Books
The author ofSeverance, a novel that anticipated the pandemic, returns withBliss Montage.
Ling Ma wants her writing to speak for itself, but the publishing industry doesnt work that way.
[Im] like the custodian or something, the Chicago-based author and professor tells Bustle.
Im just kind of walking it around, hoping it’ll get out there.
And then I dont have to worry about it.
Ma has clearly ruminated on this alienation, as its made it intoher new short-story collection,Bliss Montage.
Still, her 2018 debut novelSeverancetook on a life of its own.
All the public attention pushed Ma further into writing mode, and she turned to her dreams for inspiration.
My subconscious is a million times smarter than I am.
Those [stories] are more in the terrain of dreams.
I went into hibernation becauseSeverancewas seeing so much press I got kind of shy.
How do you process source material from your dreams?
Do you keep a notebook by your bed?
I don’t have a dream journal or anything like that.
Often, they were dreams from years ago.
I occasionally jot down some dreams, but I’m not exactly fastidious about it.
Do you have a writing routine now, or does inspiration come to you in bursts?
I know what an ideal writing routine is, and I did that throughout the pandemic.
One writing shift in the morning, one writing shift in the afternoon.
Morning is drafting, afternoon is editing and rewriting what I worked on in the morning.
I really liked that.
But I also think I did too much of that during the pandemic.
It was starting to feel a little unhealthy.
My writing process is dribs and drabs now.
Ive been out of town a lot the past month.
Also, I have a kid now.
So thats reoriented me a little bit.
When did you first realize that you wanted to be a writer?
I didnt have any clear moment of realization.
As a kid, I wanted to be a book reviewer.
Id always been writing fiction while doing other things.
But it was something that I was afraid to take ownership of for a long time.
I worked in fields that were adjacent to writing fiction media and book production and publishing.
I just worked onSeverance.
Im sometimes a bit surprised when my students know exactly that theyre going to be a novelist.
Youre never going to be able to outrun it to catch it.
And you don’t actually have the physical capabilities to catch it.
All it’s possible for you to hope for is to basically approach it sideways.
You always have to have a sideways approach to catching a story.
What made you start thinking about those ideas so many years earlier?
Right after college, I worked a series of office jobs.
One of them was similar to what Candice worked inSeverance, although it wasn’t totally the same.
I don’t have a car.
There are no cab drivers.
Does that mean I just walk for five miles?
By taking that idea and amplifying it a little more, thats part of howSeverancecame into being.
Your author bio says that you’re from Fujian, Utah, and Kansas.
How do you think that each of these places has shaped your perspective?
And in my working life, Ive worked in so many places.
I feel very much like an authorial eye taking it all in.
You mentioned you worked in media.
What are some of the other editorial jobs youve had?
I would interview authors and ask them about the specific book.
I remember Alice Sebold once told me that she wasnt good at writing when she lived in New York.
I also remember talking to Karen Russell I was very inspired by a lot of what she said.
Lucys Home for Girls Raised by Wolves.
And sometimes I wrote[centerfold stories, called]girl copy.
Yeti Lovemaking I did actually write while I was atPlayboy.
I wrote it beforeSeverance.
And I thought, what happens when you push that sort of masculine ideal to the extreme?
So I started thinking about Sasquatch, and yetis.
Do you know about this?
No, but I love that you know this.
I was reading Yeti Lovemaking, and then a few days later it showed up on my Twitter feed.
Maybe Yeti Lovemaking is the nextSeverance….
Yeah, maybe… who knows?
This interview has been edited and condensed.
