Jac jemc
Jac Jemc lives in Chicago. Her novel The Grip of It is forthcoming from FSG Originals (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) in August 2017. Jemc is also the author of My Only Wife (Dzanc Books), named a finalist for the 2013 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction and winner of the Paula Anderson Book Award; A Different Bed Every Time (Dzanc Books), named one of Amazon's Best Story Collections of 2014; and a chapbook of stories, These Strangers She'd Invited In (Greying Ghost Press). Jac's nonfiction has been featured on the long list for Best American Essays and her story "Women in Wells" was featured in the 2010 Best of the Web anthology. Jac received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and has completed residencies at the Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus, Hald: The Danish Center for Writers and Translators, Ragdale, the Vermont Studio Center, Thicket, and VCCA. She has been the recipient of two Illinois Arts Council Professional Development Grants, and was named as one of 25 Writers to Watch by the Guild Literary Complex and one of New City's Lit 50 in Chicago. She's taught English and Creative Writing at the University of Notre Dame, Northeastern Illinois University, Loyola University Chicago, Lake Forest College, Illinois Wesleyan University, Story Studio Chicago, and The Loft Literary Center. She currently serves as a web nonfiction editor for Hobart.
Published 07/31/17
Published 07/31/17
Howl: What is your writing process like?
Jemc: It changes for each project. I try to write every day, and I try to get a minimum of 1000 words on the page if I'm drafting. There are times when I do a lot of language gathering, but don't know quite what the story will be until I start stringing words together and see what comes out of them. There are times where I read about something interesting and wonder how I could work that into a story, and sometimes that requires more research. I've written using visual work by a certain artist to guide the story.
Howl: How do you edit your work?
Jemc: Revision requires a more personalized method of goal setting. When revising I start to get more mathematical, thinking about structure and balance and pacing, but much of that is led by intuition. Oftentimes it requires putting the story away for a little while, sometimes as short a time as a week or two, and other times the clarity doesn't come for a few months. I might let a trusted reader/writer friend take a look and make suggestions. Sometimes I'll get a draft down and then I'll read a story and realize I can try to mimic the structure to get my own work into shape. I'm reading all the time and trying to learn from what I read.
Howl: What advice do you have for budding writers?
Jemc: This is not new advice, but: Read everything you can get your hands on and keep going. Talent is well and good, but if you don't have persistence, no one will ever see that talent. And if you're not reading, why are you writing? Be a member of the community. See other writers as friends rather than competition.
Howl: You have on your website a "Rejections" page where you post on all of your rejections. You're up to 374 as of this interview. What gave you this idea and do you find it therapeutic? Has there been any backlash from some of the publications for the unexpected publicity?
Jemc: I do find it therapeutic. It's a relief to just have all my dirty laundry out there, and it really has forced me to see rejection as just a part of the process, nothing to be embittered or disheartened by. No publications have been mad about the blog that I know of, but what's to be mad about? Editors are careful about their wording in responding to writing and they should be. I try to keep pretty cheery about the whole endeavor. The blog started as a tongue-in-cheek bit of self-promotion. "Thanks for showing interest in my writing! Look at all of the people who don't like my writing!" I'm so grateful that all these years later people are still responding to it and saying it helps them get over the negative stigma associated with rejection.
Howl: Why do you feel writing is your creative medium of choice?
Jemc: Because I can do it alone and have most of the control. I started out as an actor, but I was frustrated that I had to perform other people's material and that a casting director picked the projects I'd perform in. I tried directing, but again, I worked with someone else's material and there was so much coordination of schedules and relying on others to realize your vision. I have the utmost respect for people who can collaborate in this way, but I figured out that I like to work alone and I like to make my own schedule, taking as much time on a project as I need to until I feel it's ready. I wish I could be a film director or a visual artist. I'm very interested in the ways that people interact with different mediums, and how relationships form with other types of work based on repetition. Books seems really singular in the amount of time and attention that is asked of the audience, and there are moments when a shorter relationship seems appealing and exciting to me, which is probably why I like to write flash fiction as well as novels.
Howl: You write poetry, short stories, essays, novels...when a story comes to mind, how do you determine what form it will take?
Jemc: I'm not really writing as much poetry these days and essays are very occasional and inspired by something specific and real in my life. I'm averaging 6-7 years of work on a novel, so I have all that time to dream of what the next big project will be. The reward for finishing a project is always the opportunity to start a new one. All of the other ideas mostly get funneled to stories right now or forgotten along the way.
Howl: What excites you about contemporary literature?
Jemc: I'm really excited by the chances I see being taken right now. There's a lot of weird, risky language and bizarre storytelling happening right now, and I feel so lucky to be working with FSG Originals, which I think is a real hub of that vibe right now. There's so much I want to read, it's very hard to balance the urge to keep up with all that's new and exciting and all of the older backlist titles and classics I want to catch up on, not to mention books for research on things I'm writing about, or books just for my own general knowledge. I'm so happy that younger generations of readers have, in the internet, the tools to find more of what they like. I think back to when I was a junior high/high schooler and wandering Barnes & Noble, confused about how I could find something that was strange and exciting and interesting to me, and now I hope that's easier for the young weirdos out there.
Howl: What's on your bookshelf or nightstand that you're reading that you really love?
Jemc: I'm reading Alexis Smith's Marrow Island and it's spectacular. A real page-turner with these lovely turns of phrase, like "an unkindness of windchimes." The structure is so smart in the way it builds suspense, flashing backward and forward. I feel like I'm learning a lot. I'm also reading the collective stories of James Purdy, and he has a nasty sense of humor. I love when a writer isn't afraid to show some real, awful people in their fiction.
