{"id":3984,"date":"2016-09-15T11:45:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-15T11:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/87bedford.com\/?p=3984"},"modified":"2020-10-09T23:19:43","modified_gmt":"2020-10-09T23:19:43","slug":"interview-with-gwendolyn-kiste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/87bedford.com\/index.php\/2016\/09\/15\/interview-with-gwendolyn-kiste\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Gwendolyn Kiste"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Gwendolyn Kiste<\/a> discusses “All the Mermaid Wives<\/a>,” fairy tales, and worldbuilding.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Gwendolyn Kiste<\/a> is a speculative fiction writer based in Pennsylvania. Her stories have appeared in\u00a0Nightmare<\/em>,\u00a0Shimmer<\/em>,\u00a0LampLight<\/em>, and\u00a0Interzone<\/em>\u00a0as well as Flame Tree Publishing\u2019s\u00a0Chilling Horror Short Stories<\/em>\u00a0anthology. She currently resides on an abandoned horse farm with her husband, two cats, and not nearly enough ghosts. You can find her online at\u00a0gwendolynkiste.com<\/a>\u00a0and on Twitter (@GwendolynKiste). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was the inspiration for \u201cAll the Mermaid Wives\u201d? How did the story develop\/change from conception to completion?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GK: I\u2019m a huge fan of fairy tales, and I\nlove exploring different angles of familiar stories. When it comes to those\nfamiliar myths, mermaids are among the biggest; they\u2019re so omnipresent in\nculture. Most of us think of The Little Mermaid<\/em> but there are two very\ndifferent versions of that story: the Disney cartoon and the original Hans\nChristian Anderson story. \u201cAll the Mermaid Wives\u201d blends elements of both. There\nis at times an almost ostensible sweetness to this tale, especially with the\nwraparound from the brochure giving you tips on your\nmermaid bride. However, the cheerier elements belie a malevolence that was\ndefinitely present in the original Hans Christian Anderson tale (the unloved\nmermaids turned into seafoam, which was one of the most poetical and terrifying\nthings I\u2019d ever heard as a kid). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point, it\u2019s been a few years since\nI came up with this story, but I remember it as one I was very excited to\nwrite. I believe it only took me a few weeks from concept to final draft. Not\ntoo much changed as I went along; my vision for the initial story is very much\nwhat ended up on the page. It was a really great experience all the way around.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did the main character, Eleniora, first form in your imagination? Was there a pivotal moment, in the course of writing the story, where you discovered something unexpected about her? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GK: I remember being really excited to\ndiscover Eleniora\u2019s voice and her strength as the story developed. At the\nstart, she\u2019s understandably very afraid; her entire life has been ripped away\nfrom her, and she\u2019s in constant danger. However, as I continued work on the\nfirst draft, it was wonderful the way that she found this well of strength\nwithin her. She\u2019s not always the loudest voice in a room, but she has a huge\namount of vim and passion, and by the end especially, she knows what she wants.\nShe\u2019s fought her way through, and she goes after her life, her dreams, and her\nfreedom, as do the other mermaids. As a writer, it was a fantastic feeling to\nwrite this particular ending; Eleniora had become such an empowering character.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Great fantasy starts with great worldbuilding, and the use of the instructional text is a particularly effective touch here. How do you generally think about\/approach worldbuilding in your fantasy fiction?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GK: Only share what\u2019s relevant to the story\nand the characters. As the author, you should always know more about this world\nthan what you ultimately reveal to the reader. That\u2019s because not everything is\nnecessarily important to the story. Knowing those details as the storyteller is\nwonderful because it helps you feel rooted in the world that you\u2019re building,\nbut forcing the readers to endure every single last detail is often\nexcruciating. So don\u2019t be afraid to edit out anything that isn\u2019t necessary.\nYour readers will thank you for it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How would you describe your writing and revision process? What have you found to be most helpful for you when dealing with writer\u2019s block?