31 Days of Monsters (plus one) - INTERVIEW
Yes, friends, it’s interview day again! Our guest today, Libby Weber, is another of the authors who contributed two stories to Thoroughly Modern Monsters. We’ll chat with her today about her stories The Skin of My Teeth and Seeking Single Human Male, No Stakers.
STORY SPRING: When did you start writing stories? Do you remember the first one you wrote?
LIBBY: I’ve been writing stories since I was a kid, frequently with my own illustrations. One of the first I remember writing was dedicated to my third grade teacher, who always complained about being fat, and it was about a bird who ate too many crackers and had to go on a diet. The first one I vividly remember writing was a middle school assignment. I wrote a supernatural survival story about a plane crashing on a tropical island and trying to find a way off. J.J. Abrams has yet to send me a check.
STORY SPRING: As I read through The Skin of My Teeth, I came to your character Greg, and started laughing. Aside from the obvious reason for the name, has Kafka been influential in your writing?
LIBBY: Bill Watterson is entirely to blame. After Kafka got a shout-out in Calvin and Hobbes, I wanted to find out who Kafka was and why one didn't want to have dreams inspired by him. I found a copy of The Metamorphosis in the basement, and I was so fascinated that I went on an existential literature kick and devoured all the Kafka and Camus I could get my hands on. When I first envisioned Lifeguard Greg, one of his supernatural powers immediately brought to mind Kafka’s protagonist, and I giggled so much at the idea of naming him after Gregor Samsa that I knew I had to do it. Like many of my silly ideas, it turned out to be a fortuitous choice, because it helped me solidify a number of things about Greg’s character, not least of which, what sort of creature hiding in plain sight would choose a name with that kind of literary baggage.
STORY SPRING: Greg seems like such a nice guy, except for, well, you know. So - is he evil? What can you tell us about his motivations?
LIBBY: I don’t think Greg is evil, though I think he’s narcissistic and self-indulgent; he’s proud of the niche he’s carved out for himself, and he’s gotten to the point where he believes that nobody will ever discover his secret. That’s why he decided to tweak fate’s nose by taking the name of literature’s most famous shape-shifter. Ultimately, he makes other risky moves that lead to him being discovered. That said, I do think both the supernatural beings in Skin are pragmatists. The primary difference between them is that Greg’s means of survival depends on him being a loner, while the protagonist finds strength in her contacts with humans.
STORY SPRING: Seeking and Skin are quite different from each other in tone and style, one more action-oriented, the other more subtly ironic. Do you feel more at home with any particular type of story-telling?
LIBBY: Stories usually tell me what they want to be, and I try to be faithful to that. Seeking Single started as an orphaned chapter from a novel that decided it was about other characters. Even though the chapter didn't fit with the larger story, I really loved Sophie and Violet’s cautious tête-à-tête and how each character’s truth eventually comes to light. By contrast, Skin of My Teeth was a deliberate riff on the hard-boiled detective genre, and two things to come of that were Megan’s syntactic idiosyncrasies and her need to solve the mystery of Perry di Nardo’s death.
STORY SPRING: Why did you choose the genre/s you did?
LIBBY: I write what I like to read, so I like to write a bit of everything. I think that’s why my two stories ended up in completely different styles.
STORY SPRING: What advice would you give to new writers?
LIBBY: When you have a sudden inspiration for a story that makes you gasp or laugh aloud, WRITE IT DOWN. Starting can be the hardest part of writing a story, but if you have a sparky idea, one that tickles your brain or your funny bone, start writing- an outline, bits of dialogue, whatever is present and fizzing deliciously. I once wrote a short story in twenty-four hours after inspiration struck in the bathroom (as it does).
STORY SPRING:
This is especially great advice right now, considering that so many friends are beginning NANO today. Now before we let you go, we’ll ask you our two just-for-fun questions:
STORY SPRING: If you could have any super power, what would you choose?
LIBBY: Flying! It might seem an odd choice for an acrophobe like me, but I think I’d be less scared of heights if I didn't have to worry about falling.
STORY SPRING: Oh! You and Jae can sail about together! And do you have a favorite quote?
LIBBY: “Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.” - C.S. Lewis
STORY SPRING:
Beautiful, sweet, simple, and deep - that’s Lewis for you. Thank you so much, Libby. It’s always great to talk with you. We love reading your stories and we love getting to know the person behind those stories a little bit better now. As always, readers, we’re posting the entire interview with Libby Weber tomorrow on www.StorySpringPublishing.com.
Libby Weber was raised in a log cabin in rural Illinois and spent her childhood climbing trees, catching toads, and exercising her immunity to poison ivy. After earning a degree in theater, four varsity letters in fencing, and a spectacularly rude nickname from her fellow trombone players in the Northwestern University Marching Band, she followed her heart to San Diego, where she lives with her much-beloved husband/in-house editor and two dogs. In addition to writing and editing fiction, she sings with the San Diego Master Chorale and writes about the arts for the nonprofit news site Voice of San Diego. Visit her website or follow @thelibbyweber on Twitter.
