Five Fishes Journal

Five Fishes gathered together some questions for Michigan writer Jeff Vande Zande, who writes everything from poetry to fiction to screenplays. He has two novels out: Into the Desperate Country & Landscape with Fragmented Figures, and he is working on a third. He also has a handful of poetry collections published and available.

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Five Fishes: Your novel, Into the Desperate Country, takes place in Michigan and mentions a whole slew of its cities and towns. Was this because of your home state obligation, because of Michigan’s suitability for the story, or a bit of both?

Jeff Vande Zande: Well, I know Michigan better than any other state, so it only makes sense to set my novel here. (My latest novel, Landscape with Fragmented Figures, and my forthcoming novella, Threatened Species, are also set in Michigan). This state has a great geography. Bordered by the Great Lakes. Peppered with wonderful inland lakes and rivers and streams. The Upper Peninsula. The Mackinac Bridge. Detroit… so much powerful juxtaposition. City and wilderness. Water and land. Industry and agriculture. I love this state. It’s really a great place to set fictional work.  I love the mythology of “going up North”… the idea that we will find our true selves in the woods or while tubing down a river. That plays heavily in the novel. Stan abandons his downstate life in hopes of discovering his real self up North. So, yeah, I set it here because here is where I live, and it’s what I know. But, then here became crucial to the feel of the novel.

F.F.: How did you prepare yourself to write a novel like Into the Desperate Country?

J.V.Z.: I guess I didn’t. I just started writing it. I still remember quite vividly starting the novel in my in-laws’ basement (It’s a nice basement… carpeting, big screen television, etc). Anyway, everyone was asleep, and I took out a notebook and hand-wrote that short little opening chapter (Of course, it was revised many times). It felt good to write that chapter. That chapter anchored me. I thought, “Yup, with that as my headlight, I can do this thing.” I went on to write a horrible novel that was about 100 pages too long. The thing was 260 pages when I finished. For some reason, I had it in my head that a novel should be 300 pages. Weird, these ideas we get hung up on. Larry Smith of Bottom Dog Press and Robert Bixby of March Street Press helped me trim the 100 pages that weren’t necessary. So, I wrote it in six months and then edited it for two years. What a mess it was at first… but I learned a lot about novel writing from the experience. I had no idea what I was getting into down in my in-laws’ basement that night.

F.F.: What sparked the idea for Stan Carter (the main character) and his simple, yet complicated, dream?

J.V.Z.: I remember coming home from Up North on a Sunday with my father-in-law, and it was melancholy because the weekend was over and the next day was work and everything that goes with that. And I remember thinking, “What if someone refuse to come back? Just abandoned their life and lived in their cabin?” From there, I had to think about who might do something like that… and it turned out to be Stan Carter. First, I dealt with him in a short story called “Downstream Water”… which is the second chapter in the novel (with revisions). Well, about a year after the short story was finished, I found Stan still eating at me. I wondered what happened to him. So, I wrote the novel to find out. (And, I’m still thinking about him… thinking about starting the sequel, Desperate City) We’ll see.

F.F.: Is that how your ideas usually come about?

J.V.Z.: Hard to pinpoint how my ideas come about. But, yes, they usually start with an idea and then I shape a character around the idea. Then the character becomes three dimensional and begins to bully the idea, and they wrestle back and forth. I watch. And keep the minutes.

F.F.: In the story, Stan is mildly obsessed with rivers. Does the same fascination reside in you?

J.V.Z.: I love moving water. I don’t know why. Streams, cricks, rivers… water running along a curb after a rain. There’s something there I love. I have to be careful when I cross bridges because I’m always craning my neck to catch a glimpse of the river beneath. My wife is always saying, “Watch the road!”

F.F.: How does teaching (at Delta College) affect your writing and your writing style?

J.V.Z.: I don’t think it affects my writing style, but it does affect my writing. It affects it in a good way. I hear people say, “I only write in the summer, not when I’m teaching.” Me? I hardly write anything new in the summer (I use the summers to revise and edit). My new work comes to me when I’m busy, engaged with colleagues and students… engaged with people. I need to be crunched for time to write. If I have too much time, it’s no good. So, I don’t know if it’s teaching or just being busy that makes me write more.

F.F.: What writers influenced you growing up, and how does that list compare to today’s?

J.V.Z.: I’m never a huge fan of this question. I remember I was really influenced by Jim Daniels when I was first trying to write poetry. Anymore, I find myself rereading the fiction of Ron Carlson, Bonnie Jo Campbell, Italo Calvino. I also really admire anyone who is really after something – trying to say something and not just be a stylist. I read Lord of the Flies to my son over the summer. I recall it as something I suffered through in high school, but I was blown away when rereading it.  It’s really not a teen book. Heavy stuff going on there. I wish there were more big books being written like that today… really after something, really trying to hold a mirror up to the human condition.

F.F.: At what moment in your life did you know you wanted to be a writer?

J.V.Z.: There was no one moment. All I know is that I’m happier when I’m working on something and cranky when I’m not. I need to write. Period.

F.F.: What do you do to get into your “zone” when you write? Is it different for fiction as opposed to poetry?

J.V.Z.: I write best at night. Handwrite first drafts of poems. Word process stories. A glass of red wine is nice. Second glass of red wine makes all the writing seem even better (though a morning reread proves otherwise). My writing works best if I force myself to write that first draft from beginning to end without rewriting along the way. Get the first crappy draft out of the way and then begin the true work of rewriting it.

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Five Fishes would like to thank Mr. Vande Zande for taking the time to answer our riveting questions, and we nearly insist that anyone and everyone check out his work.