| quarterly conversations |
| gwendolyn joyce mintz ...a conversation about history, compassion, storytelling and humanity... |
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| Joyce Carol Oates has said that “ideas have come from the strangest of places.” Where do your own ideas for stories come from? Ideas for my stories come from a variety of sources. Many come from history; my own personal and the larger one, as well. Some come from news stories; I read a story about teen prostitution in the New York Times and immediately I wanted to create a voice that spoke beyond the statistic and the headline. Sometimes an overheard line of conversation or a person on the street can inspire a story. I'm open to ideas appearing from wherever they may exist. I try to keep my eyes and ears very open and receptive If you were to give advice to a beginning writer, what advice would that be? Read! Read! Read! Everything and anything you can. And, write as much as possible. I'm not a "write every day" kind of writer, though I ponder stories-in-progress, do research and other related tasks when I'm not writing. So don't try to adhere to any kind of rules; learn what works best for you and do that. Be open to criticism. Even, and especially, when it hurts. Spend some time with those comments. Chances are, you're being led to a self-doubt or frustration. Be courageous enough to explore it and you, as well as your writing, will be better for it. Somewhere I read this quote: Learn the rules like a master so you can break them like an artist. Do that. Although you may be eager to see your name in print, don't submit until you are ready to accept rejection because often the no's come faster and more frequently than the yes's. Why do you write? What motivates you to keep the words flowing? I write because it's a talent afforded me and I want to develop and explore it. Despite the talent, writing was always a hit-and-miss kind of activity for me. I didn't have the discipline needed to be consistent and to encourage growth. Then there was ten years when personal tragedies silenced me. As I made my way out of that period of my life, I realized how much I loved words and how much I loved creating tales and exploring the world around me through language. I write because I truly love the process of it. Here’s another quote: “To be at peace with ourselves, we need to know ourselves” (Caitlin Matthews). Does your writing help you in the ongoing process of knowing yourself? If so, how? My unfinished master's thesis was about writing as a counseling tool. Healing and self-knowledge come out of writing as we organize, explore and discover what lies in the unconscious. I was working on a story and the main character had some very rigid ideas and I realized that those were *my* ideas. By way of the story, I was able to see how outdated some of my beliefs were. I needed to reassess the truth of them, toss them if necessary. What do you hope to accomplish with your writing? To share in the sacred art of storytelling. What an honor and a responsibility. I want to give voice to those who haven't been given a chance to speak their truths. What does your writing hope to accomplish with you? My writing hopes to move me to greater understanding, greater compassion. Sometimes stories feel channeled through me and in those instances, I'm often in awe and have great respect for the teller of the tale. I feel particularly blessed that I'm the one chosen to relay these particular stories, and although I know they really come from some part of myself (and then, of course, my writing is moving me toward completeness and self-knowledge) I can't help from feeling that my writing, through these characters, is moving me toward a greater sense of humanity. One last quote: “The world is made up of stories, not atoms” (Muriel Rukeyser). What stories make up your world? I love that quote! A copy hangs near my writing desk. The stories that make up my world are stories of hope and of endurance. Stories of courage and strength and laughter. # # # GWENDOLYN JOYCE MINTZ is a fiction writer and poet, writing for both children and adults. Her work has appeared in various online and print journals, as well as two anthologies, "One Paycheck Away" from Main Street Rag Press and "Sudden Stories: A Mammoth Book of Minuscule Fiction" from Mammoth Books. Mintz has degrees from New Mexico State University and is a former news writer and college instructor. She is currently at work on several chapbooks ("Heat," a work of erotic poetry; "What I Share With You," general poetry; "Going To Hell With My Eyes Wide Open," Harlem Renaissance fiction; "Where I'll Be If I'm Not There," fiction about black life and culture; and "Wicked Love & Other Distractions," erotic fiction); the revision of a novel, "The Teacher"; and the writing of another novel, "These Hearts Don't Cry." Mintz' biography will be included in the 24th edition of Who's Who Of American Women for her creative works. |
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