Q & A with Amber Dermont

Author Amber Dermont, a professor of English at Agnes Scott College, will be giving a reading at Eagle Eye Book Shop (2076 N. Decatur Rd.) this Saturday, March 31st, at 1 p.m.

The Starboard Sea was published a few weeks ago to critical acclaim in the Little Blog of Stories, received not one, but two rave reviews in The New York Times, a Washington Post review comparing it favorably to The Great Gatsby, and to The Catcher in the Rye and A Separate Peace by the Winnipeg Free Press.  It quickly found a place on the New York Times Best Sellers list.  This is a stunning achievement for a debut novel.  We’re incredibly fortunate to have such an amazing new talent right here in Decatur.

The Atlantic Ocean plays a major — and mostly dark — role in The Starboard Sea.  I understand that you grew up on Cape Cod, but was curious as to your relationship with the ocean?

Growing up, the ocean was a constant source of inspiration and I hope that my love of the water comes through in The Starboard Sea. Harnessing the wind and slicing through the waves is thrilling but a sailor can’t be reckless on the water without paying a price. Perhaps the darkness you mention comes from my early memories of Nor’easter hurricanes, of watching tidal surges knock yachts about like toy boats.

Your narrator is Jason Kilian Prosper.  (A great name, by the way.)  Was it challenging writing from the perspective a 18-year-old male boarding school student still navigating his sexuality?

I’m fascinated by the freedom and imagination of teenaged boys. The ones I grew up around were aces at creating wild, spontaneous adventures and breaking hearts. I made a study of them. The challenge of writing outside and beyond myself is that it forces me to see, hear, feel, smell and touch the world in new and unexpected ways. When Jason enters a room he’s going to notice details that I wouldn’t and that forces me to put more pressure on my writing. For me, writing isn’t simply a question of writing what I know but rather writing what I know I can imagine. In a way, I’ve been researching the character of Jason Kilian Prosper for my whole life.

I’m curious as to how you write.  There are many themes that are woven into the novel — the stock market crash of 1987, the attitudes of children of privilege, and sailboat racing are just a few.  Do you start the writing process with a detailed outline, or do these notions just find themselves reappearing to the point that you can’t ignore them?

The danger of making claims about the writing process is that the writer risks declaring that she has a process that actually works. When I begin a story, I stumble around in the dark and follow my intuition until I settle on a character, a voice that fully engages my own heart. Most stories begin with a stray piece of overheard dialogue or a detail that resonates in my imagination. The fact that the Black Monday Stock Market Crash has never been fully explained made me curious about the real causes of the event. I knew I could connect the fallout from that crash to my characters’ lives, to their privilege. For years, I was haunted by two images: the sight of a young woman standing out on a breakwater while the sea stormed around her and the spectacle of a flight of helicopters towing and rescuing a fleet of shipwrecked yachts. I wasn’t sure what either image meant but I knew together they might help me tell a story. Maybe part of the writing process is learning to trust your writerly intuition.

You were raised in a literary household.  Was there a time when you came to reject books, or was the love stamped into your DNA?

My parents are rare book dealers and they taught all of their children to love reading and to appreciate the history of art and literature. I’ve always adored books and bookstores—Little Shop of Stories is among the great ones. When I go into a bookstore, I usually leave with an armful of reading for my friends and myself. Books are my greatest luxury.

You received a degree from The Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, which boasts an impressive list of faculty and alumni.  Is this a source of intimidation or inspiration when you sit down to write?

What a thoughtful question! I met some of my closest pals and best readers at Iowa and have wonderful memories of my time there. The Southern genius Barry Hannah was my teacher at Iowa and an early reader of The Starboard Sea. His support and encouragement kept me writing. I think about Barry a lot when I write—his mastery of language, diction and music. He never wrote a false word and was forever colliding language in totally surprising and unexpected ways. To hear his voice when I write is one of the priceless gifts the Workshop gave me.

It is generally difficult for debut novels to find an audience, but there you are in the New York Times’ Sunday Book Review.  How did that feel?

I feel lucky and grateful. The beautiful serendipity of the review was that I’d just finished reading Eleanor Henderson’s brilliant novel Ten Thousand Saints. Her novel is an absolute tour de force. She is a writer I hope to be reading for a lifetime.

Also This Week

Charlayne Hunter-Gault, author of To the Mountaintop: My Journey Through the Civil Rights Movement, April 2nd at 6:30 pm at Charis Books, free.

Lauren Groff, author of Arcadia, April 3rd at 6:30 pm, Ivy Hall, Savannah College of Art and Design, free.