Spotlight On…

If you don’t know Ryan Bradley, well you just haven’t been paying attention, have you? Today we talk with him about the fragility of human relationships and what it means to be an ugly writer.

Tell us about the first story or poem you remember writing.

I always loved reading, but for a long time I hated writing. In 7th grade we had an assignment where we had to write a poem. I was so upset about it that I decided to stick it to the teacher by writing the dumbest poem ever. I wrote about a candy bar wrapper blowing in the wind, like a tumbleweed. To my disappointment the teacher really liked it and, secretly, so did I.

How often do you struggle with your writing? Or does it come easily?

Writing is a constant battle for me. I am not a “natural” by any means. One of my mentors once said about me that I wasn’t the most talented, but that I worked harder than other students (though I’m not sure I was supposed to overhear that assessment). This has kind of been my modus operandi with anything I’ve done in life. I’m always willing to put in as much work (and probably more) than is needed to do something as well as I can. With writing this tends to mean obsessive revision, tinkering really. And often trying stories from multiple p.o.v.’s as well as in both future and past tense. In general, lots of being disgusted with myself. Luckily, when a story or poem comes out right in the end it’s reward enough for me to keep trying.

Describe your typical writing environment.

Like many writers I’m a working stiff and a family man, so I write when I can, which means being able to write anywhere and whenever. Currently this comes in the guise of staying up late on my non-worknights. I put on ESPN News in the background, and settle onto the couch with my laptop, generally for about three hour chunks then I go crawl into bed and feel bad for potentially waking up my wife and two year old son.

What’s your favorite story or poem you’ve written? Why?

My favorite and, I think, best story remains unpublished at this point. It’s called “Glaciers” and is the title story in the Alaska-themed story collection I’ve been sending out. It’s about a couple trying to repair their relationship after dealing with a major medical issue. It’s my favorite story I’ve written because I think it’s a microcosm of the themes I care about: the fragility of human relationships, blue collar characters making it through the daily grind, not out of malaise but a type of love and passion that doesn’t get expressed the same way people outside of that culture, per se, often expect love and passion to be expressed.

What’s the last book that you loved?

I recently finished Lindsay Hunter’s collection, Daddy’s. I am head over heels for the fucked-up Southern charm of her stories, it’s like reading a really dirty version of Flannery O’Connor, which is pretty much irresistible, right? Also, at the beginning of the summer I read Brady Udall’s The Lonely Polygamist, which if I had any say would win just about every literary award around this year. And in poetry Vera Pavlova’s If there is Something to Desire and Jeanann Verlee’s Racing Hummingbirds both blew my mind and made me want to lock myself in a room with a pen and notebook.

Does reading online influence your writing style? How would your work change if you lost access to the Internet for a year?

Everything I read, bad or good, will influence me in some way. It’s hard to read as much of the writing online as I’d like, just because I don’t have the time to devote to it. I read what I can, and follow the writers whose work really excites me. I rely on my writerly friends to point out the earth shattering stuff I might have missed. And I try to support my fellow “indie” writers and presses as much as possible. I’m not a cheerleader for cheerleading’s sake when it comes to that, but there’s a lot out there that deserves to be supported and I try to whenever I can, whether it’s buying the books, reading stuff online, or offering to help edit or design something.

If I had no access to the internet I don’t think my work would change, because I don’t think it influences my style or themes, but the way I work would change. I would probably get more writing done, as would we all, and we’d also all be publishing a lot less. But I think I would miss the ability to email or message another writer and get that break from the compulsive nature of my brain. Whether to receive a temporary distraction or reassurance that it’s okay for me to write something that is starting to disturb me (which is beginning to happen with alarming frequency).

You work heavily in both prose and poetry. Does the writing of one influence the writing of the other?

They must, right? To be honest, I was probably a much more eloquent writer before I started writing prose. I still have moments where I write something and I think, “Damn, that’s beautiful.” But I’ve gotten used to being an ugly writer, it’s a more natural place for me, because there’s an honesty in it. Not that beautiful, eloquent writing can’t be honest, but it isn’t when it’s coming from me, because I would have to manufacture it. Where the work comes from, for me, is a more brutal place, a more exposed place, and I believe in being true to that. When I first started writing poetry I thought to be a poet you had to write about nature, but I’m not a nature-type. Luckily for me, my mom introduced me to Langston Hughes and Allen Ginsberg at an early age and I realized you can write about anything, whatever means something to you. And for me, I write to try and process the things my brain obsesses over.

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Ryan W. Bradley’s chapbook, Aquarium was recently published by Thunderclap Press. His novel, Code for Failure will be published in 2012 by Black Coffee Press. His fiction and poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in many publications including The Oregonian, Gargoyle, Word Riot, Annalemma, Oranges & Sardines, and PANK. He is also the editor and co-publisher of Artistically Declined Press. He lives in Oregon with his wife and two sons.