10 Questions for Christy Crutchfield
- By Abby MacGregor
“The old man yells stories at Cooper. ‘My buddy was deep in before he came face to face with a beaver.’
The old man says his buddy’s hands were too far into the catfish’s mouth—maybe a forty-pound fish—to protect himself, and the beaver tore his face off. Neither his buddy nor the catfish, probably, survived.”
—from “Handfishing”, Spring 2019 (Vol. 60, Issue 1)
Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
My mother recently found a story I wrote and illustrated for my grandmother when I was about eight. It’s about a hamster named Smokey. None of the other hamsters like her. The story ends there. Endings have always been hard for me.
What writer(s) or works have influenced the way you write now?
The first writer who made me want to both read and write was Flannery O’Connor. When I was writing “Handfishing,” I was reading a lot of Bonnie Jo Campbell, Leni Zumas, and Joy Williams.
What other professions have you worked in?
I currently teach creative writing and composition at Western New England University. I’ve also been an arts administrator for a children’s choir and a waitress. And for several summers I taught classes I had no business teaching at a camp for “gifted” children, including a fitness for life class and improvisational comedy.
What inspired you to write this piece?
I started this story years ago after watching a documentary about handfishing. It wasn’t a story at that point, but a collection of images and language. Eventually, Cooper became a character, and then Lue appeared. I’d recently moved to Massachusetts and was amazed by everyone’s misconceptions about the South. People seemed to think big cities didn’t exist. This was also a time when the South was a reality TV trend. The dumb hillbilly stereotype was everywhere, and rural culture was a punching bag. I wasn’t planning to explore these issues, but they came out through the characters.
Is there a city or place, real or imagined, that influences your writing?
My work is often about family, and I’m interested in home as place: what feels like home and, more often, what no longer feels like home. I’m interested in how characters see their world and where they rub up against that world.
Is there any specific music that aids you through the writing or editing process?
I do a lot of my writing in coffee shops, and there is a din of sound that I find comforting. When I’m writing at home, I’ll usually listen to folksy singer songwriter types. If I’m editing, I can’t listen to music with words and usually listen to instrumentals.
Do you have any rituals or traditions that you do in order to write?
If I’m writing something new or if I’m stuck, I handwrite first. I also go to coffee shops or else I’ll find anything to do but write at home. But when I’m editing, I have to be home because I read everything out loud. There’s always coffee next to me, no matter what.
Who typically gets the first read of your work?
My husband Mel Bosworth, who is a fantastic fiction writer and super smart editor.
What are you working on currently?
I’m working on a novel currently titled A Little Victory. It’s about parental kidnapping, and is written as a confession from a mother to her daughter.
What are you reading right now?
I’m reading (and loving) Ottessa Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation. I also recently finished Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah and then made all of my students read the title story.
CHRISTY CRUTCHFIELD is the author of the novel How to Catch a Coyote. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Tin House, Mississippi Review, Salt Hill Journal, jubilat, and other journals. She recently received a fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and serves on the editorial staff of Juked. A native of Atlanta, she writes and teaches in western Massachusetts.
