Author Q & A with Alex Sese

This week’s Author Q&A is with Alex Sese. Alex is a native of the Philippines who currently lives in Illinois as a full-time copy editor in medical communications and freelance fiction and nonfiction editor for Subtle Script Editing. Her story, “Love, Dad,” was this year’s winner of the Honeybee Prize in Fiction selected by guest judge Mary Kurlya. Here’s what Mary said about her story:

“Love, Dad” is a cleverly told story that employs misapprehension to brisk dramatic effect. As this short epistolary story reveals through masterful use of form, Dad and his legacy are far more nuanced and adoring than his earlier characterization portends, as is the medium through which he demonstrated his love, storytelling. 

As we do with many of our contributing authors, we asked Alex to share a little more about her writing and her writing life. We began by asking her which part of the writing process she found most difficult.

Her response: “To me, it’s finding that one line that anchors the whole story. Every piece starts with that one line that I’d really like to write and the rest kind of builds itself around it. It takes some time, reflection, and sometimes just luck to come up with it.”

This is a common obstacle faced by many artists. It is said that beginning is the hardest part. Afterwards, the rest just flows. We then asked her what fuels her desire to write.

Her response: “Readers, to be honest. I know they tell you to write for yourself, to write what you’d like to read. And I do. But every piece I’ve written is also a sort of love letter to someone out there. I hope that my words find them.”

It’s interesting to consider who we are writing for, ourselves or someone else. Perhaps we should be writing for ourselves but most writers probably have some person or audience in mind when setting out to write something new. The fact that yours are love letters is endearing and we love that! We then asked her who her biggest writing influences were.

Her response: “Haruki Murakami is someone I admire and consider his work as comfort reading. I think the way he makes me feel like I’m eavesdropping on his characters in their more somber moments influences what I hope my writing to feel like – intimate and gentle.”

Making a reader feel connected to the characters you create is a great accomplishment and goal! Finally, we asked her what comes to mind when she hears the phrase “the good life.”

Her response: The good life is one where we feel at peace with who we are.

Thank you, Alex, for sharing your “love letter” with us and taking the time to answer our questions. We wish you the best with all your writing endeavors.

Cheers,
~The Good Life Review Team