The Floating Circus

Author Interview:

How did you get interested in this historical setting?

I was doing historical research after realizing I simply had to write a book set in a circus. I kept running into this thumbprint of a detail about circus ships that traveled America's great rivers during the 1850's. I was hooked. 2,000 ticketholders on a floating circus filled with wild animals, posturemasters, minstrely bands and freaks? Who could resist that setting?

Going from poetry to prose must have been a pretty big departure for you. Was it difficult for you to switch genres?

It took several months of writing before I felt like I found my voice in prose. I hope that my initial training in poetry serves my prose, but I have no idea about or perspective on that. I know that I had to let go a lot of poetic images so that Owen sounded like himself.

If you were on the River Palace what position would you hold?

There’s no doubt I would work with the elephants. I wouldn’t be caught dead in a sequined leotard, mind you— but I would love to have a relationship with an elephant. I would, uh, not like cleaning up after them so much.

What did you learn about yourself as a writer with this novel?

That I could finish one! The year before I had a contemporary novel that crashed and burned with eight months invested. I was feeling fragile as a writer but luckily Melanie Cecka gave me the confidence to finish this book by investing on a few chapters and lots of ideas. As for the writing itself I actually wrote a synopsis before I started but there were plenty of surprises along the way as I completed the draft starting with the first sentence! I had not planned for Owen to have a brother! And Little Bet just showed up the same way she does to Owen!

What advice do you have for people who want to write, especially young people?

Write the story or poem or song that you want to hear. Write it for yourself and worry about publication later. Enjoy the process because it is the only guarantee- don't do it for your mom, or the reviews and certainly not the money. Do it for yourself because what you have to say matters.