Young Ravens Literary Review: A Biannual Online Literary Journal
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    • Issue 1 Interviews >
      • Interview with artist Ira Joel Haber
      • Interview with writer S. L. Woodford
      • Interview with poet Dayna Patterson
    • Issue 2 Interviews >
      • Interview with poet Laura Lovic-Lindsay
      • Interview with photographer Michelle Hrvat
      • Interview with author Thalia Spinrad
      • Interview with artist Bobbie Berendson W.
    • Issue 3 Interviews >
      • Interview with author Terri Glass
      • Interview with poet Michael Keshigian
      • Interview with artist Zephren Turner
    • Issue 4 Interviews >
      • Interview with Poet Anne Whitehouse
      • Interview with Artist W. Jack Savage
      • Interview with Author Krisanne Knudsen
    • Issue 5 Interviews >
      • Interview with Poet Seth Jani
      • Interview with Artist Fabrice Poussin
      • Interview with Writer Judith Kelly Quaempts
    • Issue 6 Interviews >
      • Interview with Artist Christine Stoddard
      • Interview with Poet Ricky Ray
      • Interview with Poet Christina Lovin
    • Issue 7 Interviews >
      • Interview with Artist Max Talley
      • Interview with Poet Ali Hintz
      • Interview with Author Lauren Morrow
  • Issues
    • Issue 1 >
      • Cover Art "Girl with Bouquet"
      • Hearing
      • Tiger Nebula & Barnacles
      • 3 Poems by Dayna Patterson
      • A Fruitful Tale
      • 3 Photographs of Spain
      • Sea Ice & Touch the Sun
      • Toad Hunting
      • Touch of Rainbow
      • Moon over Venice & Fontana di Trevi
      • Longboat Key Beach
      • Seashells & Colored Grove
      • Driving Home from the Bar with Frankie, Winter
      • You are the Vision
      • The Embroidery (Vyshyvanka)
      • Safe, Sound
    • Issue 2 >
      • Cover art by Tommy Ottley
      • Introduction
      • Bobbie Berendson W.
      • Laura Madeline Wiseman
      • Robert A. Kaufman
      • Laura Lovic-Lindsay
      • Rebecca Page
      • Lanette Cadle
      • Michelle Hrvat
      • Heather Monson
      • Maria S. Picone
      • Mary Bast
      • Bridget Gage-Dixon
      • Liz & Elisa Pulido
      • Katherine Simmons
      • Thalia Spinrad
      • Wilda Morris
      • Ruth Foley
      • Brent Danley Jones
      • Sarah Sadie
    • Issue 3 >
      • Cover Art by Zephren Turner
      • Introduction
      • Michael Keshigian
      • Natalie Luehr
      • Fern G. Z. Carr
      • Elizabeth Perdomo
      • Anandi Wilkinson
      • Terri Glass
      • Brendan Walsh
      • Heidi Morrell
      • Marianne Szlyk
      • Rachel Bownik
      • Dennis Trujillo
      • Dani Dymond
      • Sylvia Ashby
      • W. Jack Savage
      • Krisanne Hastings Knudsen
      • Dayna Patterson
      • Mary Buchinger
      • Linda M. Crate
      • Nels Hanson
      • Stephen L. Peck
      • Debbie Barr
      • Joanne Esser
      • Anne Whitehouse
      • Emily Strauss
    • Issue 4 >
      • Cover art by Kurt Knudsen
      • Introduction: the heart of cyclicity
      • Page Turner
      • Randel McCraw Helms
      • Anne Whitehouse
      • Bridget Gage-DIxon
      • Lisa Cook
      • Mary Stike
      • W. Jack Savage
      • Michael Pendragon
      • J. Ellington
      • Mantz Yorke
      • John Grey
      • Carl Boon
      • Lynn Otto
      • Ayendy Bonifacio
      • Yuan Changming
      • Paul Stansbury
      • Ingrid Bruck
      • Helen Patrice
      • Laura Sobbott Ross
      • Krisanne Hastings Knudsen
      • Emily Bilman
      • Kaye Linden
      • Edilson A. Ferreira
      • Jessica Lindsley
      • Michael Keshigian
    • Issue 5 >
      • Introduction
      • Kirchheimer & Piudik
      • Robert Ford
      • Mark A. Fisher
      • Eli T. Mond
      • Dani Dymond
      • Seth Jani
      • Tonya Hamill (Poetry)
      • Kersten Christianson
      • Ed Higgins
      • Thomas Piekarski
      • Don Thompson
      • Marc Carver
      • Carol Smallwood
      • Mackenzie Dwyer
      • Michael Keshigian
      • Banwynn (Suta) Oakshadow
      • Terri Simon
      • Richard Fein
      • Andrew Hubbard
      • Matthew Burns
      • Allison Gish
      • Judith Kelly Quaempts
      • Anthony Rubino
      • Tonya Hamill (Art)
      • Jennie Harward
      • Chad M. Horn
      • Shandi Kano
      • Fabrice Poussin
      • Alec Solomita
      • Review
    • Issue 6 >
      • Introduction
      • Christine Stoddard
      • Ahrend Torrey
      • Jenn Powers
      • Felicia Mitchell
      • Brandon Marlon
      • Natalie Luehr
      • Sarah Rehfeldt
      • Terri Glass
      • Christina Lovin
      • Kelly DuMar
      • Joan White
      • Peggy Turnbull
      • Nate Maxson
      • Vivian Wagner
      • Tushar Jain
      • Gordon Kippola
      • Randel McCraw Helms
      • Ashley Park Owens - Art
      • Marianne Peel
      • Lindsey S. Frantz
      • Mark Bonica
      • Ed Krizek
      • Ricky Ray
      • Edilson Ferreira
      • Anne Whitehouse
      • Cat Dixon
      • Barbara Brooks
      • William Doreski
      • John Grey
      • Michael Keshigian
      • Maureen Solomon
      • Kersten Christianson
      • Jennifer Liston
      • Shawna Sommerstad
      • Ashley Parker Owens - Poetry
      • Claire Blotter
      • Zev Torres
    • Issue 7 >
      • Introduction Issue 7
      • Max Talley
      • Thomas O'Connell
      • Fabrice Poussin
      • Archita Mittra
      • Ali Hintz
      • Lucía Damacela
      • Steven Sher
      • Cynthia Blank
      • Kathryn Knight Sonntag
      • Holly Day
      • Judy Shepps Battle
      • Allegra Forman
      • Kristen Wood
      • Sarah Rehfeldt
      • Don Thompson
      • Gwendolyn Joyce Mintz
      • Dan Brook
      • Michael Maul
      • Dennis Trujillo
      • Lauren Morrow
      • Daginne Aignend
      • Ann Christine Tabaka
      • Judith Kelly Quaempts
      • Michael Keshigian
      • Karen Poppy
      • Matthew Barron
      • Krikor Der Hohannesian
      • Linda M. Crate
      • Natalie Schriefer
      • Bob Carlton
      • Roger Sippl
      • Jake Sheff
      • Dan Brook - NF
      • Jim Zola
      • Kelsey May
      • Mark A. Fisher
      • Meg Freer
      • Chris Connolly
      • DJ Hill
      • Mantz Yorke
      • Mark J. Mitchell
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  • About Us
Interview with author S. L. Woodford
09/15/2014

