.Writers.on.Writing.
Get to know our authors, the foundation and heart of Yellow Arrow Journal, and what writing means to them through our monthly series.
W.o.W. #44
Blaise Allysen Kearsley
What is the first book that made you cry?
I feel like it may have been The Bluest Eye. Not only because of the story’s deep sorrow but because of the ways in which Pecola Breedlove demands to be seen. And the way Toni Morrison made me feel seen, and all the ways in which I felt that this book was for me at that time. I was at a predominantly white school in a predominantly white neighborhood. It was just an all-around profound, personal experience. At the moment, I can’t even remember a book I read before that had such an impact. Except for some of the children’s books I read when I was little. They make me cry as an adult.
What is your writing Kryptonite? Your most interesting writing quirk?
It’s in the details. The remembered images. Like, for my birthday recently, I invited friends to see the premiere of the Bowie film, Moonage Daydream, and dinner and drinks afterward. My friend Erica, also a writer and someone I’ve known since elementary school, said a movie birthday was old school. I hadn’t thought of that when I planned it, I was just looking for something fun to do. But when she said that, I told her maybe I needed to pack party favors in little paper bags with Snoopy sitting on the roof of his dog house emblazoned on them. She said, “As usual, you’ve got the details just right.” I don’t know if that’s the best example, but I do know those little details come pretty naturally to me. Those little details live in my brain like useless trivia might live in someone else’s. Little details are big.
What word do you find yourself using most often in your writing?
In high school, it was “sinister,” which makes me laugh now. But with affection. Now? “Perpetual” comes to mind. I know I used it in this interview.
What does your inner writing voice tell you?
“You’re a writer.” It took me a long time to own that.
Blaise Allysen Kearsley included her creative nonfiction piece “Words to Call a Sweater” in Yellow Arrow Journal PEREGRINE (Vol. VII, No. 2). Blaise is a Brooklyn-based Black-biracial writer and teacher and the creator/producer/host of How I Learned, a long-running storytelling, comedy, and reading series. Find her on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook and online at blaiseallysenkearsley.com.