Ask Aimee Bender discussion

If Aimee didn't answer your question in the video chat (or if you missed the chat), feel free to ask a question in this thread.

Question:

I am a therapist/counselor and was interested in Rose's gift as many people are able to "sense" when things are off in families. I selected this for my choice with my Book Club last summer and it was a fabulous discussion. It seems we can all relate to emotional family dynamics in one way or another.

I do have one question about the plot: I am curious why Joseph's ability to disappear was manifested by a chair rather than into nothing or perhaps another object.

Thank you for sharing your writing and talents with us. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing style as well with this book.

Hi Trpusey,

Good question. I'm so glad it led to a good discussion! Makes me very happy to hear.

So-- I really wanted Joseph to be connected to something tangible but inanimate-- vs. nothingness. Wanted it to be something Rose could interact with but not in a real or satisfying way-- but something she could take into that locker and keep, almost as a kind of gravestone. As far as why a chair-- I'm not completely sure. I do imagine he was interested in the grandmother's chairs in particular, and that he and the grandma were bonded in some core way, but I just also like chairs. They seem social and unsociable at the same time-- like a picture of an empty room full of chairs in a circle-- the chairs indicate the people, and also the absence of people.

Thanks Aimee! That is fascinating to be able to understand your thinking and perspective with the chair. I appreciate your time and insight.

Thanks again for a great book (and discussion for our Book Club).

I spent my teen years reading science fiction. Your book (which I loved!) read like science fiction to me. I'm curious about whether you have read much science fition and if that influenced you.

Hi Aimee,

I've long been a fan of your writing and as a poet appreciate your use of language (you make me fall in love with words every time).

As a poet working on her craft I'm curious about your use of Fable and Magical Realism in your work. It's lovely to read but I'm assuming a lot of work and research goes into constructing each story. How do you walk the line between being too obscure and not making the "point" of your story too blatant?

Trpusey wrote: "Thanks Aimee! That is fascinating to be able to understand your thinking and perspective with the chair. I appreciate your time and insight.

Thanks again for a great book (and discussion fo..."

My pleasure! I really appreciate your thoughts on it all.

Melissa wrote: "I spent my teen years reading science fiction. Your book (which I loved!) read like science fiction to me. I'm curious about whether you have read much science fition and if that influenced you."

Hi Melissa,

Thanks! So glad you liked the book. I definitely think there's a sci-fi influence tucked in there. I really like science fiction-- though there's a lot I haven't read. I read Asimov some as a kid, and a little Bradbury, and a tiny bit of Ursula LeGuin (would like to read more of her), a little Philip K. Dick. Liked reading them all. I do really love that feeling of jumping into some kind of dystopian world with new rules; I remember being so drawn to the concept of The Illustrated Man with his tattooes and stories, or the Martian worlds of Bradbury. Or something like a book like Never Let Me Go which is not sci-fi but also it kinda is sci-fi plus a heavy dose of reality, too.

Emily wrote: "Hi Aimee,

I've long been a fan of your writing and as a poet appreciate your use of language (you make me fall in love with words every time).

As a poet working on her craft I'm curious about you..."

Hi Emily,

Much appreciated. I love poetry, and in many ways feel it's a huge influence on a certain kind of storytelling in fiction that I just can't get enough of-- (thinking of Denis Johnson, or Carver as both poets before they wrote fiction).

So-- fables/magic realism-- I think the main thing for me is to try not to know what the point is-- to try to shut down the analytical side of my brain and get into the tactile world of whatever magical element is happening. Then meaning can grow and happen on its own, but better for me if I don't know, at least for awhile, what it's about. Flannery O'Connor has a great comment in an essay about a fiction writer trying to cultivate a certain stupidity-- a way of not-seeing as an inroad to deeper seeing. So to shut off judgment, or interpretation, and just to show as is.

Hi Aimee,
I'm sorry I missed the chat. I don't know if you answered this then but I am curious how much you plotted before starting "Lemon Cake." I have read you like to discover the story rather than outline. Did you have characters mapped out? Some specific scenes?

