“I was being guided through a special process”:  Emily Jon Tobias on Her Debut Story Collection

Emily Jon Tobias recently talked with fiction editor Leanne Dunic about Emily’s debut story collection, Monarch: Stories. One selection from the collection, “Jesus Wears Bermudas,” originally appeared in Tahoma Literary Review, Issue 23. 

1. Something I was curious about throughout the book were the names of the characters. The titles of the stories are also notable. Are names a part of storytelling that is important
to you?

This is a wonderful question. Yes, names are quite important to the characters. I believe our names hold a specific vibrational quality that does not exist in exactly the same way twice. So when naming the characters, I spent a lot of time considering what each name would represent to the reader and how this energy would function in the structure of the stories. For example, in “Jesus Wears Bermudas”, the protagonist is named Faith. This is critical to her journey of transformation throughout the piece because, well, she lacks faith. The story becomes about her redemption when she is finally honest with someone about her traumas. She wears her name like a loose garment, and slowly grows into it over the course of the narrative. In the end, faith and love do redeem her in subtle, but profound, ways. The deeper meaning to this is to say that she — Faith — saved herself.

Some story titles were a beautiful challenge. This is because sometimes when the writer is immersed and living in these worlds for so long, we get too close, so close that the heart of the matter is hard to recognize. A few stories were named from the second I started writing them. Others were renamed upon final drafts. For example, “Nova” was titled “Run” for the first 15 drafts. Through the 22 rewrites of this piece, what became clear is the mystic nature of Bettie and Jones. “Nova” is their vehicle in the story, but is also their nest, where their bonding happens. Also, metaphorically speaking, a nova gains extraordinary power and light before returning to its natural state. This works well to symbolize the nature of Bettie’s transformation.My mentor helped me rename this piece, but once I heard the title, I knew in my body it was right.

2. You encountered a serious challenge with the publication of this fiction collection and debut. Your hard work landed you publication with Black Lawrence Press. What are some celebrations that came out of this challenge?

Yes, there is much to be celebrated throughout the journey! Signing with Black Lawrence Press was indeed a dream, but oddly enough, what I feel most honored to celebrate are the challenges I encountered. Although I originally perceived these as missteps, I have come to understand that I was being guided through a special process that would allow me to give back some of what I learned.

I celebrate how I signed with Nomadic because after nine offers from other small presses, my intuition told me Nomadic was right for me. When they shut down, my sadness and grief initially told me I had made a mistake. Now I know that no mistakes were made. I found my life-long editor from Nomadic who has become one of my dearest friends. I met incredible people who continue to support me. I learned how the small press publishing world works from the inside out, which I have now turned into a workshop offering that I have taught a couple times. I feel these experiences of mine can help others who are trying to birth work that will live in the world. Losing Nomadic was very hard and getting signed by Black Lawrence was a thrill, indeed. But beyond the successes, I would not trade in the challenges for anything.

3. Did this book emerge from the stories, or did you have the idea for the book first?

A beautiful, loaded question, given how the book made me write it! When I started this project in 2018, I had absolutely no real idea that I was actually starting anything. The sole motivation I had was this driving passion to learn more about the craft of writing fiction. So the stories were a way for me to explore craft as inspired by other works of other authors I fell in love with.

To answer your question plainly, the book absolutely emerged from the stories. At a certain point in my MFA, my mentor and I realized we had a collection forming. This happened beyond any effort or intention of mine. But once it became clear that there was, indeed, a collection, I worked full steam ahead in completing the first draft of the entire book by the time my MFA and mentorship ended.

4. Can you speak to how the various meanings of “monarch” resonate with your collection and your own curiosities?

I love this question mainly because it suggests that monarch holds many meanings, and I definitely agree. I do have a story titled “Monarch” in the collection but it is not the titular story. In fact, there is no titular story which is why the collection is titled Monarch: Stories, rather than And Other Stories. At first glance, readers are inclined to associate the butterfly with how monarch is used, which of course, does not bother me given that for any story, change must occur. If there is no change, we have no story, so the generic symbolism of transformation associated with a monarch butterfly fits. In truth, there is so much more to it.

How we use subtext in craft is a great passion of mine, so the challenge of this title is that although it can work on the nose, a deeper meaning lies both under the surface of the lines and beyond singular stories or the collection in its entirety. For me, the resonance you ask of is an energy of liberation and sovereignty. The protagonists in these stories exist and transform within their own worlds, created by perspective. In craft, perspective is structured through the lens of point of view, which became very important to these stories, also.

Firstly, in subtext, the metaphor of monarch can be understood as transformative energy, often through loss, grief, suffering, or love, that each character harnesses or is unwittingly changed by. The wider view is that each protagonist becomes the sovereign of its own territory of healing. Often this terrain is the character’s body: emotional, physical, or psychological. As broken or traumatized as the characters are, each of these characters reigns while plot is entirely driven by the characters.

Also, motherhood in all its forms, plays a huge part in the dynamic between characters in the collection. How mothers impact relationships holds an extraordinary amount of power. Undoubtedly, mothers in the collection stand as queens, despite how poorly some of them behave. This is because the monarchy of motherhood impacts the protagonist’s woundedness in an overt, often illogical, way that forever affects the lives of characters.

5. It strikes me that the American landscape is a character in these stories–I can’t imagine them taking place anywhere else in the world. Do you have feelings about that?

