In Which Liz Prato, the Writer, Interviews Liz Prato, the Editor

LP Writer: Can you tell our readers how you became the editor for the fiction anthology for Forest
Avenue Press?

LP Editor: One rainy January day Laura Stanfill and I were driving out to Sandy, Oregon, where we
were both reading an event. Laura had started Forest Avenue Press a few months earlier and had
just opened up to submissions for quiet novels. I was impressed with and excited by her vision for
the press and wanted to be involved somehow. I was pretty busy with teaching and writing and
all the other stuff I do, and I also don’t consider novels to be my forte. So, I assumed there wasn’t
really a way for me to be involved, other than as a supporter. Then there we are driving East
towards Sandy, and Laura totally surprised me by asking me to edit a short story anthology for
the press.

LP Writer: What was your initial reaction?

LP Editor: Well, excited and interested, but also a little Are you sure? I’d never edited—and by
edited, I mean curated—a collection or journal before (coincidentally, a month later VoiceCatcher
asked to me to guest edit their summer 2013 issue).

LP Writer: Why do you think she chose you, of all people, then?

LP Editor: She said she trusted my short story instincts implicitly. This is one of the most amazing aspects of working with Laura. She has total faith in the people she brings on board and is a constant cheerleader. If you’re ever feeling in doubt of your strengths, ask Laura.

LP Writer: So, did you say yes right away?

LP Editor: No. Laura said I should think about it, and I said I should think about it.  So, we went to the reading, and both read and heard other writers read. And then, as we were driving West away from Sandy, I said, “I thought about it and I’m in.”

LP Writer: Just like that? No reservations? Is this going to be another one of those stories where you end up tearing your hair out and asking, Why didn’t I think this through?

LP Editor: I had zero reservations. I couldn’t come up with a convincing downside—which I realize is the set-up for all comedies of errors. But seeing how neither of us are Noel Coward characters (even though Laura frequently dresses like one), we seemed safe. I did have some—man, I don’t even think they were questions or concerns at the point—they were more like criteria. And the main one was, “I don’t want this to be an anthology where we just publish our friends,” and Laura agreed completely. But it was funny—we drove in silence for about five minutes, then Laura said, “The thing is, our friends are really good writers.”

LP Writer: You’ve been a part of the Portland writing community for a long time. I would think it would be impossible to eliminate all your friends.

LP Editor: Right, of course. And besides, why would we want to eliminate good writing, regardless of who it came from? That’s why we decided to only accept blind submissions. That way our decisions would be made on strength of the story alone.

LP Writer: Listen, I know you. You were trying to guess who each story belonged to, weren’t you? Did you usually guess correctly?

LP Editor: On most, I had no idea. There was one that I guessed right away, because the style was so distinct. But there was one story where I was totally sure I knew who the author was, and then it turned out to be someone else entirely. Someone I’d even been in a writers’ group with, but had never seen this story—or this style—before. And that was exciting.

LP Writer: Why exciting?

LP Editor: It was a really good story in the first place, with a strong, unique voice and a compelling narrative. And then to find out the person writing it is nothing like the narrator—I mean, really stepped outside of the personal box—means that author was working and stretching and not being content with the status quo. That’s not just good fiction, but it’s inspiring.

LP Writer: You’re kind of a literary dork, you know?

LP Editor: Calling the kettle black, aren’t we?

LP Writer: Okay, so it’s Day One of the open submission period. What were your expectations?

LP Editor: I had no idea what to expect. I couldn’t even hazard a guess at how many stories we’d receive and who they’d be from and what they’d be about. That’s what was astonishing and frightening about this process: we committed to publishing a book in May 2014, but we hadn’t the foggiest idea what the content or who the authors would be. It’s backwards from how most publishers work with a single-author title. It was a giant leap of faith that somehow we’d actually have a great book at the end.

LP Writer: What was the process of reading and choosing stories like for you?

LP Editor: I surprised myself. I assumed I would be really impatient with stories that less advanced . . .

LP Writer: Yes, I’ve seen you do that before. You seem to take it oddly personally.

LP Editor: And it was frustrating, but only because I wanted to read really good stories. You always hear this cynical take that all editors are immediately looking for a reason to reject the stories they read, and I was sure that would be the case for me. Instead, I was heartbroken when a story didn’t work, because I so badly wanted it to. For me, for the anthology, of course, but I could also feel that, in almost every case, the author really believed in what they were doing. They weren’t phoning it in.

LP Writer: It sounds like you’re saying it was hard to reject stories.

LP Editor: Of course it was hard! I know what it’s like to receive a rejection (or 500, for that matter). At first, I tried to time sending them so they wouldn’t arrive first thing Monday morning, or something like that. But I also had 145 rejections to send out, and sometimes I had to just do it. Especially since I tried to provide a little feedback on each one.

LP Writer: That’s rare. And time consuming. Why did you do that?

LP Editor: Part of it is the ethos of the press, which is community and relationship oriented. We want to encourage and support all authors, even if they’re not “our” authors. And part of it is the teacher part of me. I don’t want to just tell a writer their prose isn’t working; I want to give them some idea how to fix it. That was the hardest part, probably—relaying in only one or two sentences what would make the piece stronger in a way that was both helpful and not prescriptive.

LP Writer: Did you have certain themes you were searching for among the submissions?

LP Editor: No, I had this idea that the themes would emerge organically. That they’d just show themselves. At one point, we had several submissions that were about dealing with a departed loved one’s ashes. And we were like, “Jeez, are we going to publish a whole anthology about ashes? About death?”

LP Writer: A lot of my writing is about death. I’d think it would be tempting—and pretty easy—to create an entire anthology around that theme.

LP Editor: Well, just because you write a lot about death doesn’t mean the whole world wants to read two dozen stories in a row that are all about death, you know? Instead, I just picked strong stories that spoke to my heart and I thought would speak to other people’s hearts as well. And when I looked at the stories I had accepted—22 of them—I realized they were all about longing to belong. To another’s heart, to family, to oneself.

LP Writer:  What’s it like, now that the anthology is actually out?

LP Editor: I keep seeing my name on the spine of the book and thinking, “What the hell is my name doing on that book?”

LP Writer: I hear ya, sister. I always assumed that the first time my name was on a book, it would be because I wrote it.

LP Editor: Right? And I didn’t. These twenty-two authors did. My role was just administrative.

LP Writer: You’re freaking me out. It’s totally unlike you to not brag about your accomplishments.

LP Editor: Don’t get me wrong—I worked hard on reading and choosing and editing these stories. But these authors, they’re the alchemists. Their imaginations, their words, their poetry— that’s the magic. Without them, I would have had no job. They deserve all the credit for everything this book is and becomes.

LP: Writer: Is there anything else you’d like to say before we finish up?

LP Editor: Thank you all for writing and for reading and for being true to yourself and others. It’s why were are here, slowing spinning around a brightly burning star.