CONTRIBUTOR SPOTLIGHT:
Interview with Tara Troiano

Rappahannock Review Fiction Editors:  In “Head-H,” we’re interested in the modern setting (“tower of steel”) for this Rapunzel-like story. How did you end up choosing that setting for this story?

Tara Troiano:  I think a really big overlap between Rapunzel’s character and modern life is the theme of isolation. I found it easy to imagine a modern-day Rapunzel trapped in a high rise, looking down at the world, experiencing life second-hand through her phone and feeling that same sense of removal that is a hallmark of her story. 

RR: What inspired the fusion of Medusa and Rapunzel? How do you see these characters’ mythologies intersecting?

TT: I’ve always found the way that hair shows up in stories as a symbol of womanhood intriguing. Medusa and Rapunzel are both easily identifiable by their hair, and in both cases their hair is mystical and powerful, but it operates differently in their respective stories. Medusa’s hair is a warning, it identifies her as a villain and marks a dangerous sort of womanhood. Rapunzel’s hair appears to do the opposite, representing beautiful, quiet, unthreatening femininity. I wanted to play with those assumptions in this story. 

RR:  “Head-H” is such an intriguing narrative. Is there a particular story or experience behind it?

TT: The initial idea behind “Head-H” sparked in my undergrad Italian class. My professor was often exasperated by the quirks of the English language, and he admittedly made some great points. To be honest, I learned more in that class about how language affects narrative and vice versa than I actually picked up on any conversational Italian. But I’ll always be grateful for that new perspective on storytelling. 

RR: We love the detailed and immersive descriptions here; do you have specific techniques or routines to develop those in your writing?

TT: My stories tend to start with details in general. I like to collect details over time in my day-to-day. I jot down details from a trip to the grocery store, from conversations with friends, from whichever piece of media I’m consuming at the moment, and I eventually identify enough of a pattern to stitch them together into some kind of semi-coherent narrative. 

RR: Are there any books or works that you are reading now; are they influencing your writing and if so how?

TT: I have been dutifully working my way through Jeanette Winterson’s work, and my current read is 12 Bytes. Everything she writes is brilliant, but this is the first nonfiction narrative I’ve read of hers. It’s a great feminist history of recent scientific advancements peppered with philosophy and questions about the future. I find when I’m in an inspiration drought, nonfiction is a great place to start searching for a new story.