Name: Ara James
Wattpad username: @greatblueheron
Favourite quote: "If one reads correctly, the words in us will be unfolded into a visible world." Novalis, Das Allgemeine Brouillon
Currently writing: Cherries, a graduate thesis. Guess which is more fun?
Currently reading: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (So good. SO GOOD.)
Currently eating/drinking a lot of: Rice pudding and La Croix fizzy water.
Favourite non-literary hobby: I make pretty wicked piñatas. And I stress-clean!
Authors you love: Barbara Kingsolver, Neil Gaiman, Pablo Neruda, Jasper Fforde, Jonathan Safran Foer, JK Rowling, Garth Nix...I could go on, but I'll refrain.
Tell us about how you started writing: Don't let a ten-year-old read Edgar Allan Poe. They start writing really maudlin poetry and everything goes downhill from there.... I started writing my first novel when I was 13. Fifteen years later, here I am finally trying to finish one.
Would you like to write for a living? Why? If there's someone out there who's willing to buy my books, I'm going to try and find them. Whether I can make a living doing that is another matter entirely. I'm ostensibly on a practical path to have a somewhat tenable career, but whatever I end up doing, I don't think I'll be happy if I'm not writing.
Why did you pick this story to be featured? Cherries is the "short story" that I thought I'd publish to give readers a taste of my writing style. Several months later, it's halfway to a novel and a world I love to visit every week. I'm hoping that the CBC can help me make it the best story it can be.
What inspired you to write this story? Long hours at ski lodges wishing for a game-changing moment. :)
What is your favourite relationship in this story? Edward and Lia. (Is it even an inside joke if only the person telling it gets it?) In all seriousness, Callie and Lia.
What do you think makes this story stand out? I think the setting is pretty unusual, and I'm hoping that Park City feels like a character in and of itself.
What do you hope readers take away from this story? The courage to pursue that which they love, above and beyond their fears.
YOU ARE READING
CBC: The Sessions (a.k.a. The Review Book)
RandomLOYAL SUBJECTS, The time has come to announce that your Royal Highnesses will be stepping down from their posts as Almighty Beacons of Beauty and Grace, and Lucy. In their honor, the castle in which they resided will be sealed up, brick by brick, a...
