After talking to Lisa Nik, it only seemed right to keep the good juju going and interview one of our newest fiction faculty members, Kyle Winkler. You can learn everything you ever wanted to know about Kyle from this interview and from his website. Thanks to our lovely and talented intern, Angela Manasieva for preparing this interview.
1. Where are you from and how do you use your surroundings to write?
I'm from southwest Indiana originally. Rolling hills, farmland, corn, wheat. LOTS of corn and wheat. My landscapes have affected me heavily in my writing.
All that tall crop and the sometimes isolating farmland in the autumn during sunset can do a lot to make one feel...creeped out? Hah. I've tried to use my small town upbringing to good effect, as well. I grew up most of life in a working class to middle-class home in the rust belt. So I'm often trying to evoke the experiences and attitudes of the sorts of folks I grew up around and with. And those experiences were, to some degree, horrific or horror-contingent when I look back on them. However, for all my complaints of the American Midwest, I do have a great affection for it.
There is nothing like driving north on St. Rd. 67 to Bloomington in late fall right before and after harvest time.
2. Where do you draw inspiration from when writing and how is writing implemented in your life?
I'm a rhetorician and writing teacher by training, so I'm always obsessed with how words come to be, how they mean, why they mean what they mean, and how they sound. Often, I draw inspiration just from the sounds of words or the juxtaposition of two or more words together. That can be enough to trip off an idea or image that I run with. I've always been hyperbolic, esp. as a child, and so it wasn't hard for me to spin out elaborations of descriptions (which, in itself, is a classical rhetorical exercise). Moreover, I get lots of inspiration from my kids, esp. my oldest son right now, who's only 6 years old but is writing small books every day. He has an amazing talent for charming and surprising titles. We feed off each other, I think. He'll see what I'm reading/writing, and then go one up me with a title. So then I am inspired by him to write a cooler line/title. But I've been known to take/borrow/steal his titles or phrases.
I'm writing all the time, so it's something I use constantly. There's a rather clichéd phrase that writing teachers throw around, which is: writing is a tool for inquiry. Which isn't wrong! But that's hard to convince young people of in a writing class. However, I believe it and use writing that way. And it's a way for me to learn more about subjects I'm curious about and even make money with.
I'm writing all the time, so it's something I use constantly. There's a rather clichéd phrase that writing teachers throw around, which is: writing is a tool for inquiry. Which isn't wrong! But that's hard to convince young people of in a writing class. However, I believe it and use writing that way. And it's a way for me to learn more about subjects I'm curious about and even make money with.
3. What are your favorite ways to get out of writer’s block? Any tips?
I view writer's block as a category error. It's not as mystical as history would have you believe. A friend of mine once said, "Inspiration is in the writing." Which means you can't wait for a muse to strike, you have to create the muse/inspiration by doing the hard work. Put butt in seat. Write words. Rinse, repeat. Takes the shine off the writing life, but the writing life is hard labor sometimes. Also: I think that "writer's block" is more about becoming un-enamored of your ideas or writing. Or you've lost the curiosity drive that brought you to writing in the first place. So the key there is to rediscover or create curiosity. Some ways I do this is by reading dense poetry: Wallace Stevens, John Ashbery, H.D., any of the Modernists. Gertrude Stein is a go-to. Or I read non-fiction. If I'm writing a horror story, I will turn to a totally different genre to try and reignite my interest in the original genre. This usually works. Sometimes, though, one can deplete their energies over time. And, truly, it seems like you'll never write again. If that happens, I often suggest that you engage in another hobby that's also creative, or something ancillary to writing--editing, being a beta-reader for a friend, teaching a writing class, or trying to arrange a reading of local writers. Find ways to support writing and the arts even if you can't be directly productive.
4. How can a low-residency MFA program benefit writers?
Low-res is great for someone who wants the intensity and community of a group of writers but isn't interested in or can't uproot their life to move to the campus. Programs like Ashland's allow writers from all across the country to work with one another and with great writing instructors on projects that some folks may've otherwise let go because they couldn't find those likeminded or support peers. So low-res allows you to live your life, work, and so on, while also pursuing the MFA in your own way. In the writing world, I think there's been a perception that there was one right way to pursue an MFA, but we're seeing in the post-COVID world that a low-res program is frequently the best choice for writers who are established where they are and don't have the luxury of moving to a different city for 2+ years. On the flip side, Ashland is great because there's the 2 week residency in August that brings everyone together for a super-intense and thrilling in-person mix of workshops, readings, and socializing. It's kind of a perfect solution.
5. Is there anything else you would like to share?
Yes, if you're reading this, you've never read Herman Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener"--please go do so right now.
Kyle Winkler is an Assistant Professor of English at Kent State University at Tuscarawas. He received a Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric from the University of Pittsburgh and an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis. Follow him on Twitter.