Recently, Spider Road Press had the opportunity to interview the talented author and Up, Do contributor Kathryn Kulpa. From her crush on F. Scott Fitzgerald to her innovative plan to sell her books on Etsy, Kathryn shared some wonderful insights into how she became a writer, one of her female icons in fiction and how she shares her work with the world.
Spider Road Press: Your haunting piece in Up, Do, “Lights Out: Zelda at Highland Hospital,” continues to receive emotional responses from our readers and praise from professional writing instructors. Where did you get the idea for this piece?
Kathryn Kulpa: “Lights Out” grew out of my high school “writer crush” on F. Scott Fitzgerald that led to me reading everything he ever wrote and then starting on biographies and criticism. I became aware of how much of his work depended on Zelda, yet how diminished her own role had been. Then a few years ago I read Kate Zambreno’s brave and personal critical study, Heroines, which talked about Zelda as a woman artist and how that part of her had been shut down, and that renewed my interest. The story itself though started as a writing exercise using specific prompt words–and all of a sudden, there was Zelda’s voice.
I think the story would have been less successful if I’d deliberately gone out and researched Zelda Fitzgerald just to write a story about her. I feel like all these details had been sitting in my unconscious for years, and when I started to write it just felt very natural.
SPR: Spider Road will feature your piece “Fuzzy Dice” in the reader’s bonus flash fiction section of our upcoming anthology, Approaching Footsteps. Your use of voice is striking. Do you have any tips for short fiction writers who want to create a memorable voice?
KK: We all carry voices within ourselves, voices of the people we’ve known and the people we’ve been. For me, the emotions of adolescence were so strong and made such a deep impression that it’s easy to access them. I think when you’re looking for a fictional voice, you need to reach into yourself and find a way to connect with that character emotionally, even if the circumstances of your lives are different.
SRP: We are big fans of your recent chapbook Girls on Film. Our editor can’t stop talking about it. Tell us about how this chapbook came into being and your favorite parts of that process.
KK: Girls on Film came together when I was looking for ways to gather my flash fiction into a collection. I went through many different versions, some shorter, some longer. When I saw the announcement for the Paper Nautilus Vella Chapbook contest, I knew I’d have to be really selective, because the page limit was 25. I could only choose a few pieces, and I wanted to choose ones that were not only strong on their own, but also worked together.
The “Wendy and Brian” series was a starting point, because those were characters–a child star and her brother, growing up in a shattered and dysfunctional family–I’d returned to in multiple stories. Once I knew I was going to build a collection around them, the themes of cinema, illusion, and image helped me find other pieces that worked as a collection. The title story, “Girls on Film,” was not part of the series, but when I went back to it again, I realized how pertinent it was, and that was the “Aha!” moment that gave me the chapbook title and theme.
SRP: Where can our readers get their hands on a signed copy of this chapbook?
KK: I’m selling signed copies of Girls on Film through my Etsy shop – you can order them here.
SPR: Any last words of encouragement, promotion or advice?
KK: The publisher, Paper Nautilus, is a woman-owned small press (yay!), and they’re putting out some very impressive work. I’ve read a few of the other chapbooks they’ve published and loved them. Readers should look into them.
Our heartfelt thanks to Kathryn for joining us for this interview. You can learn more about her on her website: www.kathrynkulpa.com. Read her piece “Lights Out” in Up, Do, available for purchase right here in our website’s bookstore! (Ebook fans will also find it on Amazon and Smashwords.) Approaching Footsteps, which will be available for preorder on this website in October, 2016, will feature her piece “Fuzzy Dice.”
Reader’s Giveaway: Spider Road Press is giving away one signed copy of Girls on Film and a handmade journal to one of the readers of our newsletter. Join our mailing list on our home page, and we’ll send you all the scoop on our new releases!
