“In essence, an interview is a conversation.” —Margaret Juhae Lee
Margaret Juhae Lee is the author of Starry Field: A Memoir of Lost History (Melville House), which is centered on three long-form interviews she conducted with her grandmother. A former editor at The Nation magazine, she received a Bunting Fellowship from Harvard University and a Korean Studies Fellowship from the Korea Foundation. She attended the Tin House and Writer’s Hotel writing workshops and was awarded residences at Mesa Refuge, Anderson Center and the Mineral School. She has written articles for The Nation, Newsday, Elle, ARTnews, and numerous other publications. More recently, she has focused on interviewing writers for Ploughshares Blog and The Rumpus. She lives in Oakland with her family and Brownie, a rescue dog from Korea.
On Saturday, October 5th, Margaret is teaching a class for the WLT called “On Interviewing: Tips for Storytellers.” In this class, you’ll learn about the process of interviewing—from types of interviews, how to prepare, conducting the interview itself, and transcription options.
Here’s what Margaret had to share with us:
Scribe: Tell us a little bit about yourself. What do you write? How did you come to writing?
Margaret Juhae Lee: I began writing freelance articles while I was working at an art museum and enjoyed it so much that I decided to go back to grad school in journalism in my 30s. I worked as an editor in the Books & the Arts section of The Nation magazine and wrote book reviews, profiles and feature articles on the side. While I was at The Nation, I also began research for my book Starry Field: A Memoir of Lost History (Melville House), which was published earlier this year. If you told me back then that it would take me over 25 years to finish my book, I don’t know if I would have even started!
Scribe: In your own work, how do you approach overcoming the challenges that come with writing, be it writer’s block or craft or business-related challenges?
MJL: Writer’s block has been a huge issue for me. As a journalist, I tend to self-edit too much. It took taking a generative writing workshop for me to learn how to turn off that part of my brain and allow myself to write messy first draft material. Writing long-hand helped me. My first workshop leader told us not to take the pen off the page and let the words flow through your hand. That piece of advice helped me immensely.
Throughout my writing journey, I’ve continually taken classes and attended conferences. I’ve learned so much about craft and publishing, but the most important thing for me is being in community with other writers. My favorite way to write is in community. Some sort of magic happens when I arrive in that space with others, even if it’s online.
Scribe: Has there been a moment of epiphany in terms of your work, when you thought, “This is it! Now I know what I’m doing?” How long did that feeling last?
MJL: It took me years to discover my voice. Journalism teaches you to write in an impersonal way. What was helpful to me was to immerse myself in fiction and reading novels and short story in a deeper way to look toward how authors created voices for their characters.
As a kid I loved to write stories—fables really—and letters to a friend who moved to Norway. One of my writing epiphany moments happened when I channeled that ten-year-old version of me who could write a ten-page letter or a story about a family of skunks.
Scribe: What piece of advice do you find yourself giving to writers again and again?
MJL: Never give up. It took me over 25 years to finish my book. While I tell people that it was pure stubbornness that got me through, I knew, in my heart, that I needed to finish it for myself and my family, even if it wasn’t published. Persistence helped in my publication journey, but luck was involved as well.
Scribe: What is one thing that people will take away from this class?
MJL: In essence, an interview is a conversation. It’s a process that can reap so many benefits to your storytelling, whether you are writing fiction, non-fiction or memoir.
—
Thanks, Margaret!
Click here to learn more about Margaret’s upcoming class.