Howl: So what's next for Jac Jemc?
Jemc: Right now I'm working on a historical fiction project about Mad King Ludwig II of Bavaria. He didn't do the political ruling he was supposed to and built fantastic castles and commissioned operas instead. Eventually his ministers became so frustrated with him that they had him declared insane, and then, a couple days later, he was found drowned in a shallow lake. It's a fascinating story that's allowing me to work with a different period of time's (the second half of the 19th century) images and language and attitudes, while continuing to explore one of my favorite themes: the ways in which we can never fully know another person.
Jemc: It changes for each project. I try to write every day, and I try to get a minimum of 1000 words on the page if I'm drafting. There are times when I do a lot of language gathering, but don't know quite what the story will be until I start stringing words together and see what comes out of them. There are times where I read about something interesting and wonder how I could work that into a story, and sometimes that requires more research. I've written using visual work by a certain artist to guide the story.
Howl: How do you edit your work?
Jemc: Revision requires a more personalized method of goal setting. When revising I start to get more mathematical, thinking about structure and balance and pacing, but much of that is led by intuition. Oftentimes it requires putting the story away for a little while, sometimes as short a time as a week or two, and other times the clarity doesn't come for a few months. I might let a trusted reader/writer friend take a look and make suggestions. Sometimes I'll get a draft down and then I'll read a story and realize I can try to mimic the structure to get my own work into shape. I'm reading all the time and trying to learn from what I read.
Howl: What advice do you have for budding writers?
Jemc: This is not new advice, but: Read everything you can get your hands on and keep going. Talent is well and good, but if you don't have persistence, no one will ever see that talent. And if you're not reading, why are you writing? Be a member of the community. See other writers as friends rather than competition.
Howl: You have on your website a "Rejections" page where you post on all of your rejections. You're up to 374 as of this interview. What gave you this idea and do you find it therapeutic? Has there been any backlash from some of the publications for the unexpected publicity?
Jemc: I do find it therapeutic. It's a relief to just have all my dirty laundry out there, and it really has forced me to see rejection as just a part of the process, nothing to be embittered or disheartened by. No publications have been mad about the blog that I know of, but what's to be mad about? Editors are careful about their wording in responding to writing and they should be. I try to keep pretty cheery about the whole endeavor. The blog started as a tongue-in-cheek bit of self-promotion. "Thanks for showing interest in my writing! Look at all of the people who don't like my writing!" I'm so grateful that all these years later people are still responding to it and saying it helps them get over the negative stigma associated with rejection.
Howl: Why do you feel writing is your creative medium of choice?
Jemc: Because I can do it alone and have most of the control. I started out as an actor, but I was frustrated that I had to perform other people's material and that a casting director picked the projects I'd perform in. I tried directing, but again, I worked with someone else's material and there was so much coordination of schedules and relying on others to realize your vision. I have the utmost respect for people who can collaborate in this way, but I figured out that I like to work alone and I like to make my own schedule, taking as much time on a project as I need to until I feel it's ready. I wish I could be a film director or a visual artist. I'm very interested in the ways that people interact with different mediums, and how relationships form with other types of work based on repetition. Books seems really singular in the amount of time and attention that is asked of the audience, and there are moments when a shorter relationship seems appealing and exciting to me, which is probably why I like to write flash fiction as well as novels.
Howl: You write poetry, short stories, essays, novels...when a story comes to mind, how do you determine what form it will take?
Jemc: I'm not really writing as much poetry these days and essays are very occasional and inspired by something specific and real in my life. I'm averaging 6-7 years of work on a novel, so I have all that time to dream of what the next big project will be. The reward for finishing a project is always the opportunity to start a new one. All of the other ideas mostly get funneled to stories right now or forgotten along the way.
Howl: What excites you about contemporary literature?
Jemc: I'm really excited by the chances I see being taken right now. There's a lot of weird, risky language and bizarre storytelling happening right now, and I feel so lucky to be working with FSG Originals, which I think is a real hub of that vibe right now. There's so much I want to read, it's very hard to balance the urge to keep up with all that's new and exciting and all of the older backlist titles and classics I want to catch up on, not to mention books for research on things I'm writing about, or books just for my own general knowledge. I'm so happy that younger generations of readers have, in the internet, the tools to find more of what they like. I think back to when I was a junior high/high schooler and wandering Barnes & Noble, confused about how I could find something that was strange and exciting and interesting to me, and now I hope that's easier for the young weirdos out there.
Howl: What's on your bookshelf or nightstand that you're reading that you really love?
Jemc: I'm reading Alexis Smith's Marrow Island and it's spectacular. A real page-turner with these lovely turns of phrase, like "an unkindness of windchimes." The structure is so smart in the way it builds suspense, flashing backward and forward. I feel like I'm learning a lot. I'm also reading the collective stories of James Purdy, and he has a nasty sense of humor. I love when a writer isn't afraid to show some real, awful people in their fiction.
Howl: So what's next for Jac Jemc?
Jemc: Right now I'm working on a historical fiction project about Mad King Ludwig II of Bavaria. He didn't do the political ruling he was supposed to and built fantastic castles and commissioned operas instead. Eventually his ministers became so frustrated with him that they had him declared insane, and then, a couple days later, he was found drowned in a shallow lake. It's a fascinating story that's allowing me to work with a different period of time's (the second half of the 19th century) images and language and attitudes, while continuing to explore one of my favorite themes: the ways in which we can never fully know another person.