An Interview with Len Kuntz
Up the Staircase Quarterly: Len, thanks so much for joining me for this interview. Tell us a little more about yourself. What are you up to when you are not writing?
Len Kuntz: I love all kinds of art—music especially, photography, painting, film, and great television that is really just cinema in disguise (shows like “Breaking Bad,” “The Walking Dead,” “Shameless,” and others.) I read a great deal, too, of course, and I used to run marathons regularly, though now it’s mainly “Train-to-maintain.” I’m part of a writing group with a great set of guys here in Seattle, and we meet twice monthly. I’m also an editor at the online literary magazine Metazen. Other than that, I spend a lot of time staring out my window at the lake we live on.
UTSQ: What was your first significant literary encounter? How did this experience inspire you, or shape you, into the writer you have become?
LK: The day before my junior year in high school, my family moved to a new town, a small town, where I knew no one and all the kids had grown up together. I was gangly and incredibly shy, an outsider, but I’d done some writing, so for whatever reason I entered a contest where winners would get to attend a free week-long poetry workshop in Port Townsend, WA. Somehow my entry won. I’m not saying “somehow” with false humility, because in hindsight my poems were really lousy--- “The snow fell today/and before slowly turning to a mushy decay/it caught hold of my eye in all my haste/this trampled, walked on, worthless waste…” See? Just really awful, right?—and I only wrote rhyming poetry. I didn’t know anything about the craft or that there was even such thing as poems that didn’t rhyme. After the workshop, I realized I had to buckle down and study this thing called writing the way an architect might study drawing and angles and the world’s great buildings. Not only that, but at the workshop there was this crazy kind of energy and joy I felt in being around other writers. I’d found my tribe, so to speak. Even all these years later, I still feel euphoric whenever I get to be around other writers.
UTSQ: I only know you as a short story writer. What draws you to short fiction? What do you love about short fiction? Do you participate in any other writing or art mediums?
LK: I’ve actually written three novels in the last five years, though all are un-agented and unpublished. I really admire novelists because the form is such a struggle for me; the long slog of it requiring incredible self-confidence in not only your abilities, but how much you believe in the story you’re writing.
With short pieces something triggers an idea—it could be the notion itself, a title, some kind of interesting word play, a song lyric—and then I’ll just dive in and keep plucking until it’s done, not giving myself the option of stopping and potentially thinking the story is crap. I almost always write a story all the way through, start to finish. If I stop, there’s a 90% chance it’ll end up sitting around with all my other orphans.
I love short fiction and poetry for their immediacy, for the way they can jump in, land some rapid fire punches, then jump right back out, leaving the reader (hopefully) a little stunned or unsettled.
UTSQ: You have had two of your short stories published in Up the Staircase Quarterly. "New Things" was published in 2010 and "Quake" in 2012. Looking back on these slightly older stories and beyond, how do you feel your writing has changed or evolved over the years?
LK: Honestly, the style of my short fiction hasn’t changed very much. It’s still pretty rapid fire and bending toward the dark.
With longer pieces, and the novel writing in particular, I’m trying to get inside characters’ heads more, let them think and feel and reminisce, so that hopefully they become more fully-formed, if not also more interesting.
In all the writing classes I took, the one thing that was repeatedly drilled into me was: “Show, Don’t Tell.” But there has to be balance, and a writer can take that mantra too far, which I’m guilty of. Quite often I’ve been afraid to “Tell,” leaning on action in every paragraph. A good friend in my writing group, Ross McKeekin, has taught me that it’s okay to linger at times, to root around in the narrator’s psyche so long as the narrator’s thoughts add dimension and meaning to the larger story as a whole. At least that’s what I’m trying to do with the latest novel.
UTSQ: Are there any themes or symbols in your writing that you have found yourself returning to over the years, or do you strive to avoid this?
LK: Well, yes, I write a lot about dysfunctional families and wounded children trying to escape their circumstances. After having written over 1,200 stories, I’ve about exhausted those topics, so I’m quite fearful of repeating myself.
Also, I write about twins a lot. There are no twins in my family and I don’t really know any twins personally, yet I find the subject fascinating, so in the last two novels, as well as the one I’ve just begun, twins are at the center piece of the story.
UTSQ: What was the last book that you loved? What made it such a great book?
LK: Can I say two? I hope so.
