| Interviews: A Conversation with Francesca Lia Block | ||
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| The Cool Block WP Conversation with Francesca Lia Block, the award-winning author of the endlessly cool Weetzie Bat, Witch Baby, Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys, Missing Angel Juan, and most recently, The Hanged Man. "One of the most original writers in the last ten years." - L.A. Times "What time are we upon, and where do I belong?" - Witch Baby In tight black jeans, cowboy boots, a pale lace shirt and a black leather motorcycle jacket with pink and blue angels and birds painted on it, Francesca looks like the embodiment of her characters. As she reads from her books, the audience is hushed and listens intently as the fantasy comes to life. They are awed by characters with offbeat names like Weetzie Bat, Witch Baby, My Secret Agent Lover Man, Dirk, Duck, Cherokee and the rest and they are enveloped by a world of glitter and paint, music, candles, basketballs, incense, surfboards, and rubber chickens. Magic is always around the next corner and love is the axis around which the stories spin. These books blur the line between reality and fairy tales, and once you find yourself there, you'll never want to leave. "As the daughter of a film-maker turned painter," Francesca told Writes of Passage, "I learned to see the world through my senses; when I was growing up everything was about color and feeling, emotion and creative expression." In junior high she was admittedly shy and reserved, spending most of her time writing. But in high school, she claims, "I discovered my wild side. My friends and I dressed up and went out all over LA." Her favorite haunts can be found in the pages of her books, which are a veritable homage to the City of Angels. An English major at UCLA and Berkeley, she knew she wanted to be a writer and took creative writing and poetry classes. She said, "Weetzie evolved in high school when my friends and I used to make up characters that were really our alter-egos. In college I started writing about Weetzie Bat and the whole series evolved from there." The slang in the Weetzie books is unlike any you've ever heard, but somehow it fits perfectly. Francesca is often asked where she came up with terms like slinkster cool, and rockin' slink-chunk, slam-dunk band. She said that she and her friends made most of it up over the years in Los Angeles. Although she does write books for adults, Francesca asserts, "I never want to lose touch with the young part of myself ---- the positive, optimistic Weetzie part." She admits that some pieces of each novel are autobiographical, and each one heals a different part of her, and that Witch Baby is closest to her heart. Francesca encourages young people to write from their heart, not to censor themselves or to write what they think people want to hear. She says, "Write what turns you on, what electrifies you." When asked who some of her favorite writers are, she rattled off D.H Lawrence, Emily Dickinson, Virginia Wolfe, JeanetteWinterson, and all the fairy tales and myths. Her favorite musicians right now are her boyfriend Teddy, Sinead O'Conner, Tori Amos, Jane Siberry and REM. If you haven't read Francesca Lia Block's books yet, you have a great adventure ahead of you. Like liquid poetry, these books will melt into your consciousness, turning your world a little more like Weetzie's, where seeing through rose-colored glasses will show you everything you need to find. If you are interested in receiving the Weetzie Bat Zine chosen as "Zine of the Month" in the May '94 issue of Sassy, please write to: Hilary Terk, 170 Quarry Rd., Stamford, CT 06903 Writes.org |
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