Arielle Prose
Oyster River Pages: Why do you write and/or create?
Arielle Prose: I guess you could say it's a compulsion I've had since a teenager when I started keeping a journal, a way of expressing myself and making sense of experiences and emotions. I love fine-tuning what is at first an inchoate event or relationship into a life lesson, where I can say, "Yes, that's what that means, there is my story." I write to define myself and impart that definition to others.
ORP: What is the most challenging aspect of your artistic process?
AP: Facing one's fears and being totally honest is the most challenging part of my writing. You must dig, dig, dig until the truest note appears.
ORP: What would you say is your most interesting writing and/or artistic quirk?
AP: I like to combine both poetry and prose in the same genre of fiction. To me, that is when writing is at it's finest. In poetry, I especially like to write nonnets, that is, nine lines starting with nine syllables, with each successive line reduced by one syllable until there's only one.
ORP: What do you think is the best way to improve writing and/or artistic skills?
AP: Everyone has their own answer to this. Mine is to constantly read other people's works. Paying attention to how well sentences are crafted is my greatest source of inspiration.
ORP: Who do you consider to be your creative ancestors and contemporaries for your art and/or writing? How does your creative work converse with theirs?
AP: Betty Smith's "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," read when I was thirteen, still resonates with me because it's about growing up in a troubled family, a subject that is the main theme of my debut novel.
ORP: Do you know more than one language? How does this influence your art and/or writing?
AP: Because my early years were lived in Italy and France, and I spent three years in Brazil, the languages and cultures of those countries infiltrate my writing. Their commonplace idioms become novel when translated into English.
ORP: What does vulnerability mean to you as an artist and/or writer?
AP: Vulnerability is very similar to the question of what is most challenging to a writer. It means exposing yourself to the point of facing your worst fears and being totally honest with yourself.