“Beautiful Ruins,” Jess Walter’s novel, set in the recent past, is such an exquisite read, with language that is both literary yet accessible. It breaks your heart, makes you smile, makes you want to stand up, cheering and rooting for the characters, and months after, you’ll still find yourself thinking about it.
“Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” by Ben Fountain was recommended to me by my writing group. Halfway through, I found myself marking up every page. His descriptions are utterly unique, his characters bursting with personality and quirks, and dialogue that is fresh and spot-on. It’s incredibly poignant, yet you’ll laugh out loud at least a dozen times.
UTSQ: Now tell us about YOUR book! How would you describe The Dark Sunshine? Where can readers find and purchase a copy?
LK: Hopefully the title gives a glimpse of what’s inside: pieces that are dark, yet hopeful at the same time. In most stories, people get wounded or put into troublesome scenarios, and still they find redemption through their own volition.
The book is comprised of 55 stories in 148 pages, meaning most are quite short. The original manuscript contained almost twice as many pieces, but Meg Tuite and Ken Robidoux helped me hone the book so that there’s a kind of cadence. Some stories jab and sting, while others are a bit more reflective. If anything, I’m confident the reader won’t be bored.
Thanks so much for asking, and here’s a link to get the book: The Dark Sunshine.
UTSQ: Finally, Len, if you could have a meal with anyone, dead or alive, real or imaginary, whom would it be, what would you talk about, and what on earth would the two of you eat?
LK: I guess I’ll pick a literary hero, and that would be Raymond Carver.
We’d have steak, a loaded baked potato and a bourbon or two.
I’d try not to drool on his plate.
I’d probably shame myself and ask someone to take a photo of us together.
I’d have a list of questions prepared ahead of time.
I’d take lots of notes in case I got tipsy and details were lost the next day.
I’d want to know how he dealt with self-doubt, what his biggest writing regrets were, what his favorite stories were, why he didn’t write more, those kinds of things…
I’d ask if we could do this again sometime, and I’d be sure to say, Thank you.
Len Kuntz is a writer from Washington State and an editor at the online literary magazine Metazen. His story collection "The Dark Sunshine" debuted from Connotation Press in January and his next collection, "I'm Not Supposed To Be Here And Neither Are You" is forthcoming from Aqueous Books in January of 2015. You can find Len at lenkuntz.blogspot.com
Len Kuntz: I love all kinds of art—music especially, photography, painting, film, and great television that is really just cinema in disguise (shows like “Breaking Bad,” “The Walking Dead,” “Shameless,” and others.) I read a great deal, too, of course, and I used to run marathons regularly, though now it’s mainly “Train-to-maintain.” I’m part of a writing group with a great set of guys here in Seattle, and we meet twice monthly. I’m also an editor at the online literary magazine Metazen. Other than that, I spend a lot of time staring out my window at the lake we live on.
UTSQ: What was your first significant literary encounter? How did this experience inspire you, or shape you, into the writer you have become?
LK: The day before my junior year in high school, my family moved to a new town, a small town, where I knew no one and all the kids had grown up together. I was gangly and incredibly shy, an outsider, but I’d done some writing, so for whatever reason I entered a contest where winners would get to attend a free week-long poetry workshop in Port Townsend, WA. Somehow my entry won. I’m not saying “somehow” with false humility, because in hindsight my poems were really lousy--- “The snow fell today/and before slowly turning to a mushy decay/it caught hold of my eye in all my haste/this trampled, walked on, worthless waste…” See? Just really awful, right?—and I only wrote rhyming poetry. I didn’t know anything about the craft or that there was even such thing as poems that didn’t rhyme. After the workshop, I realized I had to buckle down and study this thing called writing the way an architect might study drawing and angles and the world’s great buildings. Not only that, but at the workshop there was this crazy kind of energy and joy I felt in being around other writers. I’d found my tribe, so to speak. Even all these years later, I still feel euphoric whenever I get to be around other writers.
UTSQ: I only know you as a short story writer. What draws you to short fiction? What do you love about short fiction? Do you participate in any other writing or art mediums?
LK: I’ve actually written three novels in the last five years, though all are un-agented and unpublished. I really admire novelists because the form is such a struggle for me; the long slog of it requiring incredible self-confidence in not only your abilities, but how much you believe in the story you’re writing.
