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Interview with Isabel Anders, August 1, 2010

 

Isabel Anders is the author of more than 20 books for adults, children, and young adults, most recently Chant of Death with Pinyon Publishing, which she co-authored with Diane Marquart Moore.

 

PINYON: Please tell us briefly about yourself.

ISABEL: I was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, but we moved to Chicago when I was three, so I consider myself more a Midwesterner. I have a B.A. in English from Wheaton College (Illinois) and M.A. in Religious Studies from Mundelein College, Chicago (which has been absorbed by Loyola University). I spent my junior year at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism (Evanston, Ill.)—hence my background in writing news releases and catalog and promotional copy in the book industry. At Mundelein I took a course in Writing as Christian Nurture taught by Madeleine L’Engle, and she later agreed to write the Introduction to my first book Awaiting the Child: An Advent Journal.

 

PINYON: When did you start writing?

ISABEL: I was pretty young, junior high or high school. I wrote for our church’s newsletter and the high school paper.

 

PINYON: What kind of writing did you do for the church and your school? Did you have other friends who wrote? Or did you feel that you were different or exceptional?

ISABEL: I actually remember writing and publishing in the church paper a kind of modern parable, trying my hand at imagery even then. That was not much done in the Baptist tradition, so I must have gotten the idea from English literature classes. And I wrote some rhyming verse for the school paper, not knowing any better! I remember we wrote parodies in Senior English class, and the teacher kept my take on an e. e. cummings poem, and I heard, read it as an example to the class the next year after me. I don’t think I would have said I thought I was special, but I didn’t find a lot of people on my wavelength. Even fellow churchgoers didn’t seem to come at things the way my mind was doing. Later, after becoming Episcopalian, I met many more like-minded thinkers and writers.

 

PINYON: Why do you write?

ISABEL: Thinking and writing are so bound up together for me. The challenge (and joy) of writing for me is to find the right form, identify the question or problem I’m working on mentally, and through both logic and intuition, let the words flow—then edit, edit, edit.

 

PINYON: How do you write? Do you start with pen and paper? Work entirely with a computer? Do you have a special room or place you go to write? Or can you write anywhere?

ISABEL: I sometimes jot down ideas on paper, but I’m fully comfortable composing in electronic files now. The advantages of being able to edit one’s work this way is something that can only be appreciated by those of us who used to type out pages (rewrite, and retype!).

 

PINYON: Are there special people (family members, other writers, friends) who have influenced your writing?

ISABEL: I have written especially about my father’s influence on my thinking and love of language in two books: The Faces of Friendship and Soul Moments. Madeleine L’Engle is a lifetime role model and continual influence on my life as a wife, mother, essayist, storyteller.

 

PINYON: Is there a genre (poetry, fiction, etc.) that particularly appeals to you? If so, why?

ISABEL: In my most recent book before Chant of Death, I inaugurated a new form (for me) that is between poetry and prose: composing original dialogues in the style of the wisdom tradition—a form that includes hints of story, poetic imagery, and practical philosophy, in succinct dialogue/narrative form. That book is Becoming Flame: Uncommon Mother-Daughter Wisdom.

 

PINYON: It must be hard to work out of your own invented form. After all, most writers are content to use accepted forms. Did you doubt yourself? Or, perhaps a better question─how did you measure the results within a new form?

ISABEL: Well, the dialogue form is very old and well established in several religious traditions—Hasidic schools, desert fathers and mothers, Sufi masters—but employing it in a domestic circle of mother and daughter was different, and I had no precedent for that. It just sort of came out in that way [see next question below]. Because it does not overreach, it felt right and natural. But it was people such as Diane, Victoria Sullivan, KiKi Crombie, and Phyllis Tickle—I think of them as 'godmothers' to the work—who gave me the courage to pursue publication and not give up.

In regard to 'not giving up' on Becoming Flame, I also must mention the never-failing support and advice of my agent Tracy Grant, who always believed in the work and tirelessly encouraged its publication.

Since Becoming Flame came out, I've found that new dialogue topics occur to me frequently, and I’m collecting them for the sequel. But I’m giving Becoming Flame time first to spread the approach and to learn from feedback I’m getting. So far the reviews have been heartening, to say the least. In May I was delighted when it won an International Book Award in the category of Christian Inspirational.

Although I don’t think that Becoming Flame is especially religious in nature, reviewer Lyn Sedmina, Christian Literature Editor of BellaOnline, described it as “A poetic perfection of biblically inspired values with a folklore feel.” I couldn’t have thought to say that myself—but it was gratifying.

 

PINYON: Where do you get your ideas from?

ISABEL: I was actually working on a novel, Soul Fete, several years ago, and one of my characters was writing these little dialogues to leave her wisdom to her grown daughter. At some point I extracted them from the novel and added to them, and they became Becoming Flame. I think it was easier to envision a character (though I created her) offering these insights, than if I had presumed to do so myself. Anyway, that’s how it developed into a new form for me.

