What do you think first got you into writing?‍

I think I first started writing because in third grade, I was really bad at math. I was really not doing well. For one writing assignment, we were supposed to write about our Halloween experience. As I was writing, I sort of felt myself being drawn into the experience, and not just as a writer. I ended up writing a solid 10 pages of it while everyone else wrote one page, and my teacher was so impressed that she gave me a bunch of compliments—and I like compliments. I figured if I kept writing people would keep complimenting me. And that’s what I did. I sort of got more passionate about it as I went.

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Do you like poetry more or prose?

I like it 50-50. It depends on my mood because I like poetry when I’m feeling more technical. I want the protection of form because when I have form I sort of have rules to play the game by—it makes me feel a bit safer. When I’m feeling a little crazy, and I want to get a little wild, I like to use prose because I feel like prose is just a complete disregard for rules in writing, and you can just sort of spit words onto the paper.

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“Sara and Will” was a piece you wrote that was published last year in the print version of Tabula Rasa, and it's about two people who are lovers from different universes. Can you talk a little bit more about your inspiration for this piece? What compelled you to write it?

At the time, I was really interested in the concept of a multiverse and having different versions of yourself in different parts of the multiverse. I thought that it was really interesting to examine the dynamic between two people who are in this type of situation who know each other. I also think that it’s interesting because a lot of people my age consume content about sci-fi movies, crazy dramatic romance movies, and fantasy movies. It’s interesting to parallel those alongside real life. 

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In literature class, you’ve just finished The Sound and the Fury. Faulkner’s writing is notoriously different from typical styles of writing, especially the Benjy chapter, where he plays a lot with memory and italics. Do you think his writing style has influenced or changed your perception of writing in any way?

Yes, for sure. I saw Faulkner’s writing as a puzzle, and it was sort of just many different pieces all messed up and cut up. It’s sort of patchwork quilt style. I thought it was really interesting to let the reader put the pieces together and make up their mind about it. However, I don’t think I will be writing like that because I love interpretation, and I love people making meaning out of a work of writing—but it’s not necessary for them to pull all the pieces together and figure out what’s going on to draw something meaningful from it.

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Just curious, but what was your favorite chapter in The Sound and the Fury and why?

The Quentin chapter—it was easier to get through than the Benjy chapter. I thought the writing was really good, especially those really big chunks of text and whenever Father was speaking. It always had really interesting themes in it. But I think that it was also just fun to be inside Quentin’s mind, because he’s such a thinker, whereas Benjy had no thoughts at all.

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What has been your favorite piece of literature that you’ve read in a classroom setting?

East of Eden because I think it has such a good message, and I really like the way Ms. Pojarska taught it. I feel like it’s such a dark book on the surface, and it’s about so many dark themes, but I think it can also be very cliché if it’s not taught correctly. I think it was because Ms. Pojarska taught it in such a nuanced way and tried to get us to question everything that made it such an interesting experience for me. I also really liked the ending of the book because I feel like it’s a book full of so much darkness that it could have been really easy to end on a hopeless note—but I think Steinbeck really tried to end it on a note of lightness and hope, which is what I try to always incorporate into my writing, so that inspired me.

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Steinbeck is very concrete with his words, and he’s really straightforward in his writing. Compared to Faulkner’s writing style, which do you like more, and why?

Steinbeck. He gets to the point, and I like that, but I think his use of language also always flows really well. His sentences always flow into each other, and it’s a really satisfying read. With Faulkner, I feel like you always feel a little incomplete after you read his writing because it’s all just so scattered. You feel like a mess. But with Steinbeck, you always have something concrete to take away, and you always have a sense of how you feel, and you’re not just confused.

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Out of all the literature you’ve read in your entire life, which author’s writing style do you envy the most and why?

Sally Rooney. I love the way she describes situations and feelings. She always uses very simple language, but she knows the exact right words to put together to make the reader understand how their characters are feeling. I feel like there have been so many times when I’ve read her books where I’ve been like “Oh my gosh. This feeling that I’ve never been able to put into words is all of a sudden put into words right on the page for me.” I think it’s incredible how she does that in such simple language.

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Have you read Normal People?

Yes.

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Have you read Beautiful World Where Are You?

I’m reading that right now.

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‍Which do you think you like better, even though you haven’t finished Beautiful World Where Are You?

I’ve also read Conversation with Friends—you forgot about that one (self-insert from Sam: oops my bad). I liked Normal People more just because I can relate to the characters more. I really liked the dynamic between two people, and I really liked the message that the world is so busy and there’s so many social structures put into place, but human connection is the most important out of all of it. I do think Beautiful World Where Are You is easily her best work, but I still like Normal People the most.

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What makes “Beautiful World Where Are You” her best work?

She’s able to dive into deeper themes, and it’s the least romantic out of all her books—but because of that, she’s able to get into some of the darker parts of human relationship and human dynamics, which I think makes them more honest and realistic. 

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“A Sunny Day” was a piece that you submitted for Tabula Rasa’s 2022 “Growth” theme. One notable thing about it is that it’s written in a very stream of consciousness style and is pretty devoid of punctuation. Is this style typically one that you like writing in, and why or why not?

I like writing in that style when I feel deranged or very out of control. Like I said, prose is a lack of control, and it has a lack of rules, and I think for the poem it works because it was so emotional and sort of like an outpouring of emotion. I think it deserved to be there without any rules. 

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What’s your favorite poetic form?

I have two. One is free form, especially when authors use some really long sentences and some really short sentences. The other one is when they have the words in one big block of text.

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What advice would you give to other people who really love to write but don’t know how to get started?

I would say start journaling, because I don’t think you need any writing talent to start journaling. Once you start journaling, you’ll be able to learn how to put your feelings into words super easy, and the more you do it, the easier it gets to put it down, and then you’ll start looking for ways to express how you feel, and all of a sudden, you know exactly how to do that. Once you know how to translate things into words, it’s so easy to write poetry—it’s just a very natural transition.

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