DSH Indie Author Spotlight: Abigail Stewart

Author of Assemblage and The Drowned Woman

Howdy folks, here is an 8-Question interview with author Abigail Stewart about writing, whatnot, and her new release, Assemblage. 

Full disclosure, Abby and I are with the same publisher Whisk(e)y Tit Books.

I’m not going to write a review for Abby’s debut book, The Drowned Woman, but I will say this: The voice and style have been described as “vintage” and while I read it I very much caught a black and white french film vibe, which I loved, but the surprise was the read deepened even more with unexpected choices.

It made me reconsider certain things and I highly recommend this book.

Abby’s already found a sizable female (identifying) audience and I encourage male (identifying) audiences to give it a read. Don’t be lulled with an ‘I know where this is going…’

That being said, I’m eager to get my copy of Assemblage. (Release 11/11/22)

Assemblage explores small town Southern myths, pregnancy as body horror, humans who exist on the periphery, and the place of art in modern society. Although the stories are grounded in reality, each one possesses a spectral echo of the surreal.

Enjoy!

XOXO
DSH

Name: Abigail Stewart

website: helloabigailstewart.com

IG: @abby_cake

• Has writing and publishing a book changed the way you see yourself?

I used to have a very difficult time telling people I was a ‘writer’ or ‘author,’ I kept my writing a quiet secret held close to my chest. It really took putting my first novel out on submission with indie presses to feel confident in telling anyone else what I had been doing for years in secret.

• Is there a particular genre you would love to write but only under a pseudonym?

I like to think I have a poet’s soul, so I would love to explore poetry under a nom de plume.

• Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?

I did not write either of my books with readers in mind, simply because I wasn’t sure if anyone would read them. Now, I find myself wondering a bit more what people might think, but ultimately, I am still writing the stories that are important to me.

• What did you do with your first advance?

When my first advance came through, I bought a bottle of wine and a luna moth tattoo.

• Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?

I wouldn’t say they’re secrets, but I like to make the occasional pop culture reference that might go unnoticed. My love of 80’s new wave and post punk music shows up a few times in Assemblage.

• What part of the story is the most fun to write?
  

  The ending, I start almost every story knowing how I want it to end. It always feels the most satisfying.

• What perspectives or beliefs have you challenged with this work?

  

  In Assemblage, I wanted to explore our connections with the natural world versus the perceived world of the internet as well as the liminal spaces that emerge from unexpected sources and the beliefs that there may be monsters among us. In the culminating novella, “Bone Dry,” I wanted to create a pseudo-dystopian society where the arts were no longer valued and consider what that would look like or risk within society at large, something I think about often.

• What do you need in your writing space to help you stay focused?

  Quiet is the primary thing for me. I do not often listen to music, or at least not music with words, while writing. And I always have a beverage, possible more than one, because if I intend to sit for hours, I should at least stay hydrated.

• 

  Have you read anything that made you think differently about fiction?

  Rachel Cusk’s Outline trilogy is one of the works that really made me reconsider what fiction could be. She writes in what she refers to as ‘annihilated perspective’ so that the narrator is both her and not her, everyone and no one, and focuses primarily on dialogue to propel the story forward. I think a book of conversation rather than plot is a fascinating thing.

   

  Abigail Stewart is a fiction writer from Berkeley, California. She is the author of a novel, The Drowned Woman (Whiskey Tit Books, 2022), and a short story collection, Assemblage (Alien Buddha Press, 2022). Her second novel, Foundations, is coming in early 2023 (Whiskey Tit Books). Find her at: helloabigailstewart.com. 

  About Alien Buddha Press: https://www.writeordietribe.com/alien-buddha-press

As a thank you making it to the end of DSH Indie Author Spotlight: Abigail Stewart use coupon code TENTIT for 10% off Abby’s The Drowned Woman, from Whisk(e)y Tit.

Cheers!