Five Questions with Sam Martone
Elizabeth Wade: As editors, we were thrilled to publish one of your flash pieces in the most recent issue of NANO Fiction. We’re always interested in how writers construe the form of flash fiction. How do you define it? What constitutes the form?
Sam Martone: I’m a skeptic of genre distinctions, and largely I try to avoid labeling work as I’m writing it—the amount of variation that exists among prose called “flash fiction” seems as infinite as the variation that exists among any other form of writing, so I’m hesitant to say flash fiction needs a certain word count or has to be a certain kind of story or is distinct from prose poetry. Genre distinctions can be really useful for editors and readers, but if I do it as a writer, I fear I’ll box myself in, prevent the story from going where it wants to. This is a really longwinded way of saying I have no idea how to define flash fiction, and I like it that way—my favorite pieces to read are ones that feel like nothing I’ve read before, and when I get that feeling, I can say, “This! This, too, is flash fiction!”
EW: As one of the members of Oragami Zoo Press, you’ve been influential in publishing the work of some of my favorite authors (including former NANO Fiction contributors such as Brian Oliu). As an editor, what most interests and excites you to read? I also notice that the design of OZP books varies widely. How do you approach book design and the process of moving from the words on a page to a tangible product?
SM: I tend to favor things that veer into the strange or fantastical, whether it be in the content of the story or the form the story takes. Rebecca King, who’s the head editor at Origami Zoo Press, has similar tastes, but we’re also not looking to limit ourselves to a specific aesthetic: as I said above, I mostly want writing that surprises, that I have a hard time comparing to anything else. As far as design goes, an unofficial motto of ours is that we want to make “obsessively beautiful books.” In the Internet era, where the pool of readers skyrockets for writing that’s available online, as well as a great many online journals that look as beautiful as the writing reads, we have to offer something beyond the words on the page: an artifact, a treasure. We try to put great words in a great package. The danger is that the package will overshadow the content, so we try to make sure the design only enhances and complements what the writing is doing, because the writing is ultimately the most important thing.
EW: There’s such a rich tradition of Southern writers, from Flannery O’Connor and William Faulkner to more contemporary authors such as Natasha Tretheway and Tom Franklin. And, in the interest of full disclosure I should acknowledge that I am typing this in the town where we both grew up (Tuscaloosa, Alabama), about a mile from your high school, which stands next door to my elementary school. Did growing up in Alabama shape your identity as a writer? If so, how? If not, what other factors proved more influential?
SM: I think it did, but I’m not sure I can articulate how yet. I didn’t really write about the South until I left it. Maybe more influential is that I don’t feel like I’m from any specific place—I tell people I’m from Alabama because that feels like home to me, but in Alabama I was always an outsider, a transplant. I moved away from the city I was born in when I was two—I have no memory of it, and so I have no real hometown, no known place of origin. It’s a weird thing, and that feeling of detachment definitely shows up in my writing.
EW: Since it’s the start of a new year (the interview was conducted on January 2, 2013), what do you hope 2013 holds for you in terms of editing, writing, or just life in general?
SM: There are quite a few albums I’m looking forward to—Atoms for Peace, Tegan & Sara, The Knife—so I hope 2013 is a year of great music and much dancing.
EW: Each year when panels are announced for the upcoming AWP conference, there’s a lot of conversation about what was (and often, what wasn’t) chosen. If the conference organizers gave you carte blanche in designing a panel, what topic would you address, and who would you ask to participate?
SM: Oh man. I feel like any panel I could come up with if I had free rein would just be an excuse for me to hang out with writers I like. Kelly Link and Karen Russell would probably be on it. I’d also make it into some sort of game show, where like, the writers have to write a story while the other panel members are speaking. I’d also have 2 Chainz sit on the panel, for no other reason except that in this hypothetical reality, AWP can afford a 2 Chainz feature.
Sam Martone, I am a very big fan of yours. I was wondering if you could tell me:
Your favourite Ice Cream flavour?
Your favourite colour to wear?
What size jumper you wear?
What is the most savoury dish you’ve ever had?
It’s Valentine’s Day Sam Martone.