Laura Jensen of the recently published non-fiction piece, "The Moth", discusses her writing process with Roisin Sheerin.
There is something so ordered and slightly sinister about the eight doors in the apartment, each with its own key that sticks out unused, but the kitchen door is faulty, and depends on a draft to stay shut. It must be locked. What is worst apartment /house you have ever lived in?
I think I’ve been really fortunate with my living situations thus far, I haven’t had any crazy roommates or terrible landlords. I will say there are few things more humbling than trying to find a place to live in Dublin from abroad. I did find myself in a sticky situation when I first flew here. I still didn’t have a permanent place to stay and ended up subletting for a couple weeks while I apartment hunted. The person that I sublet from lied to their roommate about how they knew me, and did not disclose that I was essentially a stranger from a Girls in Dublin WhatsApp group. I was not aware of this, and told the roommate the truth, which caused a huge fight between the two of them. Weird to be sleeping in the bed of someone you unknowingly threw under the bus.
Do you always write short? Novels, short stories, poetry… do you work across different genres? Which is your favourite, or strongest suit do you think?
I’m most drawn to short stories at the moment. There’s something so invigorating and challenging about encapsulating a complete story in a few pages, or even a few hundred words. It speaks to how much nuance and substance there is to even the most simple moments in life. I am challenging myself to write longer stories, and have been enjoying it, but it’s the short story and the novella that made me fall in love with the concept of writing before I even started doing it myself.
Which writers, past and present, do you admire/may have influenced your work?
My love for the craft of writing began with reading so many modernist authors in college. Some standouts for me were Virginia Woolf, Franz Kafka, and Zora Neale Hurston – all brilliant and memorable storytellers. I fell in love with Stefan Zweig’s novellas while I was living in Vienna, particularly Chess Story. Zweig created very nuanced characters and then psychoanalyzed them to bits. He captured complex emotions with such clarity.
Currently, Irish writing has my heart. I’ve been loving Frank O’Connor’s short stories – they strike such a balance between wit and sincerity. No one has a more firm grasp on my psyche than Claire Keegan. I adore both Foster and Small Things Like These. She does such an exceptional job at writing these microscopic studies of a family and community. This is what really began to inspire me to write more about my home and to be unafraid to explore that which I am so familiar with. The emotional resonance of her stories linger long after you’ve read them, which is something I think about a lot when writing.
Are you a highly disciplined writer? Have you a set routine?
I wish I could say I was! I think, being in a creative writing program right now, I have a routine through the schedule of my classes and when I need to submit. The real
challenge to stay consistent will begin once classes end, and I think this is a challenge a lot of writers face, especially when their jobs are not related to writing. One thing I have come to learn is that I write much more easily when I’m attune to the world around me. I try to live more as an observer when I’m out and about and minimize my time on social media. I also always carry a writing notebook with me now! My brain loves to think of things when I’m not in front of my laptop.
You are from the U.S. but have lived in Europe. How have residing in Vienna and Dublin affected you?
I lived in the same town my whole life before I moved to Europe. I was pretty desperate to eject myself from the only narrative I had ever lived and figure out who I was outside of it. Vienna is where I experienced my coming of age. My first apartment, first roommates, first job out of college. It gave me my independence and the headspace to really explore writing. Living in Dublin has also been incredibly self-actualizing. It’s put me in contact with so many emerging writers as well as highly experienced ones. I feel like my writing self has been coming into her own in Dublin. Living in both cities has completely shaped who I am today, and I’m so grateful for it.
What do you anticipate happening next after the M. Phil. Any definite plans? Will you go back to States?
I’m not sure if I’ll be staying in Dublin or going back to the States quite yet. Through my experience in the M. Phil, I’ve realized that I really enjoy workshopping and editing writing. There’s something so wonderful in the process of helping a piece of writing reach its potential, and to be trusted to do so. This is something I will be exploring professionally. One of my professors, Eoin McNamee, has talked about how writers are witnesses to the world around them. Regardless of what I do or where I am, I’m just happy to continue writing with everything I’ve learned in the program, and to continue witnessing.
Are current world events impacting on your brain and work to any great extent?
I would say climate change has been impacting my work the most. I find myself thinking about home even more now that I’m so far away from it. The thought of it being different when I return due to the impacts of climate change haunts me. In Nebraska, the prairie is such an important part of the culture and livelihood of the people. The death of that landscape means the death of identity as well as the death of native plants and animals. This is a topic that has found itself in a lot of my writing recently. I can’t help but think about it.
Laura Jensen
Laura Jensen is a current M.Phil. Creative Writing student at Trinity Dublin. She earned a Bachelor's in German and Secondary English Education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln before completing a Fulbright grant in Vienna.
Roisin Sheerin
Róisín has performed in a number of roles including poet, actress and comedian. Having just completed the M. Phil in Creative Writing at Trinity, and turning her writing hand to non-fiction, she is mostly appearing these days as herself.
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