I do because place, or the story of space, is often my access point to stories by way of an image. I have traveled the United States extensively, having made my  way to every state, so I am sure that there is a nomadic energy that informs the stories. Beyond this however is how the regions in this story have been etched into my subconscious mind and, importantly, when. My stories and characters always present themselves through an image from my memory bank, often as a tapestry of places. An old photo can trigger the image. Other sensory input can do the trick like scents and sounds through music. First, senses trigger a memory. Then, the memory creates an image. This gives me access to my characters.

Place takes shape in a process that depends on how deeply the memory is buried in my subconscious mind. I grew up in the Midwest, so stories that take place there begin with a windy, fractured quality as the subconscious travels to reach my conscious mind. For me personally, the Midwest involved a lot of love and a lot of trauma. The memories emerge with a highly attuned sensory quality which creates a visceral reaction in my body. I think these deeply buried memories have more time and space within me to gather new qualities. Like a magnet, these forms tend to gather shards of newer memories, qualities, tones, colors, and so on. The memories have more attachments. These begin as wisps of feelings and must be sculpted tobecome concrete. It’s like spending years with an abstract painting before describing it. Seattle is a place of my recent past that involved extreme trauma and transformation in a short period of time when I got sober there in 2015. These memories are less buried, easier to emerge into the conscious mind, and often less abstract with clearer edges.

I should mention here though that although place and memory unlock the door, once I am through and seated, the characters always take the wheel. It’s their trip once the writing begins.

6. These stories deal with a range of challenging subject matter. How did you take care of yourself while exploring these characters and their narratives?

Thank you so much for asking this question! Because caring for myself during the process of creating this collection was a very difficult, messy process. I wrote this book at a very specific time in my life that will never happen again. The book is unique in that way, and there is a rawness to the work that will never be repeated through me. I was newly sober in 2018, so I was busy healing many traumas, working hard to do so. Emotionally speaking, I was so tattered and
afraid of everything. In recovery, we have to learn how to embody emotional maturity as if in adolescence. My feelings would often overtake me. What’s more, I didn’t yet understand how to regulate my nervous system, and I hadn’t found my yogic practices that today are a huge part of my life. I was just raw, all the time. This, coupled with how obsessive I became about my characters and their worlds created turmoil within. I know this sounds tough and extreme, but I do believe there is a quality to the work that was a result of this sort of reckless emotional state.

And in this way, I was close to my characters. I felt their pain easily. Empathy was (and for me, has never been) hard to find. I could sit with them in their hardships quite easily. Nothing hurt much because everything hurt already. I was with them. I felt comforted by them. 

Looking back, I suppose I can say that I cared for myself by writing endlessly. My characters helped care forme. I got through the temper tantrums and obsession with the love of close friends. And I just didn’t drink or use no matter how I felt. And here I am, changed, for sure.

7. Speaking of which, writing about sex is commonly thought of as a challenge, but you are masterful at it–the moments are both authentic and sensual. Do you have any tips for writers?

This is a great point of intrigue. I think the key here is to locate the emotional center within the character and find the feelings they hold lying beneath the act of sex. Often we find feelings like desire, yearning, control, loneliness, and on. In other words, we find dense feelings underlying a character’s urge to act out in sexual ways. Once these feelings are located, sometimes writing sex is simply not the answer. Sometimes we misunderstand desire in our characters. Sometimes desire can mean a misplaced passion, an unhealed wound of abandonment, or fear of solitude. The key is asking characters questions: Why do you feel desire? Why do you want sexual attention? What do you gain from this sexual situation? Interrogation will lead to better understanding. Focus on feelings rather than action. Feeling will lead to action in appropriate and surprising ways if we communicate with characters.

Sexual or sensual situations are manifestations of certain feelings in form. For example, in “Punished” which is the most overtly sexual story in Monarch I would say, sex is used for power by the antagonist against the protagonist, her husband. She uses sex to destabilize her husband’s power structure. In truth, the story has little to do about sex although sex is used as a vehicle for transformation and deconstruction. In essence, sex is used as her weapon against the protagonist who desperately wants to return to status quo.

Mainly, it is always important to consider where the reader stands. If a sexual situation feels unnecessary or irrelevant, we are at risk of losing the reader right off because we’ve broken trust. I think a trustworthy writer only asks a reader to enter a vulnerable situation where bodies are exposed for a reason that makes sense and enriches the emotional experience. Sex must be written with a firm handle on intention.

8. I’m likely biased since I chose this piece to publish in TLR, but I think “Jesus Wears Bermudas” is my favorite piece in the collection. Is there a story that you feel particularly proud of, or connected to?

Thank you, Leanne! I absolutely adore “Jesus Wears Bermudas”, too. Faith holds a very special place in my heart. All of the stories’ characters are so close to me, grooved into my heart. It’s remarkable because I spent so much time with them against their landscapes. When I revisit the stories, I am immediately transported to their worlds where they are the kings and queens. There is a feeling of safety in that because I am never alone.

To answer your question specifically though, I think “Nova” is the piece I am proudest of simply because the most work went into it with 22 full rewrites. From “Nova” came “Vida”, another story I love. My access point to image that I spoke of earlier happens to be a best friend, so I am anchored by the story in a huge heart-centered way.

9. Releasing a book into the world is such a vulnerable thing. Is there something you’re hoping to realize with the book’s birth?

I have a couple very specific intentions, yes, that I have carried with me throughout the process. Firstly, I aim to use my traumas, transgressions, and transformations that were necessary to endure and survive in order to be well enough to write this book as a bonding agent between me and others. I hope this book offers a safe space to allow people the experience of emoting. I am also yearning to complete my novel, so any momentum that Monarch gathers will propel me into a dimension of time where I can continue to work and create new characters in other lands.