This month, the editors of Crack The Spine convened in an attempt to select our first ever featured writer of the month. The meeting was being anticipated as the cage match of the year. Raised voices, passionate dispute, the eventual flinging of a pen or notebook at the face of a stubborn vote hold-out… it should have been epic. But the editors emerged, devoid of any bruising and wearing what looked suspiciously like smiles. In the biggest anti-climax since [redacted], there was very little debate, as the decision was virtually unanimous.
Please meet our Featured Writer of December 2011:
Len Kuntz
Age?
In my mind, I am always sixteen with long, feathered hair, puka shells and platform shoes. Sometimes I’m leaning across an overpass counting blue cars. Other times I’m sitting in the high school library, near the back by the poetry section. Sixteen was the year I went from terminally shy to coming out of my shell.
Location?
I live one hour north of Seattle
How long have you been writing?
Well, I’ve always written. In grade school we’d be given three different options to write about and I’d write them all. In high school I had a column in the newspaper called “Word for the Wise.” Around then I got selected to attend a poetry workshop (me, two other guys and 77 girls). Raymond Carver was there. I kick myself all the time for not knowing who he was then. It’s only the last three years that I’ve started writing seriously and full-time.
What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment as a writer?
Sticking with it. Not giving up. Writing consistently, which is more or less every day. Writing is a lonely endeavor. It’s easy to get distracted and discouraged. I also try to be supportive to other authors in any way I can. It’s comforting to know you’re not alone.
Why do you write?
That’s a really hard question to answer. The obvious response would seem to be, “Because I have to.” But I don’t have to. There are a million times when my mind comes up with tons of other things to do besides writing. Obviously, I do love it. I love finding a strong cadence or putting together a piece that sings, one which you read months later and can still go, “That’s actually pretty good.” A lot of my work contains slivers of myself, or my past, so in that sense, writing is not just therapeutic, but it’s helped me make sense of things. I’ve been able to isolate a certain pain or concern and drill into it as far and wide as I want. It’s sort of akin to how animation allows film makers to have their characters fly or survive circumstances that would otherwise be fatal.
Tell us about your work published in Crack The Spine
I often write from a female point of view. Both pieces have feminine protagonists. In “Bad Fruit” we find a damaged girl who gets her revenge. In “In and Out of the Womb” the voice is that of a woman beset with morning sickness and the ensuing guilt such feelings arise.
What inspired this work?
“Bad Fruit” came as the first sentence hit me. When I began the piece, I had no idea why this girl carried around a knife with her each day. Motherhood, in all its forms, is something (being male) that fascinates me. There seems to be so much pressure for women to be perfect and this all the more so when it comes to bringing life into the world. With “In and Out of the Womb” I was trying to do a blunt study of what it might feel like if a woman began to hate motherhood, including her child. That’s one of the great things about fiction—you can explore issues that might otherwise be too sensitive to broach in the real world.
Favorite Book?
There are so many, right? Two of my favorites are “Feast of Love” by Charles Baxter and “The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love” by Oscar Hijuelos. They’re both sensational. But as far as my absolute favorite it would have to be “The World According to Garp” by John Irving. It’s a romp and also astonishing. He packs more into every paragraph than anyone I’ve ever seen.
Favorite Author?
Raymond Carver. I discovered him late. It was sad. Every time I’d go to Barnes and Noble, I’d scour the “C” section praying to find something new by him. It was a little bit like trolling some old haunt and hoping your girlfriend from years and years ago might happen by.
If you could have dinner with one fictional character, who would it be?
“Rabbit,” Harry Angstrom—John Updike’s creation.
You can check out Len Kuntz’s work in Issue Three of Crack The Spine