Shop Talk: Kelly J. Ford Absolutely Can Wait for the Muse

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In a recent article for CrimeReads, Kelly J. Ford asserted that when asked about their favorite Southern writers, most cishet white men often ramble off “the same old white guys everyone mentions,” and then, at the very end, add Flannery O’Connor. 

The article is a beautiful, thought-provoking piece of writing, and I hope you’ll give it a read. But the reason I mention it here is to tell you a story.

Kelly and I are both from Arkansas. Shortly after that article came out, we were doing an event together at Bookish in Fort Smith. At some point, somebody asked me about my influences, and I rambled off a few names, the last of which was Flannery O’Connor.

I shit you not.

Kelly gave me the side eye and the event moved on, but I say all of this to say Kelly Jo Ford is shaking up Southern fiction in the best way possible. 

Her debut Cottonmouths was named a best book of 2017 by the Los Angeles Review. She collected an Anthony nomination for Real Bad Things. And her latest novel, The Hunt, comes out today, which makes this the perfect time to stop and talk some shop.

Eli Cranor: Let’s start with Arkansas: How does The Natural State figure into your work? And more specifically, when did you start writing about Arkansas? Has it been scary? I know it has been for me…

Kelly J. Ford: The Natural State infects every single story I write. I didn’t leave Arkansas until after college. It’s where I grew up and came of age. Even if I’m writing about Boston, there’s a little bit of Arkansas there because I’m deeply proud of where I came from, even if at times I’m deeply disappointed in it as well.

My first forays into writing were with Angie, one of my best friends in junior high. We wrote pages and pages of terrible poetry while eating Frito Pies and watching MTV. We’d write poems and then read them aloud to each other. I continued to pursue this poetry passion even after I moved to Boston in the mid-nineties. I was sending poetry over the work fax machine to another friend back in Arkansas like a big nerd, watching the machine to ensure no one else caught me or saw my writing. The horror…

I didn’t feel scared so much as nervous with the publication of my debut, Cottonmouths. I had these annoying thoughts like, who am I to write about a place where I no longer live? What if all your story facts are based around memory and that’s not what it’s like anymore? So I try not to focus on things like fact but the truth of Arkansas for my characters. I have lived outside of Arkansas now longer than I lived in it, but setting has always been at the forefront of my stories. It’s a place I return to every day when I text my dad or on our Sunday phone calls or during my annual visits. It’s a weird-ass place, and I don’t want to write about any place more than that.

EC: Do you write every day?

KJF: Yes, because I have a full-time job that requires me to communicate with clients, subcontractors, and coworkers in a professional and clear manner. It’s exhausting.

But do I write fiction every day? Absolutely not, because I have a full-time job. I have enough pressure on me without adding the unnecessary pressure of mantras like, “Write every day!” I think that can be damaging to aspiring writers because the flip side is, if you don’t write every day, you’re somehow less hungry, dedicated, serious, etc.

I used to beat myself up so bad because of sayings like that and really ran myself down physically and emotionally trying to complete my first novel (which took me, all told, about 20 years). My guess is that people who tell other people to “write every day” never had to hold down two to three jobs to pay the bills. Good on them. I wish I didn’t. The only time I get testy about it is when it’s presented as a dictum because it’s divorced from reality for so many writers. Like, no, man. I’m legitimately tired and can’t form a sentence, let alone a paragraph or chapter, at the end of the day-job work day. There’s more than one way to write a book. And I can’t write if I’m worried about the electric bill or food in the fridge.

EC: When you are working, do you aim for a daily word count?

KJF: My brilliant mentor and talented author, Michelle Hoover, routinely quotes Goethe to her writing students: “Do not hurry. Do not rest.” That advice has really stuck with me since I first heard her say it in 2010.

I absolutely look at word counts during first drafts, but I don’t freak out about what I’m writing or what I mean. For first drafts, I “write hot,” just get it down as quickly as possible. The first draft phase is strictly for creating the medium with which I’ll work. It’s like extracting granite from the earth. For me, the magic is in revision, when I slow down and corral the wild-ass, hot turds from the first draft.

