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Potential for Permanence: An Interview with Erin Rose Belair

听By Sarah Doan

Sarah Doan:听Thank you for agreeing to take part in this interview! First, I鈥檇 like to hear about your start as听a writer. When did you first realize you wanted to become a writer? What drew you to writing?

Erin Rose Belair:听I started writing in high school, probably for the same reasons I write now: to make听sense of the world and understand who I am at the current. I wrote poetry in high school, and I had an听incredible teacher who encouraged me and introduced the idea that I could be a writer. She allowed me,听my senior year, to submit a book of poetry for a self-designed course credit and I won an award for it. I听was also listening to a lot of Dessa at the time. She is a spoken word artist, writer, and MC from听Minneapolis where I grew up. I remember distinctly seeing her perform and understanding for the first听time how multi-dimensional I could be as a woman. She was beautiful and intelligent, and her words cut听right through. She was a massive inspiration in shaping my concept of who I wanted to be.

What drew me to it? Perhaps the potential for permanence. I鈥檝e been preoccupied my whole life with听nostalgia and times gone by. Photography was one of my first loves for the same reason. I鈥檝e always felt听the need to create and capture the now and save it for later.

SD:听According to your听, fiction is not the only form of writing you engage in.听You also write travel essays based on the places in which you end up on your adventures, and you听complete copywriting tasks for various brands. How do you think your experience as a creative writer听plays into your skills as both a travel writer and a copywriter? What skills related to creative writing do听you feel have been most beneficial in your professional writing career?

ERB:听I have never prescribed much to any one genre. I think all the work feeds the same beast. Travel听writing makes me a better fiction writer. Fiction writing makes me a better copywriter. The more you听write, the better you get: and I was lucky to find a way to both work on my fiction and make a living听while remaining in my writer brain. I also teach writing workshops and am super blessed to听spend my life interacting with writers on the daily.听

I do think voice is the strongest skill that relates to all of the work. Finding the right voice is key, and I听do think it鈥檚 a strong suit of mine that comes particularly from fiction writing and creating characters.

SD:听Out of curiosity, what kind of writing do you enjoy the most out of the genres you participate in? Out听of those, do you feel there鈥檚 one that suits you the best? Or do you enjoy all of them equally?

ERB:听My fiction is my life鈥檚 work. This is what I would like to do more than anything and what I听will never give up. Copywriting is more of a trade that fuels my adventures, and travel writing is the product of听me digesting and experiencing the world. I love nonfiction and have fallen deeply for the lyrical essay in听the past few years. I have an essay collection coming out this year and if I had to guess, I might be best in this听regard. But, fiction is my one true love.

SD:听Now, I鈥檇 like to ask you about your piece in the spring 2022听Southern Indiana Review, 鈥淛ust Details.鈥澨齏hat inspired this short story? Was there a certain moment or experience in your life related to the story鈥檚听content that inspired you, or did the concept just pop up?

ERB:听Both. I very much write short stories in a听let鈥檚 see where this takes us听kind of mood. I never plan out听a story, and yet, they are nearly always germinated from something I cannot seem to let go of. I had the听opening line of this story, 鈥淚n June the boxelder bugs get stuck between the window panes鈥︹�� in my听notes for years (no joke, like six years), knowing it was the start of a story. I was at a house party in Utah听and in between the window panes were box elder bugs, and it was June. I don鈥檛 know if they died听there, but in my head they sure did.听

There is also the scene later with the robbery, and all of that is near true. I witnessed a robbery as a child听that happened much like this, and I borrowed the details for this story. All of that really happened,听everything from the bike helmet to the jeep at the golf course.

SD:听In 鈥淛ust Details,鈥� although the main character鈥檚 husband, grandmother, and grandmother鈥檚 caretaker听are given names, the main character herself is not, nor are any of the other people she meets in town. How听do you think this anonymity, combined with the utilized first-person point of view, emphasizes the main听character鈥檚 desire to free herself from the boredom of her life before her grandmother鈥檚 death?

ERB:听You know, I鈥檝e done this before and I don鈥檛 know why. I wish I had a smart answer, but it鈥檚 just a听thing I do. I rarely name immediate characters, and yet people on the periphery get names, perhaps听because they don鈥檛 get as much detail or dialogue and we have to identify them in some quick way. The听more immediate characters get mannerisms and other identifiers that feel truer to life, and names feel like听an afterthought. Names don鈥檛 tell you much about a person.

SD:听The story begins with the mention of boxelder bugs living (and dying) in the window panes of the听main character鈥檚 grandmother鈥檚 house. Although boxelder bugs can have life spans up to one year old in听real life, they always (in the story) end up dying in the window panes after becoming stuck. Do you feel听the main character finds herself relating to the boxelder bugs, even though their ultimate fate contrasts听with the freedom she feels while choosing to remain in her grandmother鈥檚 house? If so, how? If not, why听do you think their presence stands out to her so much?

ERB:听You know the bugs came first in this story, so I am sure on some subconscious level that imagery is听what created the main character and her situation for me, but I assure you it was not a conscious choice.听Like I mentioned earlier, this line about the bugs was rattling around for some time and when I finally听wrote the story, it was a question of who sees these bugs and then what kind of state someone is in where听these dead and dying bugs would be noticed and have an impact on them. She is living in a very insulated听moment in her life; she doesn鈥檛 have much around her. Things are complicated and yet also incredibly听simple at the same time for her. If I were analyzing my own story, I鈥檇 say yes, she relates to them, but in听the end chooses a different fate. The trapped space in her life is not the house, like the bugs, but rather her听old life; perhaps she sees herself in her old life through those same window panes. But again, this is all in听hindsight. I didn鈥檛 write the story thinking that.

SD:听In the big picture, what aspects of 鈥淛ust Details鈥� do you feel reflect your style or approach as a听writer? It is often the case that writers gravitate toward some of the same general topics and images when听creating a work, whether they are aware of it or not. What parts of 鈥淛ust Details鈥� do you feel are听representative of your authorial 鈥渇ingerprint鈥�?

ERB:听I went back and looked at my stories to answer this question and it was really fun. So I鈥檇 say yes, it听feels like a very听me听story: young woman at a crossroads. I鈥檓 really interested in those moments in life in听which we take a new path because they often are not grand moments at all. We make huge life altering听choices on totally innocuous days and this is where a lot of my stories take place.听

Also, the food in this story. The writing about it and the presence of it is something that has become more听and more present in my writing, and I wanted to highlight that here and allow it to actually become听essential to the narrative. I would be curious what someone else who has read my work would say, and听what part of this story has my fingerprint.

SD:听Lastly, I鈥檇 like to briefly ask you about your goals as a creative writer. Writing is often done not only听for oneself, but also for one鈥檚 audience. What do you hope your audience takes away from your writing,听either in the case of 鈥淛ust Details鈥� or in general?

ERB:听My goal for writing remains the same as it always has been and always will be: to never stop. I听hope, regardless of the outcome, I spend my life writing. This to me is the hallmark of a writer. I am听beyond grateful to have any audience at all, and I hope someone who reads my work might recognize听themselves in it or take some granule of truth that helps them process their own life. I hope someone is听entertained by my stories and gets lost for a moment. I hope other writers feel inspired by a character or a听turn of phrase. And I hope all of my stories outlive me.