|  Shane Toogood and Kris Fossett
Tainted Tea Literary Magazine
| | Congrats
on the first issue of Tainted Tea! Why did you decide to start this lit
mag? And what was the process like? Any surprises/unknown difficulties?Shane: Thanks
so much, Dallas. And thanks for interviewing us. It’s been a long seven
months. Tainted Tea started because Kris and I kept saying that we
needed to do something to fuel the flames of our imaginations. Although
we continue to write, we both have jobs that are completely out of the
writing and publishing field. She’s a lifeguard and I answer phones for
funeral homes. One
day, as I was dropping Kris off at home, the two of us wanted so badly
to tell the other that we wanted to start a lit magazine. Seriously, we
sat in front of her house in my frigid car whose bi-polar heat decided
not to work that March evening. Finally, Kris broke the silence and
asked me. I screamed “I was gonna’ ask you the same thing!” I kicked
her out of the car and as I drove home the name “Tainted Tea” dropped
into my head. We loved it. It’s seductive, alluring and great
alliteration. We
did some PR and Kris made the beautiful, interactive blog. All that was
missing was the submissions. Once they started coming in things really
picked up.Kris:
Before our first submission in late July, we didn't know what to do
without content to work with. But once we received M.C. Brody's story,
which is published in the first issue, we really started working,
having meetings every week that lasted for six/seven/eight hours.Once
we received submissions, the magazine was no longer just something for
Shane and I to do as we worked our terrible jobs. It's about the
writers. We both know how difficult writing is, and we know how much
courage it takes to send work out to publications. We couldn't let
these writers down. If anything, we had to continue to work on the
magazine for them. Shane:
As for the biggest difficulty…we had an artist verbally agree to have
his work in Tainted Tea. We dropped his art in the layout and Kris
tried to get a hold of him to sign the contract. When she finally met
with him he lashed out…I won’t go into too much detail, but we were
just about ready to go to press, and we had to pull his paintings and
rearrange the whole mid-section of the magazine. We wound up making
deadline fine. What was your favorite thing about starting Tainted Tea?Shane: Hmm…
morphing dreams into reality. As I gain experience for my goal of
becoming a book publisher, we’re helping make our fellow writers’
dreams come true. We love reading the enthusiastic responses when an
author is being featured in the magazine. I mean, when we first started
the zine, Kris and I thought we would cater to young authors, but we
realized that there are just as many young authors not being published
as there are the young at heart. It makes me happy knowing that another
writer is happy. Too sappy? Kris:
I love everything about Tainted Tea: the writing, the editing, the
layout, even the PR, which I thought I would hate due to a nightmare
internship at a design firm. Shane and I spent hours commenting and
editing one submission, and when the writer sent it back to us, she
listened to us, and her story improved by a thousand-fold. It ended up
being the best story we published.Like
Shane said, I lifeguard to support myself, and if I didn't have Tainted
Tea, I would feel like my talents are going to complete waste, and I
would have jumped off a cliff awhile ago. Being an editor of Tainted
Tea isn't a job for me; it's something that I enjoy doing. It's my
passion.You two are writers in addition to editors. How did you first become interested in writing?Shane:
Well, in third grade I wrote a story about a duck band that traveled in
a giant, iron duck and wore outfits like the ones in Michael Jackson’s
video “Thriller.” But it was in eighth grade when my hard-to-please
teacher read aloud my story about a waitress who finds out that the
restaurant she worked in served cat as their infamous entree and I
heard joyous gasps of surprise from not only the other kids in my
class, but the teacher reading the story. I loved the feeling I got. My
teacher wanted to borrow it to show to other teachers! There I was:
this geeky bean sprout with enormous glasses that was made fun of by
the same kids who loved my story. It was then that I knew I was
different than my peers. While other kids were outside playing sports,
I was inside at our NASA-sized computer making up these little tales of
terror to show off to the family. Kris:
Reading and writing were something I always loved to do. I remember
since second grade I was completely bored with school, and I would
write stories to keep myself entertained. Throughout middle school and
high school, I'd prefer to stay in my house and read; I still do
sometimes. While reading books, I always thought, "I can write, too." I
love to write. Words are the only thing that I'm really passionate
about. My family never thought much about my writing, so I didn't
realize it could be a career until I started college. My degree is in
journalism, but I've always loved fiction. With the recession and the
journalism job deficit, it's is the perfect time to concentrate on
creative projects.What is your writing routine like? You sound very busy -- how do you find/make time to write, and juggle writing with editing?Shane:
Well, I’m in love with deadlines. For school, I hand in a 25 page
packet of work every three weeks, and if I fail to hand in just one of
the five packets I fail the whole semester. During
my school semester, I try to wake at 6am. I cook some breakfast, do
some yoga, watch “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” — haha, I know I’m
awesome — and read. By 10am, I go to the library or somewhere with free
Internet access to write and do research. Most Tuesday afternoons Kris
and I meet and do “Tainted Tea stuff” such as editing, public relations
or talk about how to better the magazine.When
I’m not in school, I take it easy and read a lot. I try to write at
least one sentence every day (if you give yourself a goal of at least
one sentence you’re bound to exceed that goal). Kris: I agree with Shane; deadlines are amazing. That is the one aspect of journalism I like. I tried to write everyday, but I also tried to write finished, comprehensive stories like every week. That did not work. I
