A Chat Between Two Writers

There was never anyone I could connect with on the topic of writing - where conversations of substantiating prose did not necessitate over-detailed descriptions. I could never shake it off.  But months ago, I came across a profile of author EJ Koh featured on International Secret Agents (ISA) - an Asian American entertainment company in Los Angeles - where I learned about her debut novel, “Red;” a sci-fi thriller she wrote while completing her MFA at Columbia University.

I blog book reviews on Newark Patch, and once I finished “Red,” I had written one on it, enthralled by the poetry in her prose. When the review went live, I posted it on EJ’s Facebook page.

Then the unexpected happened: EJ reached out to me. The day after my review went online, she not only shared my review on her Twitter and Facebook, praising my candidness, she directly contacted me. I learned that like me, she was raised in the Bay Area, was enchanted by Hayao Miyazaki films, and was just as adamant about the presence of Asian Americans in creative fields.

While our journeys to writing were anything but similar, I felt I had discovered a kindred spirit - someone who took risks with writing – and over the Internet of all places. So with that, I am thrilled to share a conversation between EJ and I about what it means to be a writer, our fears of writing, and the debut of EJ’s cross-media collaboration of her poem “Ghosts.”

Lauren Lola (LL): Seeing that you've been in the writing world for only a few years, I'm curious to see what being a writer means to you as well as the action of writing in general.

EJ Koh (EJ): Writing has become a sort of discipline for me. Being a writer means growth. I want to create a piece that exceeds the last one, so I often feel an anxiety to do better. Yes, crippling. But probably the strongest reason I continue. I work towards mastering a skill, and hopefully, I'll never be satisfied enough to feel I've mastered it at all.

LL: That actually reminds me of a quote from Richard Bach: “A writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” I guess it’s one of those things that you can never really “master” per se but rather, as you explained, you continually develop and grow from. But the strange thing is, prior to college, you never actually thought of becoming a writer, right?

EJ: Most of college, I had no concept of creative writing. Because I’d spent years wasting time, and I knew it, I was armed with tenacity. Bold in workshops. A fool with my ideas. I was unhardened by the bitterness of self-expectation and didn’t notice resentment from criticism. I carried less fear because my desire was brand new. But it wasn’t a feat to be impressive when no one expected much from you—for that, I made up for with pure hard work.

LL: That's what I find incredibly fascinating about you, is that the craft that you hone has only been with you a short time. I see why you weren't as resentful to criticism as others when you were first starting off. Don't mind me being awestruck by this aspect of you. I am one of those writers who chose the craft from an early age.

EJ: Taking criticism sucks at times. No, all the time. But what sucks more is becoming this dark dense thing made of pride. It’s much harder to stay soft, humble, and full of hope while adjusting as you go along.

LL: A dark dense thing?

EJ: Like anywhere, writing has its share of assholes. I’ve found that the people who complain that everyone is an asshole are in fact huge assholes themselves. Even nowadays, having to write for a living isn’t a just cause to be an asshole.

LL: The last thing I want is for my written work to be looked over by someone who doesn't know what they're doing, and trust me, that has happened before. If anything, that's my one fear.

EJ: Well, working with editors is tricky. You think your intuition will kick in but I’ve struggled with one word for weeks. That process is also mauled by marketing, media, ranking, trends, titles, and generally, the approval of others. I just remind myself the point of everything: You write, so write. Forget the rest.

LL: For me, before I ever leave my content in the hands of someone I trust, I look over it myself. At the end of the day, I know I am my own best critic. So to wrap things up, I wanted to ask about your cross-media "Ghosts" collaboration with photographer Jeffrey Andy Tang. Can you explain how this photography-poetry project came about?

EJ: Thanks for chatting, Lauren. “Ghosts” is a poem I published years ago. One of my all-time favorites. Photographer Jeffrey Andy Tang, founder of 12FV, recently revived it. In our first photo shoot together, he manipulated space, foreignness, absence. We talked about light and shadow, sharing the diction of not just poet and photographer, but artists. By overlaying “Ghosts” onto his photos, he shows a graphic design element to poetry. And me? I’m thrilled to showcase my poetry alongside his work.

Ghosts

by EJ Koh

always sit in swivel chairs that won’t fit under low desks.
A fireplace log shifts
and the center leg of a table sinks without sound.

You can tell a ghost is here when the dog sniffs plaster walls,
or your left elbow itches, or windowpanes
bend where the sun hits.

Just now the staircase called out, old wood rasping.
A ghost has drifted in and he
settles like dust with nothing to gain or lose,

a sculpture in a museum—
until headlights cast beams across the ceiling,
bursting the shadows. If I say

ghost out loud, he will hover over the vacant seat at the table,
a voyeur from my past. No wonder
I sometimes enter the house like a visitor.

EJ KOH is a poet and an author. Her work has been published in TriQuarterly, Southeast Review, La Petite Zine, The Journal, Columbia Review, and elsewhere. A finalist of the Ina Coolbrith Memorial Prize in Poetry. Appeared in KoreAm Journal, Flavorwire, and named #2 of 23 People Who Will Make You Care About Poetry in 2013. Masters of Fine Arts at Columbia University. Her first novel RED (Collective Presse, 2013) is out now. She blogs at www.thisisEJKoh.com.  She can also be found on Twitter and Instagram at thisisEJKoh.

Lauren Lola is a journalist, blogger and impending author.  She’s had work published in Patch newsletters all throughout Northern California, as well as in student-run newspaper, The Pioneer, and philosophy undergraduate journal, Reflections, at her college, California State University, East Bay.  She has been featured on the Paperblanks blog Endpaper and Hapa Voice.  She is currently working on her first two books, both impending release for next year.  She can be found on Twitter and Instagram at akolaurenlola.