself pretty fervently. I built my entire life around writing—learning more about writing, experimenting with writing and, most importantly, making sure that I had time to write. This basically meant being sure to only go after jobs that would allow me to have writing time available when I got home. And, of course, this also meant limiting some of my social life. I like to think of this as the start of my long journey as a hermit. Haha.

Is there anything that you would do differently?

I don’t think so. While my writing journey was—and still is—quite difficult at times, at the end of the day I really have enjoyed it. That enjoyment hasn’t really lessened over the years. Writing is still the favorite way that I like to spend my time. But, as I think about it, maybe I would have tried to be more graceful and forgiving of myself as a writer. One thing that I have always struggled with is excessive self-criticism. I’ve criticized myself too harshly for decades—both as a writer and as a person—and, if I could talk with my younger self, I’d tell him to back off of the emotional self-harm.

What was your experience of pursuing an MFA in Poetry at UNCW like? In your opinion, are MFAs a good route for writers?

While my experience started out rocky, it was wonderful by the end of my time in the MFA. My first semester in the MFA was rough—and that’s putting it mildly. I was in a particular workshop class where, for whatever reason, rather than provide constructive criticism, the class was basically the experience of being raked over the coals each week. I literally almost quit the program. But, thankfully, one of my mentors from undergrad—a poetry professor named Lavonne Adams—talked me down from the proverbial ledge. She encouraged me to stick it out and, the very next semester, I found other mentors in the program who made my writing excel by leaps and bounds. That was definitely worth it.

Are MFAs a good route for writers? Well, I think that’s a question each writer has to answer for themselves. They’re not a cure all of writing, nor are they guaranteed to make you a better writer, get your book published, or anything like that. What MFAs are is an opportunity to spend a couple of years surrounded by people who know about and love writing. It’s a chance for fellowship and mentorship. It’s a chance to find your writing tribe. That can be very valuable. But it’s not a requirement for success as a writer either. It varies by person.

How does your poetry influence or interact with your fiction writing?

Great question. I might go so far as to say that poetry is one of thing that helped my fiction writing grow the most. I first got into poetry writing during undergrad. I was writing superhero poems and wound up falling in love with sonnets. At the time, my fiction was very overwritten and long-winded. And, to make it worse, I didn’t really know I was doing it. Then, during grad school, as I was focusing on my poetry and learning to be more efficient and economical with my language, that taught me to be more efficient and economical with language in my prose as well. The result was that, after spending a few years hyper-focused on poetry, I came back to fiction writing with a new lens and a few new techniques, which helped it dramatically.

Not many authors get the chance to have their work adapted for television. What was that experience like with The Returned?

Personally, it was a terrific experience. Now, the full disclosure side of things is that I had absolutely zero involvement with the show. I literally just signed over the rights and went off to work on my next book. However it really was something special to see my characters represented by actors that I knew and was a fan of. Omar Epps, Francis Fisher, and, particularly, Kurtwoood Smith were all actors that I knew and enjoyed and, to make it even better, they all turned out to be really wonderful people. Kurtwood, especially, is one of the warmest people you can ever run into. So, for me, the experience was wonderful.

You have received great acclaim for your writing, most recently with Hell Of A Book which won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2021. What advice do you have for writers who want to make a living out of writing? Or, rather, who want to be a writer for the long-term?

The best advice that I can give if someone wants to make a living out of writing is two-fold: be flexible and expect a rough ride. What I mean by “be flexible” is to realize that, even for a “successful” author, the finances of book publishing aren’t as lucrative as most people expect. You can have a successful book, and still need to be make ends meet. If you’re a fiction writer, be flexible enough to pivot into screenwriting, essays, marketing, or other things in order to make extra money. Look for opportunities for writing-related teaching and public speaking jobs that can help make ends meet. The list goes on. The key here is that the odds of anyone existing solely off of a single novel or memoir are astronomically low. Yes, it does happen, but it’s so rare that it’s essentially like winning the lottery. And you shouldn’t plan your meals based around your lottery winnings.

As for the “expect a rough ride” portion of the advice…well…I think that speaks for itself. This is a difficult craft and profession. Even when you’re “successful” it’s a very feast or famine existence. This equates into a life in which the highs are dizzying, and the lows are gut-wrenching. But it’s part of the bundle. It’s not an impossible life, but it’s more challenging than most expect. So temper expectations and learn to love the art. Love of the art, love of words, love of exploration of your voice as a writer becomes the thing that keeps you seated on this rough ride and, eventually, gets you to where you want to be.

What value do you think poetry has to offer to the world in this current moment?

As always, poetry is incredibly valuable as a means of expression. Poetry is the place where we go to feel the most. Poetry has that wonderful capability to redefine the common and mundane, and to break open the overly complex and reduce it down to its barest parts. Poetry is where we sing through the pain, and we all need that in this current world.

What role does poetry currently play in your life?

Currently, I’m more of a poetry reader than writer. When I’m stalled in my fiction writing, I will dig back through poetry collections that have meant a lot to me and I’ll study the techniques the writers use there in order to help me solve some writing trouble I’m having. But I also just read poetry to let it wash over me, to live in the words and the places presented there, and to marvel at the ability poetry has to possess so much power in so few words.

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