The 7Q Interview: Nadia Bulkin
AUTHOR BIO
Nadia Bulkin writes stories, thirteen of which appear in her debut collection, She Said Destroy (Word Horde, 2017). Her short stories have been included in editions of The Year's Best Weird Fiction, The Year's Best Horror, and The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror. She has been nominated for the Shirley Jackson Award five times. She grew up in Jakarta, Indonesia with her Javanese father and American mother, before relocating to Lincoln, Nebraska. She has a B.A. in Political Science, an M.A. in International Affairs, and lives in Washington, D.C. - more at nadiabulkin.wordpress.com. QUESTIONS
#1. Looking back, what’s one fiction book that you feel truly made an impact on your writing? Do you still gravitate towards that author?
#1. Answer - On my writing style specifically, Flannery O'Connor's The Violent Bear It Away. It's written with such breathless confidence and stark extremity, almost like O'Connor herself is delivering a fire and brimstone sermon. That's the stuff that makes me feel alive. “He knew that he was the stuff of which fanatics and madmen are made and that he had turned his destiny as if with his bare will." Inject it into my veins!
#2. How do you feel about the use of sub-genres in the industry? How do you describe your work overall?
#2. Answer - I don't even like genres, so don't get me started on sub-genres. When I was getting started publishing stories, it was helpful to have niches to try to fill and guardrails to follow, but I think writing should be a spiral that spins outward instead of burrowing deeper and deeper into its own arcane rules and histories. Most of what I like to read would probably just be shelved in "contemporary fiction." Most of my short stories have been in the "literary horror" vein, but these days, I say that I write stories about suffering because it feels more true to what ultimately matters to me. Can "suffering" be a genre?
#3. What about your writing process do you think is unique or quirky? What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever received?
#3. Answer - I have OCD tendencies so I set a lot of arbitrary "rules" when writing. My short stories need to be in five sections (potentially with four off-beats in between, e.g. ABABABABA). I can't stand widows and orphans in paragraphs and always work to eliminate them. Honestly, I tend to ignore all writing advice, good or bad. But probably the worst platitude I hear is "just tell a good story," usually from people who don't want to think about the social implications of the work or want to downplay the importance of style or craft, and don't realize that what makes a "good story" is totally dependent on social context and that plot is only one element of the reading experience.
#4. How does music and media factor into your writing? Do you feel it plays as much an inspirational role as literature?
#4. Answer - I don't know if inspirational is the right word, but I always make playlists for anything I write to help me calibrate the emotional and psychological tone. I use song titles as story titles constantly, because I am really bad with title-generation. Movies, television, podcasts can all provide information and inspiration, and I always need to have audio streaming content into my brain to keep myself able to think (not sure what that's all about, but it's been true since I was a kid). I've written several horror stories that are oblique responses to horror movie trends - "No Gods, No Masters" in my collection (She Said Destroy) is a highly-removed, feminist retelling of the Paranormal Activity series.
#5. As an author, how much do you engage in social media? Do you feel it is more for your own entertainment, or for marketing and networking?
#5. Answer - I'm woeful at marketing and networking, but I do think you have to be visible online just to participate in society these days, let alone to pursue a creative career. I think the tough part about social media is how it forces us to separate or integrate our private and professional selves. I am honest to a fault, so I have to compartmentalize. The Twitter account attached to my full name (@nadiabulkin) is where I post short movie/TV reviews and do the bare minimum of self-promotion, because that's public and eternal. I don't spend much time in that world because it hurts my soul. My Facebook isn't public, so that's where I post political stuff and photos of my cat and rants about writing. I am most truly myself on a Twitter account that is not attached to my name, but is part of the tennis fan community. That's where I spend the most time, and ironically it's the one that's completely detached from my ego.
#6. Where do you see the future of horror fiction heading? In turn, what changes would you love to see, either socially or technologically?
#6. Answer - I see more hybridization on one hand (especially toward crime and what we might call "contemporary" or "literary" or what-have-you) and more siloization on the other hand (various types of weird, various sub-genres of horror, devotees of various writers reproducing and reinterpreting their work). I would love to see more unconventional narrative arcs and storytelling methods. I would love to see more complex character studies that are grounded in psychological realism. I would love more empathy.
#7. What can you tell us about any forthcoming projects? What titles would you like to promote now?
#7. Answer – I have one short story collection from Word Horde that's a pretty good summary of my horror fiction (She Said Destroy). Right now, I'm writing a memoir about grief and mental unhealth and tennis. And otherwise, I'm just continuing the grand project of fixing my life.
AUTHOR PIC
