The PoArtMo Anthology Series: Interview with J.W. Wood

Hello everyone!

Welcome to our PoArtMo Anthology Series, which celebrates the artists whose work appears in The Auroras & Blossoms PoArtMo Anthology: 2021 Edition.

Today’s guest is J.W. Wood, who contributed flash fiction titled “Merry-Go-Write” to our anthology.

Auroras & Blossoms: Hello J.W. Congratulations for being a featured artist in our anthology! How does a story begin for you? Does it start with an image, a form or a particular theme?

J.W.: There’s no set pattern – it could be anything. Usually if an idea is strong enough, it survives. It starts by writing down a line and can go on for months or years after that, shaping the idea and trying to find the right way of expressing it.

A&B: Tell us all about the inspiration behind your piece “Merry-Go-Write” that appears in The Auroras & Blossoms PoArtMo Anthology: 2021 Edition.

J.W.: It comes from my many years of writing copy and journalism to earn my living. In this piece, Charlie Merry realises he can change the world by writing for others.

A&B: Who are your biggest influences in the writing world?

J.W.: Far too many to list, but to give the first ones that come to mind – John Donne, Garcia Marquez and Orwell. I try to read the bible and Shakespeare every day.

A&B: What is your relationship with your speaking voice and your written voice?

J.W.: Great question. Friends who read my first published novel said it was like going out for a drink with me for four or five hours. Other than that, I’ve no idea how the two are linked. I do find it extraordinarily difficult to talk about my creative interests to friends – and as anyone who’s read a biography of Dylan Thomas knows, there is very often very little relationship between a writer’s voice on the page, and how they express themselves personally.

A&B: Has your own opinion or idea of what writing is changed since you first started writing?

J.W.: Infinitely. I did the whole “English Literature” thing for four years, and I think it’s only in the last four years that I’ve started to think in terms of plot, character, and narrative drive, rather than the technical mechanics of language – though obviously the two are linked.

A&B: Does your work have any specific themes or social commentary we should identify with?

J.W.: In particular, I am concerned about the over-reliance on technology which we currently see in so-called “developed” societies; and the concomitant ignorance of both matters spiritual, and other forms of knowing. If the so-called “Dark Ages” were over-reliant on a vague perception of a deity, then current scientistic, or science-worshipping attitudes are no less catastrophic. To an extent, you can see this point reflected in the short piece you’ve included in this anthology; my “Selected Poems”, and my most recent work with Swiss Artist Cyrille Saura, explore this point in much greater depth.

A&B: Tell us the most positive and uplifting advice you have been given while working as a writer.

J.W.: My old English teacher used to tell me “Never give up” and after 35 years it’s no exaggeration to say that his words have stayed with me. In another life, I remember Derek Walcott telling me never to end a line of poetry on a plural or a pronoun, which was helpful if not exactly uplifting. Perhaps the most uplifting advice is the advice I give myself every day – that materiality, and “success” as the world measures it, are only one way of interpreting the quality of a piece of writing. Of far greater importance to me is the desire to achieve one’s vision as a writer as fully as possible. And that’s something those as great as James Joyce and Thomas Mann might say they never succeeded in achieving. A lifetime’s work – and then some.

Bio:

J.W. Wood is the author of five books of poetry, a novel and the forthcoming comic novella, By Any Other Name (Terror House Publishing, 2022). His poems, articles and reviews have appeared in many publications around the world.

Website: https://jwwoodwriter.net

J.W., thank you for answering our questions and supporting Auroras & Blossoms! We know that people will love your writing as much as we do!

Cendrine & David