 

PINYON: Which aspects of writing are easier or harder for you?

ISABEL: I love writing about the inner life, as that is where I am most at home, and the language of the soul is natural terrain. But in a story, I also feel strongly the importance of physical, material signs that mirror deeper realities. For example, in Chant: the Abbey’s murals, Elijah’s chair, Malachi’s ring, Jean’s rosary—visible signs of spiritual truths, held, molded, and arranged by our human actions. It can be a powerful mix.

Diane and I both inhabit and explore the inner terrain of classic spirituality, and we wrote back and forth seamlessly within it. But she is much better at descriptions of locale and has a unique style of character depiction, especially including their physical quirks, looks, and peculiarities.

 

PINYON: It sounds like fine teamwork. Did you imagine (or picture) the characters similarly, for example, Father Malachi? Sharing a view of the characters' traits, qualities, and even inner dialogs seems essential for writing a fine novel, as you have done.

ISABEL: Amazingly, we just naturally concurred on the character development and really on most other points as well. There was enough healthy back and forth to draw out our best conceptions and plot development. The scope of the mystery offered us both a chance to do the parts we could do best.

 

PINYON: Is place (i.e., where you live or work) important to your writing? It's difficult to imagine, for example, William Faulkner writing his great novels anywhere but in Mississippi.

ISABEL: My husband and I moved to Sewanee four years ago, though we already lived in this county of Tennessee. We renovated an old cottage (c. 1896), added on to it, and he built me an amazing work space that overlooks a private woods. Here, on the Domain of the University of the South, there are many like-minded writers and artists, especially at the St. Mary’s Convent community of which we are a part (and where Diane and I met). We have wonderful cultural enrichment all year round, just minutes away, with visiting speakers who challenge us in all areas of thought. It is difficult to imagine a better place to be at this stage of life.

 

PINYON: Are you affected by other people's comments about your writing? Or do you write independently of others' opinions?

ISABEL: Positive reviews are always welcome! Sometimes people say things about my writing that I didn’t actually realize myself. When Phyllis Tickle wrote in the Foreword to Becoming Flame that “the words and dialogues given us here could just as easily have been those of the Desert Mothers themselves,” I was floored. I would never have claimed, myself, to have found their voice. My dialogues are set in a humble mother-daughter context, familiar to me because I have two grown daughters. I can see that some of the gravity of spiritual instruction comes into it, but I am glad she said it rather than my claiming to have accomplished it.

 

PINYON: Why did you and Diane decide to write a novel together?

ISABEL: Diane is a consummate poet, writer of mysteries and stories of all kinds. I am in awe of her gifts and her output. When she asked me to work with her on a mystery, especially on the aspect of theological discussion among characters—which we agreed would be in a clerical setting—I just couldn’t pass up the chance to try, and see what I could offer. I read many mysteries every year, and have studied the form extensively, but had never written one before.

 

PINYON: We know that both of you write poetry and personal essays, both genres that depend on individual insights. So when writing a novel together, how did you reconcile the writer's natural independence with working (and perhaps compromising) with another writer's views and style?

ISABEL: Diane’s acceptance of my contributions, our gently editing each other, and each of us adding to the 'stone soup' of the blank electronic pages before us—somehow worked, better than I think either of us dared to expect.

 

PINYON: Did each of you lead specific parts (or chapters) of the novel? Or did you work together on most parts?

ISABEL: We both contributed to the book in different ways throughout. My background as a book editor for many years allowed me to step back and be an editor at times, and to suggest elements that I thought would 'round out' an action or provide complexity at needed points.

 

PINYON: So how did you communicate all of this information to each other? A storyboard? Chapter revisions through a word processor? Conversations in cafes or on the telephone?

ISABEL: Yes, we had a storyboard, but made some additions and alterations along the way. We were actually in different states (she in La. and I in Tenn.) when we wrote it. Diane began the book, and I wrote some, and we sent our additions and editing of each other back and forth, and something magical sort of flowered. We feel we know these people and their world, and can talk about how they would react in new situations—perhaps how they WILL in future Father Malachi Mysteries.

 

PINYON: Is working solo or co-authoring easier? One can imagine co-authoring meaning half the work. But perhaps not?

ISABEL: Every book is different. Chant of Death has been an adventure and a new learning experience for me at every stage. It is really hard to compare to anything else I’ve contributed to. We like the editorial status of the book now—DONE and coming out soon!

 

PINYON: Do you have any advice for other writers?

ISABEL: Write out of your passion and what you know. Let it flow—then edit, edit, edit.

 

PINYON: What's your next project?

ISABEL: I am working on a collection of new Mother-Daughter wisdom dialogues as a sequel to Becoming Flame—Spinning Straw, Weaving Gold: A Tapestry of Mother-Daughter Wisdom.