I think conversation has become a lost art over the last few years. So much has changed in the world and we’ve all had to adjust and try to find new ways to connect. I can feel the deficit and I know so many others do too. Social media is mostly often used for making yourself feel seen and heard and I love using it as almost a virtual scrapbook to hold onto all my memories. But I hunger for deep conversation and for people I admire to have a place to share their stories and to talk about their craft. I hope this becomes a place for all of that to unfold. Here is my first interview and I’m so glad it got to be with my dear Eva. I hope you enjoy.

Holly Lee: Eva, thank you so much for being willing to be the first person I interview for “Conversations With”. Consider this your Vogue magazine debut interview.

Eva Thornton: Amazing. I want to do the one where you come to my house and ask me a bunch of questions. And I just kind of twirl around. 

HL: Why don’t you start by telling how we met and what you think your first impression of me was.

ET: We met in middle school! And we’ve been friends ever since. I think I remember that you seemed quiet. You always had Bath & Body Works lotion in your bag, which I thought was unbelievably chic. Haha. It’s funny the things that stand out at that age. And you always seemed very organized and tidy. You were definitely the person to ask for a spare pencil. You remember my locker and backpack… 

HL: You definitely called me an old lady with a cat in my bag after you smelled that lotion.

ET: Jealousy, obviously.

HL: Well I distinctly remember being in your dad’s classroom the first time we met and watching Charlie the Unicorn which I found equally disturbing and fascinating. And I remember offering to organize your locker. The beginning of my obsession with organizing things.

Another thing that I think defines our friendship from that early stage is us passing a piece of paper around between a few of us creating stories in study hall. And they would be the most outlandish stories ever. But you were always someone that I knew was down to do something creative and out of the box.

ET: Yeah, we loved writing stories in study hall! I think I have a few saved somewhere. I also remember a few unfortunate music videos. 

HL: I definitely have some saved on my computer. Yeah we won’t go into the YouTube videos floating around on the Internet. 

Now I have some rapid and some not so rapid fire questions for you so here we go. First question is, if you got to invite three famous people dead or alive over for dinner who would they be?

ET: First of all, nobody. Because I’d probably be too shy. BUT if I have to have people over maybe Rihanna, Sylvia Plath, and Moses. I think that would be a hilarious. What would we possibly talk about? 

HL: That is not at all what I expected you to say. What an insane combination. But that would be an amazing dinner party. Second question is, if you could choose for let’s say a week to live in a fictional setting whether it’s a movie, a TV show, or a book where would it be and why?

ET: This also might not be the answer you expect because I’m really not a huge Lord of the Rings fan, but it would be pretty hard to beat those settings. Rivendell or the Shire. They always seem to be eating well when they’re home. Also wouldn’t mind to pop by Pemberly and the surrounding misty pastures. 

HL: Okay yeah definitely not expecting that answer. But I agree with you. Just breathtaking scenery. And you know how much I love all things Jane Austin. So I would definitely agree with you on Pemberly.

So I’m going to transition into my hard-hitting questions. You are a writer and I want to know what you’re currently reading and what your top 3 favorite books are. 

ET: I recently read “How Beautiful We Were” by Imbolo Mbue. I really appreciated the structural elements of the story and the suspended rage. But gosh, I don’t know what my top three favorite books are. “The Memory Police” by Yoko Ogawa and “The Night Always Comes” by Willy Vlautin. It’s hard to beat anything by Toni Morrison. “Rebecca” and Pride and Prejudice” and anything by Isabelle Allende are my repeat, comfort reads.

HL: What is a must for you when picking a book to read? Is there a genre you don’t particularly gravitate towards?

ET: Well, probably fiction. Usually novels or short story collections. Occasionally a good memoir. My husband reads almost exclusively nonfiction and sometimes I’ll pick up a book that he suggests so we can talk about it. But it’s a labor of love. Haha. Within fiction, I think differentiating between literal and genre fiction is pretty cringey. I look for an immersive, character-driven narrative. I enjoy when authors work with nonlinear plots, like stories that double back or flow with an internal pattern. When I put a book down and find that I’m thinking in the author’s cadence-love that kind of resonance. Those usually become my favorite. 

