Richard Risemberg is an accomplished writer living in Los Angeles who has contributed to Blog Hoarder's anthology book "Fiction Junkie Volume 1" with his short story "The Finn Girl or Woman."
Love is a battlefield in this story of love and friendship.
"The Finn Girl or Woman" takes attraction to the forefront and destiny in mind as three friends vie for the heart of one.
You never know what will happen when you put yourself out there but one thing is for sure, love conquers all.
Where were you born and where do you live now?
I was born in Córdoba, Argentina, and in fact my father was college pals with Che Guevara. I have lived since then in Los Angeles, though I did spend half a year in Paris in the Eighties.
Does your city or town influence your writing?
You bet it does. Much of my work is set in LA or the surrounding towns and wildlands. There are vast tensions between the natural and human worlds here, as well as between social classes, which all comes out in my work.
How long have you been writing for?
I've been writing since I was seventeen, fifty years now, but did not market my work seriously till a few years ago. I've published poetry, essays, and articles for decades, and nearly fifty stories in edited journals since 2017.
What is your favourite story that you have written?
Depends what week you ask me. Right now I'd say "Fade to Gray," published in Bangalore in June of 2019.
Who is your favourite author?
Again, that depends what week you ask me. Hemingway's short stories are the works I return to most often.
Who is your favourite character that you didn't create?
Jude Hawley, from Hardy's "Jude the Obscure."
What is more important to you, a story's plot or its characters?
Characters.
If you could live in any time period, which would you choose?
There has been no Golden Age. Anytime after the Enlightenment is fine, though I'm glad I wasn't in Central Europe in the 1930s.
Do you believe in an afterlife why or why not?
No. Don't see that there's any vehicle for souls besides our own flesh and blood. Everything seems to be resonances of atomic forces; maybe our personal nuclear music will continue after the box dissolves, maybe not. We'll find out. (Or not.)
Are we alone in the universe?
Probably not, but we seem to be alone in our solar system.
Who is your favourite historical figure?
Usually Gandhi.
Where do you write and how often?
In the second bedroom of our apartment, at an old steel desk, starting around 05:30 hours. But anywhere it's relatively quiet works for me.
Do you read more than you write or write more than you read?
I read far more than I write. I am an obsessive reader. Classics to contemporary, in three languages. I used to read the milk cartons and cereal boxes while I ate breakfast as a kid. I am a reader first.
What is the best writing advice you ever received and what is the best advice you could give?
Best received: minimize use of articles and adverbs.
Best I can give: write at least five days a week; never show anyone
your first drafts; read your work back to yourself out loud when in doubt.
How often do you get writer's block and how do you overcome it?
Never happens, thanks to following Hemingways' advice to write just one true simple sentence, and go from there.
What is something that nobody knows about you?
That I'm actually quite shy, despite my facility with presentations and readings. (There's a few other things, but sorry, it's best that you not
know them either.)
Follow Richard
Read Richard's story "The Finn Girl, or Woman" in Blog Hoarder's
"Fiction Junkie Volume 1."