I last interviewed Liza Monroy almost a year ago. Her first novel, Mexican High, hits bookstores today, so Liza and I decided to catch up and chat more about fiction vs. nonfiction.
Urban Muse: Could you tell us about finding a publisher for your novel?
Liza: During the process of writing I was completely unsure if it would ever be published, so first I'd like to say how much a labor of love it is to write a novel! So I was thrilled to land with Cindy Spiegel of Spiegel & Grau. I used to work as an assistant in the book publishing industry, and I'd admired Cindy from afar for quite some time. She edited James McBride's The Color of Water, one of my favorite memoirs, and The Kite Runner, one of the most hugely successful novels of recent years. I'd read, and saved, an ELLE magazine interview with Cindy and Julie Grau, her partner at their division of Random House, and I actually suggested to my agent that we submit the novel to her. I saw it as akin to applying to colleges and throwing one in to Harvard just because you can. I never imagined she'd become my editor, but she responded to the work and the call from my agent saying she wanted the book was a dream come true. I was sitting in my cubicle at JANE magazine and literally thought I was dreaming. My agent, Jennifer Lyons, asked if I wanted her to check in with other editors who were reading the draft, and I said, no way, this is it.
UM: Do you prefer writing fiction or non-fiction?
L: I love working in both forms in addition to screenplays and poetry, but I'd say my most natural mode is nonfiction. I started out writing personal essays and the novel had a rough incarnation as a memoir. But fiction feels so freeing. I love being able to decide on characters' decisions and fates rather than recounting and deriving meaning from events that have already happened. That said, my second book, which I am at work on now, is a memoir.
UM: How did you shift gears between writing features and writing a novel?
L: One was always there to give me respite from the other. When I felt stalled in the novel, I'd send out pitches and do some freelancing, and when I felt energized again, I'd go back to the novel. I definitely needed breaks from each, because it's easy to burn out sometimes as a freelance journalist, while writing a novel on spec isn't paying any bills. So I had to mentally differentiate between "work" writing and "fun" writing, yet of course writing features is also fun, and the novel was also work.
UM: Any advice for first time novelists?
L: See it through! Even on days when you want to throw your computer out the window, when everything seems stalled, when you don't know where you're headed. Write, write, and write through the tough spots. Always stay producing, even if you feel you'll remove those pages later. Everyone has their own process, but for me it was crucial to keep churning out pages, keep what stuck, and put the rest in an "outtakes" file.
UM: What's next for you?
L: I'm writing a memoir -- the working title is ALL SHOOK UP -- evoking Elvis and earthquakes. It's about immigration, gay marriage, and redefining family. I'm in the throes of Columbia's MFA program, concentrating in Nonfiction, as teaching university-level creative writing is another goal of mine. For the next two years, I'm teaching undergraduate composition at Columbia. I'm still freelancing and writing a screenplay in my free time. Eventually, I want to return to California -- I live in beautiful brownstone Brooklyn these days -- or move abroad, or embark on some other big adventure. I think the most important thing for a writer is intensive living combined with time for reflection.
Thanks, Liza! Congrats on your book release. Can't wait to read that memoir.