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“The decision to go to the danger”: An Interview with Christen Aragoni

Interview by Megan Giddings July 27, 2015

Tell us about the first short story you ever loved. Why do you think it appealed to you so much?

One story that stuck with me for a long time was Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” I was probably eleven when I first read it, and I kept thinking that the character had other options than to open the door, to give up. And even though the story builds to that ending, leads you right out the door to Arnold Friend, it’s still surprising and disturbing. It’s the kind of thing that can give an eleven-year-old girl nightmares. Mainly, though, I was struck by the decision to go to the danger.

Often while reading submissions, I find that it’s the story’s ending that separates the yes, we must publish this stories from the this isn’t quite working stories. Can you tell us about some of your favorite endings from stories and books and why they’re your favorite? 

To me, the most successful stories have an unexpected ending, as with “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” I don’t mean an ending that isn’t earned or properly set up; I mean an ending that isn’t predictable from a few lines or paragraphs in. This surprise can be subtle, a slight turn or a devastating insight to leave you affected by what you’ve just finished reading. Recently, I read a few stories that were beautifully written but that ended up being nothing more than what they started out as—they went exactly where you expected them to go from maybe five paragraphs in, and so to me, they didn’t offer much of a story.

An example of a successful ending that comes to mind is from the young-adult science-fiction novel The House of Stairs. By the time you reach the last scene, you already know what’s happened, the story is over, but that last moment drives home the full horror of what has taken place and how it is going to affect the future. That kind of ending makes the difference between the books that influence you in life and in your own writing and the books whose plots or messages fail to resonate.
What are some deal breakers for you in fiction?

Bad writing—writing that lacks style and voice. Sentences I can’t parse, especially if it’s clear the writer doesn’t know how to use a comma; break rules intentionally, not because you don’t know them. Writing that thinks it’s clever and is not. Plots with a stereotypical theme that are just another [fill in the blank] story. Long dream sequences. Not a single character I can sympathize or identify with—the most intriguing villains are the ones a tiny part of you is rooting for.

Which books that are coming out this year are you looking forward to reading?
I don’t think it’s coming out this year, but I can’t wait for Hilary Mantel‘s next novel.

About the Interviewer

Megan Giddings will be attending Indiana University’s MFA in the fall. She has most recently been published in the Doctor TJ Eckleburg Review and Knee-Jerk.

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