I loved your pep talk for Nano Wrimo last year. It was so enthusiastic, it led me to find your books.

Hi Don,

I did some kind of muddled answer on the chat but am happy to write a note too. I'm not an outliner, so the plot kind of evolves as it goes along and I don't know who the characters are until I'm really done with a second or third draft. But I'll write scenes and move around to other scenes (like in that NanoWriMo talk-- so glad you liked it; I had a great time doing that!)-- and then compile piles of scenes after a couple of years and lay them out on the floor and look at where the story leans. I just don't know how to write it purely forward, and although I tried outlining for my first book, I found I didn't want to do the outline ideas-- they were kind of arbitrarily chosen. (She goes to the beach! I'd write and then when I sat down to write the scene I felt like I had nothing to say about her going to the beach.) I cut a ton of pages and the revision process is intense, but it feels a lot freer/easier at times to just write whatever comes up and then sort it out as it goes along.

Hey Aimee! Thanks for taking the time to answer questions, it's been really interesting reading your responses. My question is, what did Rose taste when she ate Joseph's toast? Did she get a glimpse of his transformation abilities?

Hi Brittany,

Thanks-- it's been fun answering these. About his toast-- something about it turning in on itself; I think she compares it to a sea anenome? (Don't have the book in front of me right now.) But I wanted to convey that feeling of something almost inverting, collapsing inward, and she can hardly stand it and has to spit it out.

I am so sad to be this late in the game. At the beach and just started this very special book today, but I am having difficulty putting it down. So I have no intelligent questions for you yet, just a well of appreciation and appetite for every page.

Like so many other people, I chose this title on a friend's recommendation for our book club's next focus and am blown away by the sensual, vibrating, heart-opening nature of your writing. Thank you!!

Hi Aimee. I've read all your books, currently working on Lemoncake. I love the whimsical feel of your work and am impressed by your tenacity to get into the teenage mind. The younger POV is hard for me. Did you intend for this novel to reach the YA crowd? Also recently I read your short story in Electric Literature and loved it!!! Is there really a scary story about a red ribbon holding someone's head on? You seem to really have mastered the short form. Do you have a preference between writing shorts vs. novels?

Marie wrote: "I am so sad to be this late in the game. At the beach and just started this very special book today, but I am having difficulty putting it down. So I have no intelligent questions for you yet, ju..."

Thank you, Marie! What a nice comment.

Hi Melissa,

Ah, so glad you saw that Electric Lit story and yes-- there is totally a horror story about a red ribbon and a lady's head falling off. One of those urban legends that terrified me at summer camp. Probably not even an urban legend. A victorian-esque legend. I didn't really intend for Lemon Cake to be embraced by the YA crowd but I'm happy to get younger readers in the mix. About a preference-- not really-- I think I feel more at home in stories, or that's my first love, but I also feel a little addicted to the longer not-knowing of a novel, which feels kind of awful for awhile, and then at some point, or at least twice, has started to form into something and that was thrilling, and both times, surprising, too.

Oh Oh Oh another question. You were soo specific about the street names and being an Angelino I was traversing the turf in my head trying to make sure it was all accurate. I loved hearing the names of familiar places but wondered if that made you feel more obligated in a way.. to the actual factual elements which seem like it could "break the fictional dream"? Did you have to research your own hood?

Yes-- I know the area really well but definitely did a little driving tour once I had a draft just to doublecheck names/locations-- where the DWP is in relation to La Brea, where the Jon's is near Vermont, all of that. But I did wait until the scenes were far along so it was an easier time to do that sort of info-gathering.

I think this'll be my last post-- thanks so much for all of your great questions and thoughts! Also, just fyi, for future questions and/or comments, you can find new info and ways to contact me in general via my website, flammable skirt.com -- if you sign the guestbook and leave your email in the signature, I can write you back.

All the best,
Aimee