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GK: My process is everchanging. Sometimes,\nI write every day. Most of the time, however, I only sit down and add to my\nword count a few days a week. The rest of the time, I\u2019m reading, researching,\nmaking notes, and generally daydreaming, which is one for the best ways for me\nto generate new ideas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for writer\u2019s block, I\u2019ve often found that\nit simply means that I\u2019m burning out. The best advice I can offer\u2014and the only\nthing that has ever worked for me\u2014is to take a break. Even if it\u2019s just for a\nfew minutes or a few hours, it can help immensely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s the most valuable piece of advice you\u2019ve received as a writer and what advice would you give new writers?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GK: I\u2019ve read a lot of great advice over\nthe years, but one piece that really sticks with me is a quote that\u2019s often\nattributed to Neil Gaiman (although I\u2019ve also seen it attributed to Jodi Picoult). At any rate, the advice is very simply \u201cYou\ncan\u2019t edit a blank page.\u201d This is something I have to remind myself every time\na first draft is giving me trouble. I often want to wait until I\u2019m super\nexcited and inspired to write, but that can lead to too many days or even weeks\nwith no writing at all. The reminder that it\u2019s better to make some progress\nrather the none has gotten me out of many writing slumps in the past, so this\nquote has definitely offered me some meaningful advice and solace when writing\nfeels like a slog.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are you currently reading? What book has been most influential on your life or on you as a writer?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GK: My TBR pile is ever-growing, and I\u2019m\nconvinced it will soon become sentient and devour me whole. Until that happens,\nthe next books on my list are Luminous Body, <\/em>a weird fiction chapbook by\nBrooke Warra, and Mary Shelley Makes a Monster,<\/em> a new poetry collection\nby Octavia Cade. I\u2019m absolutely astounded at the incredible books coming out of\nsmall presses these days, and that\u2019s been where my focus as a reader has been\nover the last few years. In the past, so many great books never saw so-called\n\u201ctraditional\u201d release, and that\u2019s a shame, because we\u2019ve lost a lot of great\nvoices in the process, simply because a major label never picked them up.\nFortunately, with social media and all the support from reviewers on Instagram,\nTwitter, and Facebook, smaller press books are finally being given the\nspotlight they\u2019ve always deserved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of the most influential books, there\nhave been so many that have affected me over the years, but the two that are\nalways with me are The October Country<\/em> by Ray Bradbury and We Have\nAlways Lived in the Castle<\/em> by Shirley Jackson. The quiet horror and\ncreepiness of these books have definitely enthralled me as a reader and\ninspired me to no end as a writer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anything else you\u2019d like to share?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GK: I\u2019ve got several new works, either\nabout to be released or recently out. My new story, \u201cThe Eight People Who\nMurdered Me (Excerpt from Lucy Westenra\u2019s Diary)\u201d is available in the November\nissue of Nightmare Magazine. It\u2019s a fierce retelling of Dracula <\/em>from the\noft-overlooked Lucy\u2019s perspective. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In terms of longer works, my limited\nedition novelette, The Invention of Ghosts<\/em>, is due out on November 26th<\/sup>.\nThat one deals with ghosts, complicated friendships, and the occult, and it\u2019s\npart of Nightscape Press\u2019s charitable chapbook line, so a third of all the\nproceeds go to the National Aviary in Pittsburgh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last but not least, I\u2019ll also hopefully have a new novel out sometime in 2020. It\u2019s a sort of weird fairy tale all about witches, witchfinders, revenge, whispering bones, and ghost birds. Keep an eye on my social media for more details if that sounds intriguing to you; I\u2019ll hopefully have more details very soon on it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gwendolyn Kiste discusses “All the Mermaid Wives,” fairy tales, and worldbuilding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/87bedford.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3984"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/87bedford.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/87bedford.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/87bedford.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/87bedford.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3984"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/87bedford.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5218,"href":"https:\/\/87bedford.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3984\/revisions\/5218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/87bedford.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/87bedford.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/87bedford.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}