HL: I have to say, one of my favorite books I’ve read semi-recently is “The Dutch House” which you actually gave to me for Christmas last year. I just loved how she wove the timelines together so seamlessly. So tell me who you draw inspiration from or admire.  

ET: So many people. Recently Ali Smith, her ability to infuse wonder into modernism and collapse time without absolutely infuriating the reader. I read a quote from her that I think about a lot when I find that in a story I’m working on feels flat. Let me find it…

“There’s a fresco on the wall: there it is, underneath that there’s another version of the story and it may or may not be connected to the surface. And they’re both in front of our eyes, but you can only see one, or you see one first. So it’s about the understory. I have the feeling that all stories travel with and understory.”

HL: Have you always enjoyed story telling or creating another world?

ET: Yeah! I have two sisters and for the majority of our childhood we shared one bedroom. At night, I loved retelling the books that I had read that week. But I always got nervous if they decided to read the book later. My retelling was usually a remix. When I wasn’t telling stories, the three of us took turns adding on to our dream mall until we’d fall asleep. I think it had a full zoo, a train system, Lou Bega was constantly performing Mambo #5 in the free food court. Does that count?

But I did’t start writing fiction until recently I’m in awe of so many other authors and the thought of being really terrible in comparison terrified me. But of course, that’s just dumb pride. I started writing during the early pandemic because I was so dang bored and desperately needed a creative outlet (no one wants to hear me sing). And of course, I was very very terrible. But the more terrible writing I produced, the less it stung. After working independently for a while, I received a fellowship that I was really excited about. Unfortunately it was canceled due to Covid. But I was encouraged to sign up for some university creative writing workshops. Producing writing on the spot and then having to read aloud before a group was honestly more nerve wracking for me than any oral argument I ever did in grad school-so vulnerable and soft and icky. But the classroom experience stretched me, and I had the enormous honor of learning from much more mature writers. It definitely helped me get over myself. 

HL: Do you have a certain kind of writing you enjoy the most?

ET: At the moment, short fiction. I really appreciate the liberating constraint of short stories or even flash fiction. It’s so rewarding to feel like I’ve captured the perfect little jewel box of a sentence. And then stacking those sentences until the story feels more expansive than the word count is such meditative, flows, puzzle-like practice. 

HL: When you’ve hit a wall, what have you found works best for you to get back into a creative space?

ET: A few things. If I’m stuck within a particular story then sometimes forcing a big change can push me through the wall. For example, changing the entire story form third person to first person. Or I’ll try writing in backwards. Or question something about the character’s motivations. Or I’ll just delete half of it and see what happens. Sometimes those kinds of editing tricks can help shake a story up and introduce something interesting that I had missed before. 

If none of that works, I just put it away. I’ll work on a different draft or nothing at all. I think there is a lot of pressure to “write every day” or just generally hustle towards goals. Obviously, if you are a professional writer then there are strict deadlines. In that case, maybe earning money is its own kind of inspiration. With classes or workshops, I sometimes have to call it a day and turn in stories that I don’t think are perfect or complete. This isn’t my job and I’ve had to learn to not feel guilty about taking breaks. Even long breaks!

So far, I’ve always come back to it. Usually something will jumpstart the inspiration again-a line in a song, a news story, a weird insect in the yard. And even if I’m not actively writing, I think watching for those little moments is a passive way to stay in a creative headspace and build a little bank to pull from later. 

HL: I love hearing your perspective on the craft of writing. All the different angles that you can come from when figuring out how to create a story is so interesting. I’d love to know what are some of your dreams or goals with writing are.

ET: Last year I probably would have said that I want to get published in x journal or accepted into whatever fellowship. Those kinds of accomplishments make you feel like a “real” writer. But at this point, I just want to get better. I want to delve deeper into literary history and craft elements.

I’ll re-read authors that I admire and try to dissect why they work and what sets them apart. 

And I want to get looser with sharing what I’m working on. I’d love to get to the point where I can read something I’ve written without worrying I’m going to vomit. When I first started writing, even reading my work out loud in an empty room made my heart pound. I had to whisper. Haha. So I have a lot of work to do in that area. Currently I’m pregnant and have one of those silly apps that sends you updates about what new part of the baby is developing that week. A few weeks ago the baby began to be able to hear so I’ve been reading some stuff out loud. I’ll never get quite such a captive audience. 

Baby hasn’t provided much feedback so far.