| | | 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. | |