Picture
1. “A Fruitful Tale” is told from the perspective of a pear in a bowl of fruit. What inspired you to write from the point of view of an inanimate object?
 
A dear friend of mine is a wonderful cartoonist. One day, she sent me a postcard, dancing with little fruit people. At the center of the card was Toupee von Pear. His image was so friendly that I had to let him tell a story about me! Toupee and his inanimateness gave me a safe space to explore my feelings about being a graduate student at Yale and doing something with my life that no one else in my family had ever done.

2. Describe your process of creation; how do you go from idea to finished story? 

It starts with a feeling I cannot unfeel, a striking image I cannot unsee, a potent experience I cannot unlive. I feel something, I see something, I experience something--and then I must write about it. The writing process, usually aided by a pot of tea and a room of dark wood, helps me to understand what I felt, what I saw, what I experienced. 

3. Who are other writers that have helped to shape your own creativity, and how? 

My current approach to sentence structure is strongly influenced by Neil Gaiman. He always challenges me to think of a piece of prose as something to be spoken, something to be sung, something to be shared around a fire with friends. A.A. Gill encourages me to write long, languid sentences, filled with multisensory lists, while E.B. White's clean conciseness reminds me to not get too carried away.

Jane Austen, George Eliot, and Henry Fielding help me to stand back and carefully watch human nature, with both humor and compassion. And the writings of C.S. Lewis and the hymns of Charles Wesley gently remind me that the ordinary and extraordinary, the sacred and the secular, are closely intertwined.

4. If you could choose a favorite character from a book, who would it be and why?

Daniel Deronda, from George Eliot's Victorian novel of the same name. Daniel is this wonderful combination of strength, spirituality, intelligence, and compassion. After spending many years reading about (and being annoyed by) the angst-ridden heroes of Charles Dickens, discovering Daniel was such a joy for me. Here was a Victorian hero whose personal tragedies opened him up to the needs and sufferings of others, instead of closing him down! He is a book character who inspires me to try to live my life with equal sensitivity.

Clink the link below to view S.L. Woodford's short story in Issue 1:

A Fruitful Tale by S.L. Woodford; illustrations by Jenny Blair


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