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Ask the Author: Larissa Shmailo

“Ask me a question.” Larissa Shmailo

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Larissa Shmailo Thanks for asking! The novel is a bildungsroman, the story of a young girl growing up amidst sexual violence and sexism. She does become an addict, but most of the novel treats with her recovery from sex and substance addiction,
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You are one of the most powerful (translated as vulnerable and speaking the truth) writers I am thankful for every day to know, admire, and adore!!! How do you walk that fine line that marks the depths of our despair in life and what we have survived, with the written replay of that? What would you say to a new writer out there who has much to uncover but is afraid to cut to the blood?"
Larissa Shmailo Dear Meg, thanks! I sobbed as I wrote Patient Women, head to keyboard, but I was all intellect when I edited. The autobiographical novel, especially one that depicts the morass of addiction and sex abuse, is a gnarly proposition; I followed the Compte de Lautremont's dictum, "Show your reader the experience that came of suffering; do not cry in public." For new writers of autobiographical material, I would advise: Write with your heart; edit with your head; let your heart resolve any conflicts.
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What are you currently working on?
Larissa Shmailo It's called Paranoia - it's like Ulysses, but about mad scientists and serial killers.
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How do you get inspired to write?
Larissa Shmailo I can't live without writing something. E-mails,memos, books - I'm addicted!
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Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?
Larissa Shmailo Much is autobiographical; there is much of me in the protagonist Nora and I knew a transsexual person much like Nora's A.A. sponsor. Chrysis.
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Larissa Shmailo
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