Susan Hubbard

Susan Hubbard is the author of five books of fiction, two of which have received national awards. Her novel, The Society of S, was published in 2007 by Simon & Schuster. A sequel, The Indigo Year, will be published in May 2008. Walking on Ice (University of Missouri Press, 1990) won the Associated Writing Program Prize for Short Fiction and Blue Money (University of Missouri Press, 1999) won the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize. Lisa Maria's Guide for the Perplexed and Lisa Maria Takes Off,  satirical novels. were published in 2004 and 2005, respectively. Hubbard co-edited 100% Pure Florida Fiction, an anthology. Her short stories have been in nationally and internationally circulated literary journals, including Ploughshares, TriQuarterly, and The Mississippi Review, and have been taught across America and in the United Kingdom. Hubbard's books have been published in Australia, England, France, Germany, Holland, Indonesia, Italy, Spain, and Taiwan. Her scholarly research has been internationally presented and published. She has given more than 100 public readings and addresses on the craft of writing. Hubbard has received residencies at Yaddo, the Djerassi Resident Artists' Project, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and Cill Rialaig. In 2001-02, she served as President of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP). Currently, she is Professor of English at the University of Central Florida. For more information about Susan Hubbard, visit www.susanhubbard.com. 

How and why did you become a writer?
Writing came naturally to me as a means of escape and revelation. I was an early reader, fortunate to have a sister who worked as a librarian and got me the card which let me read through the local library-branch collection. By the time I was 10 I felt ready to write a novel.

That summer in upstate New York was spent on my parents' ramshackle front porch--traffic heavy on the street below, me sitting on a glider on the second story porch, happily shaded by a huge maple tree. I drank chocolate milk for inspiration and wrote in pencil on a lined pad. The manuscript's title eludes me, but I recall the story's setting: a hospital in which all doctors were romantic heroes and only the competent nurse looked like me.

I showed the results to my elementary school teacher, who praised my work (Rosemary Dugan, wherever you are, bless you!) and to a few classmates, who said they loved it. Then I put my book away. When I found it later, at the age of 13, I felt mortified and of course threw it away. I was the first in my family to attend college, where I was steered toward a career in journalism. Later I went back to graduate school to focus on creative writing, and one of my teachers, Raymond Carver, told me I was a writer. Until he said it, I didn't feel I'd earned the title.

I've always been impressed by the power of words to change the world--for better or worse. Writing is essential to my life.

In which literary forms do you most often work?
The short story. The novella. The novel. The essay.

Recently I have begun to experiment with short hybrid forms that marry poetry and fiction. Two of these appear in a new collection, Sudden Stories: A Mammoth Anthology of Minuscule Fiction.

I'm also drawn to collaborative arts--marrying fiction and photography, for instance, or music and text. Some of the most exciting work I've seen lately is interdisciplinary; for instance, Juan Rulfo's novel Pedro Paramo was republished (in 2002 by University of Texas Press) with photographs by Josephine Saccabo, and what a marvel it is. As the literary market shrinks and evolves, writers are taking on new risks and challenges, and crossing disciplinary borders seems a natural way to go.

Who are some of your favorite writers?
I admire authors who write from the heart. And nearly every week I find new work that excites me. Let this short list suffice for now: Chekhov, Joyce, O'Connor (Flannery and Frank), Woolf, Wolff, Atwood, Boyle, Paley, Morrison, Garcia Marquez, Piercy, Lessing, Drabble, Alvarez, Orton, Trevor, Munro, Bainbridge, Achebe, the (several) Barthelmes, Robison, Bowles, Mishima, Ozick. Such a short list!

How would you define a successful work of literature?
To my mind, all good writing explores and celebrates the human spirit. My test: We read good writing again and again, each reading yielding new meanings.

I recall Nabokov's claim that storytellers write for three reasons: to teach, to entertain, and/or to enchant. I aim for enchantment, and I urge my students to study the art of enchantment.

What are the most rewarding parts of the writing process for you? What are the most difficult?
Finding inspiration and writing first drafts are the most rewarding aspects. Often I wake up with ideas for a story--a particular place, or voice, or scene demands articulation. On a good day, I write for about three hours. (If I go longer, I tend to get sloppy or stupid.) If I complete a first draft, I usually feel elated.

Later, when I return to the work, I'm often disappointed, if not deflated. What happened to that initial flare of inspiration? Then I begin the hell of revision. Trying to see the work--as if for the first time--is a rigorous challenge. But it's only through revision that we make art.

I think writers often are their own worst critics. Melville wrote after he completed Moby Dick, "All my books are botches." Sometimes we need to silence our inner critic in order to finish the old work and take on the new.

In which parts of the world have you lived?
Upstate New York, Connecticut, California, England, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and now Florida--the strangest place of all. My dad was Canadian, so we spent some summer vacation weeks near his home outside Ladysmith, Quebec, as well as Maine and Vermont. I've driven across America twice, hitchhiked across Europe, taken a brief trip to New Zealand, and I hope soon to visit Japan. Thanks to writers' colonies, I've spent productive time in upstate New York, Virginia, California, and Ireland.

Which literary forms do you prefer to work on with clients?
Writers of fiction and creative nonfiction.

How much and what kinds of background or experience would you expect your clients to have?
My ideal student is someone who is curious, who wants to read and write, and who is ready to receive critical feedback. I don't care much about educational experience, ability to take tests, glibness, or career goals. My hope is to find the good writers out there who have important stories to tell--and who have the courage and stamina needed to tell them.

Do you have some ground rules that you would expect clients to follow?
My plan is to iron out the rules on an individual basis. I premise all of my teaching on partnership.

Here's my teaching philosophy in a nutshell: I expect to be a partner in inquiry. I borrowed that phrase from Donald Schon, who wrote a wonderful book called Educating the Reflective Practitioner. In it, he describes the relationship this way:

"Coach and student stood side by side before the same problem. The coach suggested ways of producing the intended qualities, inviting the student to join in a process of experimentation, teaching by demonstration the idea of practice as experiment. And the relationship constructed was not of performer and critic but of partners in inquiry."

When I coach a writer, I suggest ways in which a manuscript can work better--but the ultimate decisions belong to the writer, not me. And I welcome feedback, positive or negative or neutral.

Having your work evaluated by an outsider is always difficult, but to my mind it's the best means of learning to see your own writing clearly. And I take pains to help myself and the student remember that it's the work, not the writer, that we're discussing.

What advice would you offer prospective clients as they consider choosing a mentor?
Take risks.

You may have a manuscript in your drawer that signifies your desire to be a writer. Look at it again. It may need to be revised now. Or, it may need to stay in the drawer while you've been inspired to go on--to imagine and to write more.

Choose a mentor who can help you grow.