AnaMaria Curtis is from the part of Illinois that is very much not Chicago, where she learned to be argumentative, competitive, and nostalgic. She’s the winner of the LeVar Burton Reads Origins & Encounters Writing Contest and the 2019 Dell Magazines Award, and her work has been published in magazines including Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. “The Glass City” is her seventh story in Uncanny, a poignant tale of isolation and vulnerability, set in a dreamlike world.
Uncanny Magazine: This is a beautifully crafted and surreal story, with residents of the city living inside out behind glass while a stranger circles outside. What was the starting point or inspiration for the story?
AnaMaria Curtis: Honestly? I was so lonely I had to write an elaborate metaphor about it. I drafted this story the first summer after I had moved to Spain, when I was really struggling with the effort it took to connect with people. It felt very difficult to make myself vulnerable both with my friends back home and with people I was meeting in person, especially in a second language. While I hope that the story speaks to more than just the struggle to try to enter a conversation that’s already going, that was more or less the starting point.
Uncanny Magazine: What was the easiest part about writing this story? What was the most challenging thing?
AnaMaria Curtis: The easiest part was the concept. The imagery and tone of the story felt very clear as soon as I started writing (which is often not the case for me). On the other hand, the ending was a huge headache! “The Glass City” was a bit of a stretch for me in terms of structure (as in, it’s less structured, and the prose and the concepts therefore had to hold up a lot of the story), which meant that there was a lot of pressure on the ending without the kind of plot cues from the main arc that would help me figure out what worked. I did eventually find an ending I was happy with, but it took a lot of thinking and discussion with friends to get there.
Uncanny Magazine: “The Glass City” features vivid imagery and powerful emotion, giving it a poignant and almost cinematic feel. Do you visualize stories in your head as you are writing?
AnaMaria Curtis: For me it’s actually almost the opposite! I can’t hold an image in my head for more than the quickest moment—I tend to think in words or concepts and not in visuals. As a result, I often find that my writing is trying to sort of chase an image. Maybe I saw a glimpse of it, and now I have to use words to flesh it out and make it stick in the only way that works for my head. It’s a bit counterintuitive, maybe, but it’s the only way I’ve figured out to describe things visually.
Uncanny Magazine: What research did you do for this story? Did you learn anything that surprised you?
AnaMaria Curtis: The research I did for this story was mostly in revisions as I had to figure out the geography of the area surrounding the city such that it could have an aqueduct. I also spent a lot of time thinking about fruits and looking up where they came from and all these tiny details about them. For example, I thought for a while that I was going to use pawpaws as the fruit at the end because I associate them with the woods near where I grew up, but I just couldn’t buy that they would survive the throw over the wall!
Uncanny Magazine: I’ve asked in previous interviews about your literary influences, so what are some non-literary influences on your writing (e.g. other forms of media, travel, hobbies, etc.)?
AnaMaria Curtis: I love this question! I am very influenced by places, both that I’m visiting and that I live in. To be honest, I think there’s only an aqueduct in “The Glass City” because I visited Segovia, Spain around the time I was first drafting the story, and I just had to have an aqueduct somewhere. I also consider my friendships to be a huge influence on my writing. Not only because many of my friends are very talented writers and critique partners but also because of the conversations that I have with them and the ways that we work to stay connected, often from afar. My friends tell me interesting things and let me talk through and process my own interests, both of which are hugely helpful for my writing.
Uncanny Magazine: What are you working on next?
AnaMaria Curtis: I have a novel that I’m trying to write, a novel(la?) I’m pretending I’m not writing, and a lot of short stories in various stages of drafting and revision to make me feel better about the novels.
Uncanny Magazine: Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us!
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