Sharing the work is also where the magic happens. I’m nothing without my brilliant writing partners. I’ve had so many great ones over the years, but my ride-or-die is Elizabeth Chiles-Shelburne. Her debut Holding Onto Nothing is one of the best damn books to come out of the South in recent years. She nails toxic masculinity and inherited trauma like no one else I’ve read.

The story is done when it’s done. If I try to make something perfect, I’ll go into analysis paralysis and never complete a book.

EC: What are the tools of your trade?

KJF: It’s 2023, and I work in technology for my day job. Of course, I’m using a laptop, Eli!

I was required to take typing classes in junior high. I’m not about that one-page-at-a-time/inky fingers/literal heavy-lifting life. And writing longhand hurts my hand. I don’t have that kind of time, and I don’t like unnecessary pain. However, I like to use a notebook and/or my whiteboard to make lists for story ideas, research topics, first draft ‘parking lot’ items, and other revision needs. Thanks to those typing classes and my day job, I type very fast and that allows me to not break my concentration and go into that wonderful trance-like state I get when writing.

EC: When do you write? Time of day? Maybe even time of year, if there’s a season that works best for you.

KJF: Over the years, I’ve developed this pattern of writing and revising in chunks of the year: September-ish through December are typically for first drafts or new drafts that require major developmental changes. I like to finish novels on December 31 so I have a built-in item to celebrate at the end of the year. Then I let my book “cool” for about a month before picking it up again in February for revisions before sending it to Elizabeth or other beta readers in April (at which point I myself “cool.”). Lots of revision after that before I send it to my agent, Chris Bucci, in June-ish. Then July through August are for hard revision. Once September hits, I assess and go forth with another revision or I start another book. This doesn’t mean I complete a book a year. I’m a slow revisionist. I just like the cycle.

As for time of day, honestly just whenever I can grab time. For my debut, Cottonmouths, I wrote on the beaches of Ptown and in conference rooms at work, on planes and in my bedroom late at night. Everyone’s all, you can’t wait for the muse! But I actually can. I think because I’ve been writing long enough at this point (not necessarily publishing, which is different) that I can trust the words will come when I need them to. I don’t force it because anytime I do that, it’s just trash.

EC: Do you have any rituals you return to that get you in the mood to write?

KJF: More than anything else, daydreaming is the primary way I can get back to writing after busy or depressive episodes. Housework, painting walls, rowing in place–anything that is rote and boring is one hundred percent good for my creativity. In junior high (my poetry phase), I would spend hours in the yard weeding and raking and building rock walls–my parents were like, uh, okaaaay–while listening to music on my little busted, yellow Walkman. Music and manual labor put me into a meditative state, where I’m not thinking or worrying about anything. And then, eventually, my little stories and characters peek out and start pinging around my brain.

EC: Do you outline your novels? Just dive straight in? Or do some combination of the two?

KFJ: I met YA author (and Superstar actress!) Emmy Laybourne at the Southern Kentucky Book Festival. She’s so warm and funny. She said “the outline is where the magic happens.” I love that so much. I live that now.

Still, sometimes I outline, sometimes I don’t. It all depends on what the story needs. I primarily work on novels, so I outline after the first draft. (First drafts are free-for-alls, as noted above.) My forthcoming novel, The Hunt, required a ton of outlining because it features a serial killer as well as various “Greek chorus” sections to detail victim stories and townspeople perspectives. Outlines make it easier to keep track of who’s who and what’s where.

Sometimes, I’ll outline the major plot points of my book in a notebook over and over again, removing things or tweaking things I hadn’t thought of. It’s a way I can “sink” the story into my memory as well as note where the characters are acting in ways that don’t make sense. Reviewing it outside of the manuscript helps me to see beyond my darlings to what the story really needs.

EC: When you’re done with the first draft, what does your revision process look like?