With short pieces something triggers an idea—it could be the notion itself, a title, some kind of interesting word play, a song lyric—and then I’ll just dive in and keep plucking until it’s done, not giving myself the option of stopping and potentially thinking the story is crap. I almost always write a story all the way through, start to finish. If I stop, there’s a 90% chance it’ll end up sitting around with all my other orphans.
I love short fiction and poetry for their immediacy, for the way they can jump in, land some rapid fire punches, then jump right back out, leaving the reader (hopefully) a little stunned or unsettled.
UTSQ: You have had two of your short stories published in Up the Staircase Quarterly. "New Things" was published in 2010 and "Quake" in 2012. Looking back on these slightly older stories and beyond, how do you feel your writing has changed or evolved over the years?
LK: Honestly, the style of my short fiction hasn’t changed very much. It’s still pretty rapid fire and bending toward the dark.
With longer pieces, and the novel writing in particular, I’m trying to get inside characters’ heads more, let them think and feel and reminisce, so that hopefully they become more fully-formed, if not also more interesting.
In all the writing classes I took, the one thing that was repeatedly drilled into me was: “Show, Don’t Tell.” But there has to be balance, and a writer can take that mantra too far, which I’m guilty of. Quite often I’ve been afraid to “Tell,” leaning on action in every paragraph. A good friend in my writing group, Ross McKeekin, has taught me that it’s okay to linger at times, to root around in the narrator’s psyche so long as the narrator’s thoughts add dimension and meaning to the larger story as a whole. At least that’s what I’m trying to do with the latest novel.
UTSQ: Are there any themes or symbols in your writing that you have found yourself returning to over the years, or do you strive to avoid this?
LK: Well, yes, I write a lot about dysfunctional families and wounded children trying to escape their circumstances. After having written over 1,200 stories, I’ve about exhausted those topics, so I’m quite fearful of repeating myself.
Also, I write about twins a lot. There are no twins in my family and I don’t really know any twins personally, yet I find the subject fascinating, so in the last two novels, as well as the one I’ve just begun, twins are at the center piece of the story.
UTSQ: What was the last book that you loved? What made it such a great book?
LK: Can I say two? I hope so.
“Beautiful Ruins,” Jess Walter’s novel, set in the recent past, is such an exquisite read, with language that is both literary yet accessible. It breaks your heart, makes you smile, makes you want to stand up, cheering and rooting for the characters, and months after, you’ll still find yourself thinking about it.
“Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” by Ben Fountain was recommended to me by my writing group. Halfway through, I found myself marking up every page. His descriptions are utterly unique, his characters bursting with personality and quirks, and dialogue that is fresh and spot-on. It’s incredibly poignant, yet you’ll laugh out loud at least a dozen times.
UTSQ: Now tell us about YOUR book! How would you describe The Dark Sunshine? Where can readers find and purchase a copy?
LK: Hopefully the title gives a glimpse of what’s inside: pieces that are dark, yet hopeful at the same time. In most stories, people get wounded or put into troublesome scenarios, and still they find redemption through their own volition.
The book is comprised of 55 stories in 148 pages, meaning most are quite short. The original manuscript contained almost twice as many pieces, but Meg Tuite and Ken Robidoux helped me hone the book so that there’s a kind of cadence. Some stories jab and sting, while others are a bit more reflective. If anything, I’m confident the reader won’t be bored.
Thanks so much for asking, and here’s a link to get the book: The Dark Sunshine.
UTSQ: Finally, Len, if you could have a meal with anyone, dead or alive, real or imaginary, whom would it be, what would you talk about, and what on earth would the two of you eat?
LK: I guess I’ll pick a literary hero, and that would be Raymond Carver.
We’d have steak, a loaded baked potato and a bourbon or two.
I’d try not to drool on his plate.
I’d probably shame myself and ask someone to take a photo of us together.
I’d have a list of questions prepared ahead of time.
I’d take lots of notes in case I got tipsy and details were lost the next day.
I’d want to know how he dealt with self-doubt, what his biggest writing regrets were, what his favorite stories were, why he didn’t write more, those kinds of things…
I’d ask if we could do this again sometime, and I’d be sure to say, Thank you.
Len Kuntz is a writer from Washington State and an editor at the online literary magazine Metazen. His story collection "The Dark Sunshine" debuted from Connotation Press in January and his next collection, "I'm Not Supposed To Be Here And Neither Are You" is forthcoming from Aqueous Books in January of 2015. You can find Len at lenkuntz.blogspot.com
