In conversation with – Rachel Rodman

Where do you look for inspiration?

Everywhere. 

But I especially like to begin with classic stories. 

Existing texts can be modified in many ways: by altering a key word, for example, by telling the original version backwards, or by attempting to prove a premise that is opposite the original’s.

To create this story (He Always Lied, I Always Told the Truth. And Then We Fell in Hate, published in Roots, Issue 1 of Temple in a City literary journal), I began with a famous logic puzzle. At an unlabelled crossroads, a traveller is permitted to ask only one question. One of the crossroads’ guardians—though the traveller doesn’t know which—always tells the truth. The other always lies. 

To complete the story, I retained the puzzle’s setting but changed its purpose. In my version, love conquers all, while the traveller’s question is no longer important.

These kinds of creative techniques are inexhaustible. Countless original stories/poems/songs/logical puzzles exist, and each may be productively modified through small or large changes: by reimagining the story from a new point of view, by altering the characters’ personalities, or by introducing elements from unrelated stories/poems/songs/logical puzzles.

Anything can be changed, and every change has the potential to result in original fiction.

Is there a kind of writing you’d like to see more of?

Stories with multiple authors. 

I belong to a music-inspired writing ensemble—a “creative writing quartet.” Our performances are divided into multiple “movements.” During early movements, we respond to paired prompts: a poem + a painting, for example, or a novel excerpt + a photograph. During later movements, we extend, transform, and hybridize the work that other performers composed during earlier movements. 

Over a year and half, we’ve generated more than 45,000 words together. Recently, we’ve changed our focus a little. Instead of purely composing new material, we’ve also begun to shape and polish existing material, with the aim of creating publishable fiction. And it’s working. Our first four-author publication will appear in a literary magazine this summer. 

Through these kinds of collaborations, writers can extend their capacity many-fold. They can write in many styles and in many voices. They can draw from more experiences—both in writing and in life. Together, they can compose work that is richer, deeper, and fundamentally more interesting than any one quartet member could create alone.

Everyone should be doing this.