Brian Leung’s Novel Ivy Vs Dogg: With A Cast Of Thousands! released Spring 2018 and can be ordered by following the link.
Over winter break, one of our editors, Jenna London, was able to catch up with Brian and ask him a few questions about his inspiration to write Ivy vs Dogg, the interesting point of view of the narrative, and his writing philosophy:
Jenna London: What is the creative origin story for Ivy vs Dogg?
Brian Leung: I was driving to a writer’s retreat in upstate New York on Memorial Day weekend. A radio talk show host was trying to convince his audience that aborted fetuses are patriotic citizens just like military folks killed in combat. So, of course, that invited a giant topiary squid into my imagination.
Can you name the books and or other works that inspired IVD in some way?
Edward Scissorhands? June Spence’s “Missing Women” Generation X, and Are you There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
The point of view choice for IVD is unique. How did it evolve?
This is the most exasperating element for me because the POV is given over to the committee, and they have opinions I would never express. I agonized over that choice because “Brian Leung” is on the cover. I don’t know that the POV evolved as much as it insisted. The politics of the voice had to come from a frame of mind that “it takes a village” when it’s convenient for your ideological point of view.
Similarly, the quotes made by “The Committee” are unique in their existence as well as the way they both propel the narrative forward and include their own narrative arc. How did you come to this storyline, and what were the greatest challenges along the way?
The Committee is absurd enough, but their absurdity isn’t always funny. In looking at “their” initial manuscript, I felt like I hadn’t really heightened theme enough because they are mainly weighing in on Ivy’s personal situation and Dogg’s candidacy. In their daily lives, they have many, many more opinions and directives. It started to be fun for me to record post it notes they might leave here and there that are non-sequiturs for the reader, but which the citizens of Mudlick would be familiar with. We learn something more about the committee through them, and we get to have an exasperated laugh.
Do you relate more with Ivy or Dogg? Or equally with both characters? Why?
This is Ivy’s novel, no doubt. Her economic circumstances more align with mine at her age, but I feel like Dogg hasn’t been truly challenged, so I admire his struggle. Thatch, though, I REALLY know that kid.
What was the most challenging aspect of revising this novel?
I had an unrelenting and brutal editor who practically drew blood with every critical note (tee-hee). In truth, the idea for this novel started 18 years ago, so it’s gestation time made revision less problematic. But I really care about these two kids, so in revision, I was always keeping an eye on that fact that at any moment The Committee’s actions or a giant squid might overwhelm the story to the point where readers wouldn’t focus on the very real dilemma facing Ivy and Dogg. Oh, and revising with a little sweetness in mind isn’t easy.
What are similarities and differences in the conception and process between your first, second, and/ or third novels?
Wow, they are all very different, which is why there isn’t a “Brian Leung” brand of fiction. My first novel, Lost Men, was a short story that failed because it was a story with no container. By happenstance, years later I came across my travel journal from when I went to China with my father. Bam! I ran to my filing cabinet and pulled out that short story. Then, with Take Me Home, I was on the internet when I found a link to the historical fact of a massacre of Chinese miners in Rock Springs, Wyoming Territory, 1885. It was an international event, and, as a Chinese-American I was ashamed that I knew nothing of it. I did a little poking, sent away for some materials from the Western Heritage Center and promptly forgot it all. A few years later, when I was sitting down to write something else, that massacre came to mind. I pulled out my research and thought of my mother and her four sisters for some reason, and my father. They became Addie, Maine, and Wing. Within days I was off.
What can you tell us about your current project(s)?
I’m polishing up a collection of fiction with a novella that returns to my interests in writing the short forms. My first book, World Famous Love Acts, got a lot of attention for it’s polyphonic nature. I’m still interested in that, but the writing culture has changed, and so I’m challenging myself on issues of cultural appropriation. I might even include a story which was my first published story, and by today’s standard, lovely, but an epic fail as it’s told through the POV of a Mexican day laborer.
How do you incorporate reading into your life as a writer?
I’m blessed that I am Director of Creative Writing at Purdue University, so I have immensely talented students in fiction and poetry who are writing the freshest, most intense stuff. And my students at Vermont College of Fine Arts challenge me with fiction manuscripts built on so much life experience. That’s a lot of reading right there that’s on the pulse of what’s new, and it’s part of my job. But the other part of the answer is that I don’t need consecutive hours to read. I’m happy with splashes of time, which is all I have. I don’t read as much as I would like, but my career now is largely in service of upcoming writers, as it should be, so I’m fine with the balance.
Do you have a writing “philosophy” or “telos”?
Don’t write for a market and cash. Write what you want and write that well. Care about what you write. Don’t be jealous of the success of other writers. In fact, help other writers achieve success. If what you write today is the last thing you will ever write, will you be proud when they find it on your desk? If you DO write for a market, don’t complain when you hear that your work isn’t commercial enough. Be proud of having a book rejected you sweat blood for. You wrote a good book. Screw the bastards. Move on. Some day you will publish Ivy vs. Dogg: With a Cast of Thousands! and it will all have been worth it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brian Leung, author of World Famous Love Acts, Lost men, and Take me Home, is a past recipient of the Lambda Literary outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize. Other honors include the Asian-American Literary Award, Willa Award, and the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction. Brian’s fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry have appeared in Story, Ocean State Review, Numero Cinq, Crazyhorse, Grain, Gulf Coast, Kinesis, The Barcelona Review, Mid-American Review, Salt Hill, Gulf Stream, River City, Runes, The Bellingham Review, Hyphen, Velocity, The Connecticut Review, Blithe House Quarterly, Indiana Review, Crab Orchard Review, and Crowd. He is the current Director of Creative Writing at Purdue University.
Grab a copy of Ivy Vs Dogg: With A Cast Of Thousands!
*Photo provided by ISPhotographic