realized writing is something that can't be forced. During this past
year, I've learned that not everything I write is going to be good nor
make sense. I'm okay with that now. That's what revision is for. Some
nights, I write pages and pages, and there are some nights were I don't
write anything at all. It all depends. I
get most of my ideas when I'm not doing anything remotely close to
writing, like staring at pool and watching people swim. I always carry
a notebook and pen, so I scribble my idea down, and I then I expand on
the idea when I get home.How do you deal with trials of the writing life, such as writer's block and rejection?Shane: Surprisingly
I’m okay with rejection. It’s a price you have to pay when you’re a
writer. I do a few things when I get that dreaded “Dear John letter.” First,
I pout for about a minute or two. Then I poke the letters on a nail
sticking up from a plank of wood (Stephen King suggested I do it…in his
memoir On Writing). Finally,
I look at my piece: was it not right for the publication or do I need
to fix anything? Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you get part of a
manuscript back with notes on it. I still smile when I tell people
that, although the prestigious Glimmer Train rejected my piece, the
editor gave me some comments on why. Kris:
At first I felt terrible about writer's block, but then I realized that
every writer faces that. When I hit writer's block, I try to things
that aren't writing, like walking, cleaning my house, or doodling.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Another thing I do for
writer's block is that I just start writing conversations between my
characters. Usually I end throwing those conversations out, but I feel
better because I wrote something. I'm
not crazy about rejection, but it's better that not receiving anything
at all; I despise being ignored. But there are always more days, more
opportunities, and more ideas. Who are some of your favorite authors?Shane: I love this question. The list just keeps getting longer. Most recently I read one of your favorite books, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, so I revisited his short story compilation Nine Stories. He’s awesome! I always thought that Hemingway was the master of dialogue, but Salinger does a superb job, too. I’d
like to add Salinger to the list right now. He is on there with my man
Edgar Allan Poe, R.L. Stine, Gillian Flynn, Neil Gaiman, Roald Dahl,
Mark Twain and the Brothers Grimm. I also enjoy Billy Collins’ poetry.
Kris and I wrote blogs pertaining to our favorite books if anyone is
interested. Kris:
Like Shane, my list is always changing. Most of my money goes to books,
so I keep discovering writers I love. At the time of this interview, my
favorite writers are Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, Christopher Moore,
Joyce Carol Oates, Dave Eggers, J.D. Salinger, John Darnielle, J.K.
Rowling, Katy Towell, and Joss Whedon. What is your biggest advice to other young writers or young editors?Shane:
I hate to say the cliché “read and write” although you really do have
to read and write just as much as you need to sleep and eat. Writing’s
an appendage. It’s like if you were to rip off my big toe I would lose
my balance and fall over. But I guess I would emphasize to just keep
going once you’ve started. Don’t go back and edit until the end—I
should really take my own advice, I guess. It gets in the way of your
imagination. Let it run free! Also, be open to constructive criticism
and be adaptable when it comes to where and how you write. Amelia
Atwater-Rhodes used to write with Beanie Babies on her head, and
although it sounds silly and helped her publish her first book 13, some
writers get too dependent on their writing rituals which may contribute
to the Big Bad Writer’s Block. Kris:
Don't be afraid. The biggest barrier a young writer/editor faces is one
he creates. I hate hearing people saying they can't submit their work
or that they can't start a publication because they're either still in
school or just graduated. It doesn't matter. If you have an idea,
follow it. You're never going to get anywhere if you don't try. And if
Atlantic Monthly or Rolling Stone rejects you, maybe you should try
zines or local publications. Every writer needs to start somewhere.Writing/editing
takes a lot of work. Writers can't just ride on talent alone. A writer
doesn't need an M.F.A in creative writing, but she does need to
understand story structure and character development. Read at least one
fiction writing book; I recommend Ariel Gore's How to Become a Famous
Writer Before You're Dead. It's well-written good advice.Make the time to write. Don't let the day job consume your life. Write, pitch, publish, repeat.What are you working on now? What's next for Shane R. Toogood and Kris Fossett?Shane:
Well, I’m getting my Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at
Goddard College and while I’m there I am writing a novel about
obsession, grief and depression amongst other things. I am also working
on some poetry and a short horror story. In addition to this crazy life
I lead I write for www.Broadway.tv. Kris:
I am in the middle of writing two short stories and a novel/graphic
novel. I'm also learning how to play the sitar. Some day, I will
probably go back to entertainment journalism, but not anytime soon.How can readers submit their work to Tainted Tea?Shane: Just shoot us an email to taintedtea.editors@gmail.com. We love reading everyone’s work. All of the submission guidelines are on our blog at http://taintedtea.blogspot.com.
(We’re in the process of putting up a website.) We accept narrative
poetry, short stories, visual art and movie reviews. Now, our
submission guidelines are really flexible. The one thing we stretch
though, and we feel bad for saying it, but no Twilight-esque stories.
It’s just not our cup of tea (pun intended, haha). Kris: It seems like in most of our interviews, we hate on Twilight
at least once. Which we really do abhor. Other than that, we're very
flexible on what constitutes as horror. The more unexpected and
nontraditional, the better. | |