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Allison Landa’s BAD HAIR is #116 in the never-ending series called INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION where the Chris Rice Cooper Blog (CRC) focuses on one specific excerpt from a fiction genre and how that fiction writer wrote that specific excerpt. All INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION links are at the end of this piece.
Name of fiction work? Were there other names you
considered?BAD
HAIR. This book started its life as BEARDED LADY, but I thought BAD
HAIR more accurately captured its spirit.
Has this been published? No.
What is the date when you began writing
this piece of fiction and the date when you completely finished the piece of fiction? BAD HAIR started
its life as a memoir and transformed into a Young Adult novel beginning in
April 2015. It was completed in its current incarnation four years later in
Spring 2019.
Where did you do most of your writing for
this fiction work? I’m a café writer. I wrote parts of BAD HAIR in probably no less than 100 different cafes. I
like the surrounding action and often take inspiration from the people around
me, though I wear headphones to block out a lot of the noise. In fact, I’m
writing this at a café in North Berkeley, CA. Everyone around me is doing their
own thing and I love that.
What were your writing habits while writing this
work? I almost always listen to music when I work – sometimes
the cheesier the better. I’ve been known to search Super Hits of the 70s in
YouTube to prepare for a good writing session. It becomes great background and
I find I get distracted without it. I always have a drink at hand, usually
something caffeinated. I always write on my laptop and on the occasions when I
do write at home, it’s usually early in the morning before anyone else in the
house is up. I like putting on our electric fireplace and listening to the faux
crackle while writing.
What excerpt of the book was the most emotional
for you to write? The end. Hands down. While I would rather not reveal it in its
entirety, here is a decent chunk:
I’d
gone to the Humane Society before driving down to La Jolla. As I walked in, I
practically tripped over a dog doing the Watusi in the middle of the lobby.
Romeo, redux. Except this guy was a Boxer and he wasn’t just twisting for
sport, because he could, the way I’ve always suspected Romeo did. This guy was
hellbent for leather. He wanted out.
In
that moment, I thought about opening the door, distracting the two staffers
working to hold him, beckoning. Come on.
Save yourself. But then what? We domesticated dogs. We took away their
ability to survive on their own. How many strays do you think are out living
the Life? They’re starving, getting hit by cars, and worse, making multiples
and copies of themselves.
Still,
I couldn’t trap the poor mutt. I couldn’t help cage him, no matter how much it
was in his favor to do it. Instead I went to the volunteer room because of all
the places in the world, it may have been the one where I felt most like
myself.
When
I walked back out, the Boxer was gone. The lobby was quiet. The floor even
looked freshly waxed, as if it was lecturing me for my delusions. Dog? What
dog? You didn’t see a dog. You didn’t hear its paws scrabbling on the linoleum.
You didn’t practically smell the fear on its breath. There was no dog.
Life,
it seemed, could be like that sometimes. It would show you one thing and tell
you another, and it was your move to guess what was real and what was just the
scratch of wool pulled across your eyes.
Why was this excerpt so
emotional for you to write? Can you describe your own emotional experience of
writing this specific excerpt? I knew this was the end of the
book. That alone got me emotionally – you spend time with a book, with your
characters, and as much as it’s an accomplishment to finish it, it’s also
somewhat of a loss. Moreover, the setting – an animal shelter – is extremely
evocative to me. That said, you could probably never tell my feelings as I
worked. They were very, very internal, ran extremely deep, and took a long time to get out from under.
Were there any deletions
from this excerpt that you can share with us? There were
many deletions and additions, but unfortunately I don’t have relevant
screenshots. Safe to say that every word that is in there was probably added
and deleted several times.
Other works that you
have published? Essays: Guardian US, The
Washington Post, HuffPost, Salon Magazine, and Counsyl Blog, among other
venues. Fiction: CherryBleeds, Bookends Review, and Monday Night, among other venues.
Anything you would like
to add? What you’re doing here is awesome. There are not enough
explorations of the emotions behind our work. I think that’s very instructive.
Allison
Landa is a Berkeley, CA-based writer of fiction and memoir who earned
an MFA in creative writing from St. Mary’s College of California. A member of
the San Francisco Writers Grotto, she has held artist residencies at The
MacDowell Colony, Playa Summer Lake, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts,
and The Julia and David White Artists Colony.
Allison
will teach WRITING FROM THE EDGE, an exploration of accessing and using
difficult material, at ODYSSEYS Costa Rica from Jan. 27-Feb. 7. Find out more
and sign up here:
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