everybody dies. ~ A Conversation with Briana Wingate

Originally from December 2020

“I’m tellin’ you. Ain’t nothing a fierce woman has to say that goes unheard.”

From “In the Valley,” everybody dies. (2019)

A Yellow Arrow Publishing Editorial Associate, Bailey Drumm, interviewed author Briana Wingate about her 2019 book everybody dies. (currently sold out!). Briana Wingate (or b.a.w.) has recently decided to take ownership of her full name. She lives, writes, and socially distances in Baltimore, Maryland, with her lucky black cat and collection of adult coloring books. She finds inspiration in Black women, neo soul, and popular 90s television. When she’s not scribbling in a journal somewhere, she can be found curled up with a good book and a bottle of wine. She has very strong feelings about The Golden Girls and is willing to discuss them via Twitter or Instagram @briana_shmiana.

YAP: How was everybody dies. conceptualized?

Call it morbid, but I think a lot about death as just a part of the human process. It’s this one thing that we all do no matter who we are, who our loved ones are, or what’s going on around us. everybody dies. was basically my way of asking, “What if someone dies because that’s just what people do? What if the focus of the story was somewhere else?”

YAP: What is your routine writing practice like? Has it changed since this publication? If so, how?

It has! Believe it or not, I had more time to write while I was still in school, so it came a lot more freely. I didn’t have to think too hard about finding the time; I just did it. It was easy to make writing a priority in my life because there was so much outside motivation to just create, even when it didn’t come easy. Now, my motivation is mostly internal and always finds a way to fall in priority behind something else. It’s so much simpler to blame work and general adult life for not writing these days than it is to say I’m afraid of not being good enough at something that actually holds my heart. There was a period of time after completing the MFA program where I wasn’t writing at all, and it made me feel as though I was betraying myself. These days, I’ve been writing just for my own eyes, just to practice with no real expectations. When the stars align just right, I talk out ideas with friends as a sounding board. But I’m not ready to fully workshop what I have just yet, let alone submit. Almost, but not quite. It still feels a little uncomfortable sometimes. A little more hesitant. A lot more eraser smudges. But, I’ve been scribbling in my journal before bed each night, and it feels a little easier each time.

YAP: What was the easiest story to write?

“Things Falling from the Sky.” I had a lot of fun writing that one.

YAP: What about the most difficult? How did you tackle it?

“Dying Season” changed in so many ways so many times. Characters were swapped out, entire scenes were cut, and I was frustrated through it all. I had trouble getting to an ending that felt right. I can definitely say I leaned on my cohort a lot for help. But ultimately, I ended up walking away from the story for a couple weeks and going back over what inspired me to write it to begin with. A friend and I were talking and realized that someday, people who were part of such defining moments in our youth will eventually die without anyone calling to let us know. I found the ending when I realized that the feeling I was looking for was acceptance.

YAP: Were there any pieces that you considered for the collection that didn’t make the cut? Why?

Definitely. I had a two-page piece that I was certain was going to be the first story in the collection, but it just hadn’t been fleshed out enough in time for production deadlines. It’s still sitting in my files, so I may revisit it someday.

YAP: How did you land on this title? Were there any other contenders?

I don’t remember any others sticking with me as much as everybody dies. It’s something you can’t really argue with, but it’s still a conversation starter. There’s a death in each story, but each story is more about the surrounding events. By saying ‘everybody dies’ in lowercase letters upfront on the cover, it was like my way of saying, “Everybody dies. But that’s not always where the story is.”

YAP: I heard, when producing these, you had a handmade element. What was it?

I made a few handbound copies and tied live flowers to the front covers. Inside, I added sheets of vellum at the beginning of each story that were cut out to form an erasure poem from each first page.

YAP: What’s something you hope your readers get out of this collection?

A good laugh. A good hurt. A good conversation.

YAP: Do you have any new projects in the works?

[From March 2021:] I started a new podcast with a local visual artist/musician/good friend, Lové Iman. You can find us at ewwcreatives.com, follow us on Instagram and Twitter @EwwVarietyShow, and listen to The Eww Variety Show on all major platforms.

YAP: Is fiction the only form you practice?

Fiction is where my heart has always been, but I dabble in nonfiction as well. Nothing serious. Just my own long-winded introspections.

YAP: Would you choose to self-publish again in the future? What was that process like for you?

Who knows? I’d never say never, but there’s pros and cons to everything. I’m admittedly a control freak, so seeing something that was just mine go from concept to tangible object was definitely a rush. However, having worked behind the scenes with local presses before, helping other people see their work come to life, there’s definitely a level of comfort in knowing there are other people invested in your brainchild.

YAP: What do you hope people take from this chapbook?

Everybody dies. That’s not the whole story. How are you living?

YAP: How would you summarize this collection in less than 50 words?

everybody dies. is a collection of short stories that each include a dead body but aren’t about death. There’s a little bit of humor, a little bit of heartache, and a little bit of weird inside, all meant to tell the human story.

*****

Every writer has a story to tell and every story is worth telling. Thank you Briana for taking the time to share your stories with us. Yellow Arrow Publishing is a nonprofit supporting women writers through publication and access to the literary arts.