What Are You Working On?
Writers on their works in progress

C.A. Willis

novelist

C.A. Willis comes from a widely varied background that includes jobs ranging from berry picker to freelance journalist, all to fund her two loves: travel and the shaping of words. Her writing has appeared in publications including Seattle, Aboard, Northwest Travel, Transitions Abroad, Mature Living, Northwest Ink, The Ark, and Best New Poems. Her first novel The Long Thirst was awarded the 2004 Zola Award for literary/mainstream fiction by the Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and is making the rounds of publishers. Willis lives in Seattle and works as a flight attendant for Alaska Airlines, both to support her writing habit and to research her new book project A Fictional Life, a novel set in remote Alaska. She is represented by Lyons & Pande International, LLC, New York.

 
When I gave myself permission to work on fiction, I gave up trying to write for a living. Instead, I took on jobs that gave me writing time and didn't suck my creative energies. Flying has proved excellent for this. I have maximum free time; in addition, one day I'm in Barrow, Alaska and it's sixty below zero, the next day I'm walking the warm cobblestones of Mexico -- it's a tremendous juxtaposition of realities and a great spark for my creativity.

I am in the difficult place of having two books solidly in my head at the same time. I find this challenging because my novels are very deeply entrenched in their opposing locations, and they also have entirely different voices. The first novel has a male protagonist, and it's a third-person tale set in India with strong imagery and symbolism of dryness and thirst (hence the title The Long Thirst). That first novel is being submitted to publishers by my agent, yet I am somewhat obsessed with continually rewriting it on some kind of bent for absolute perfection. I sense this won't stop until it is, hopefully, taken out of my hands.

I am also working on the second draft of my second novel A Fictional Life, trying to get it to the point of being ready for its first outside readers. I have uncovered some further research to do, a character or two to deepen, and some timing issues to work out.

 
What led you to this project?

My current novel project came to me much like the first: from a strong sense of place. Alaska, like India, is an extremely unique landscape that impacts you on many levels. Initially, I had a sense of place as character. Then, as some experiences from my own past, and the questions they brought up, drew in as well -- the story developed out of that. Once the story and its characters came, they came very strongly, and I knew I had to follow it through.

 
What's been the most difficult thing about this project?

My novel in progress being set in Alaska with strong images of cold and ice, you can see how it requires a good deal of focus time before I can assume the appropriate voice and get in the right space for each project. I can't have little bits of India popping up in Alaska.

Also, this story came to me in the first-person present tense, which is a very difficult tense to write in for any length; it's very immediate and hard to maintain. I experimented with making it past tense, but every time I did this I lost the story thread. I finally gave in.

It's been a difficult journey, but I've figured out a way to make it all come together. Since it's a story about traveling back in time to uncover a secret that has shaped the protagonists life, I was able to frame the story in the present tense with the flashbacks, of course, written in the past. In the end, I am very happy with the outcome.

 
What has been the most rewarding part of this project?

I have enjoyed delving deeply into Alaska and its unique character. As part of my research, I snow-shoed to a remote wilderness yurt and spent several days and nights there alone. It was a personally empowering experience. I felt a new level of connection to my character, her strength, and the landscape that shaped her. I have a strong sense of coming into myself as a writer during this process. The writing came much more easily and fluidly than with the first novel. My initial draft was miles ahead of where I was at that stage with the first book. This was very gratifying because the first book took me ten years to complete!

 
When do you expect (or hope) to finish, and what's next for the project?

I hope to have this book ready for first readers in a few months. Then it's off to another rewrite, more polishing, and so on. This could, potentially, go on forever. But I am grateful to have advanced to the level of having an agent to show it to when it's finished. My hope is to be rescued by a publisher somewhere along the way (just so I can get one of these books out of my head). Book number three is already making an appearance; if nothing happens soon, I'll have to beat it back with a stick!

Links

Pacific Northwest Writers Association award winners for 2004

See more What Are You Working On? interviews.

published 6 March 06 on Too Beautiful. email copyright 2006 Mark Pritchard, Bernal Heights, San Francisco