KJF: I always, always let my writing “cool,” as noted above. I do this with everything I write, not just novels.

I always do better with at least a 24-hour waiting period before going back to the page. For novels, I allow myself at least a month because I write in short, intense spurts. I need a mental break. Plus, it helps that I don’t have a great memory. I can come back to the story and not feel precious about certain words, sentences, and even characters. Like, if I barely remember that paragraph, then I can kill it.

I don’t share first drafts, as a personal rule. They’re too wild. But beta readers are critical to me. One thing I started with author PJ Vernon is talking about the plot rather than just sharing drafts. It was such a valuable shift in my process because it forces me to communicate the basic plot points in a coherent manner. And if it’s not coherent, then I know it needs work. I’ve done this with a few writer friends now, where we just talk it through and go down a rabbit hole of What Ifs for our stories. It’s fun and brings a different perspective into the mix, one that can see story opportunities I can’t because I’m too close to the material.

EC: Do you read certain books for inspiration prior to writing? If so, what are they? Do they change from manuscript to manuscript?

KJF: I’ve always considered myself a reader before a writer, so everything I read is an inspiration to me. When I was first learning how to wrangle the novel I’d accidentally written (I feel like many authors started out this way), I sought out novels that did certain things well, such as multiple points of view (I absolutely love Jami Attenberg’s The Middlesteins for this). I still do this.

If you’re struggling with a craft element, it’s great to find books that do it well and then learn from it for your own novel. Plus, comps (or comparative novels) are necessary in publishing. Agents and editors want to be able to point to other books to help booksellers and readers “situate” your book on the shelf and in their brains. For example, my work in progress is Secret Identity meets Bath Haus. I’ve long had this idea of Frankenstein meets Fatal Attraction, but after reading Alex and PJ’s novels, it helped me to clarify my vision for the story.

So yeah, read a lot. Inside your genre, outside your genre. Outside your gender and race and sexuality and country of origin. There’s definitely a difference between reading for pleasure and reading as a writer. When you’re reading as a writer, you’re gonna pick up a lot of skills for your toolbox from folks who have already figured it out.

EC: Best advice for writers just starting out, especially when it comes to the actual act of writing/developing the habits necessary to craft a novel-length manuscript.

KJF: It sounds cliché and cheesy, but it’s a hundred percent useful: just have fun! There’s so much about publishing that is not fun. And there will a hundred percent be times when writing is not fun. Practice patience. Practice sitting with your disappointment and discouragement. It’s so hard. I know. I allow myself 24 hours to be a big baby about something and then I get back to the page. It used to be longer, but I’ve gotten older and can move on more quickly these days.

Writing is such a solitary pursuit, but it doesn’t have to be. One of the most useful things I did was to find my people. Many of them I met at writing classes, others at book readings, and others online. Gather writer friends around you. Share the ups and downs. Eventually you’ll get to a point where you can weather the hills and valleys more easily. Friends help.

EC: Finally, WHY do you write?

KJF: A therapist would probably say it’s because I was neglected by my mother as a child and my maladaptive daydreaming was the outlet I chose to cope. That therapist would not be wrong! I always joke with my non-writer friends that it’s an affliction. Some of my writer friends nod and agree with me.

I think more than the act of writing, I like the act of storytelling. For me, it’s the sharing of stories that’s the most enjoyable part of it. I grew up in a storyteller culture, around the fire with my family in my grandparents’ dirt driveway, listening to ghost stories and ridiculous tales about the youthful exploits of elders.

I never told any stories of my own. I was too shy, even around my own family. I never felt like I could form the words or create those moments of tension or comedy that others, especially my dad, do so well. But their stories ignited that spark in me to create and to share. It’s the best transaction in the world, writing and sharing. It reminds me of those southern nights, when I didn’t want the stories to end.

Now, I’m able to share stories in a way I couldn’t then. Truly, nothing has been more gratifying than to hear my dad tell me how much he loved my book. It took me a while, but I was finally able to sit in the role of storyteller. 

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