An interview with Julie Ann Shapiro

by Annmarie Edwards


Who is Julie Ann Shapiro?




I am a freelance writer, novelist and short story author known for my magic realism style prose. I live by the beach and find many a story idea from found objects on the ground.

I have completed two novels; the first is Jen-Zen and the One Shoe Diaries, published by SynergEbooks.com. My second novel, Three Drop Pennies was recently a semifinalist in Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Contest.


I am a Pushcart Nominee and a recurring flash fiction workshop leader at the Southern California Writers Conference. These days I divide my writing time between flash fiction and longer stories.

How long have you been writing?

I’ve been writing in one form or another all my life. One of my earliest stories…the lady bug, which I shared above, I recently re-discovered in my parents garage. As a teenager and after college I dabbled in poetry. Over the past ten years, I’ve focused on fiction. It began first with short stories, novels and lately it’s an exploration of both mediums.

What was the inspiration for Jen-Zen and the One Shoe Diaries?


In Southern California I noticed flip-flops and running shoes left on the beach, the freeways, construction sites and parking lots and felt this uncanny urge propelling me to write about them. Why singular shoes I kept asking myself? Is it a Cinderella complex? Is this a poem I should write or a short story? I wrote them all featuring singular shoes and then one pivotal day I remembered a time as a teenager when my friends and I had been goofing around with a Ouija board and a shoe moved by itself. It was this big aha moment! Of course, the shoes are haunted. Why didn’t I see it before? And that’s when I found Brad, my main character, the photographer who chronicled the shoes in the wake of his girlfriend’s uncertain death. In the singular shoes he saw, Jen-Zen, the eternal soul mate and relived their love affair in search of answers as to why she died.


He snapped pictures of the shoes and tried to say goodbye and get on with his life, but he couldn’t for the very shoes started to tell him something. When outsiders called his photographic odyssey nuts and others wanted to capitalize on it Brad believed most of all in his gut instinct and his intuition telling him…there’s a message in the shoes…just believe…believe in yourself.


The story is told through magic realism. Tell our readers what that is, and why you chose that tone.

I think of it as reality that is slightly bent as opposed to science fiction, which is completely bent. It’s a certain subtleness where the out of the ordinary intersects with every day life. In my writing, it's often a surreal landscape where the question of what is a dream and what is reality blur. Along those lines, it can be a place where the intangible becomes tangible, whether it's a ghost or a flower, vegetable or a beverage bottle talking.
How did your extensive experience writing flash fiction play a role in writing Jen-Zen?


I wrote Jen-Zen and the One Shoe Diaries nearly five years ago. Towards the end of the revision cycle I had all sorts of other story ideas. I was getting antsy wanted to play with other themes. I was concerned that if I explored them too much that the novel wouldn’t get finished. So I sort of it made it a game that if I could write a story in a couple of hours then I’d go for it, and afterwards then I’d get back to the novel draft.

I became absolutely hooked with flash fiction with my second novel, Three Drop Pennies. In fact with that one and even now I divide my time between new flash stories and longer stories. I know that I need the balance of both to keep me creatively charged.


You have several publishing credits for short stories and creative nonfiction. When did you decide to write a full-length novel?

My novel, Jen-Zen and the One Shoe Diaries began first as a poem that later grew into what I thought would be an interconnected short story series. After about 20,000 words it was clear to me that I had a novel in the making. Fifteen drafts later the novel emerged.


How different was it to write a novel compared to the short stories?


Short stories have definite beginnings, middles and endings. You can run wild with a story idea or a tangent and it can still be contained within the world of the short story. You do that in a novel and all those wild leaps of the imagination have to find a way to connect with the plot line. It’s easier to see the end of a story in short form than it is with a longer story. Novels are often multiple stories within stories, so it’s much more complex to navigate the various plots and twists.

Writing new stories can be more fun at times than revising a novel. I’ve found that creating flash stories on the side breathes life into a longer body of work by freeing up the creative energy.

Which do you prefer: short or long fiction?


It really depends on the stage of a project. When I’m in the early drafts of a novel I’m super excited. I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen to the characters and to go on their journey. It’s like reading a good book. I get that hooked. It’s all consuming.

I like both the long and short form and find each is as exciting as the other just in different ways. What I love the most about short fiction is that I can experiment more with language and take bigger leaps of the imagination. With a novel all the wild flights of the imagination have to be resolved within the plot…this can be pretty challenging at times.

Many people who are aspiring writers are overwhelmed by simply trying to find the right places to send their work. What formula works for you? How do you find those publications?

I regularly look at magazines featured on duotrope.com, http://www.laurahird.com/litmagcentral.html and a yahoo group listing with the acronym something like, CRWWWPs. Once I find a magazine that sounds interesting I’ll read the stories. If I’m pressed for time I’ll read the hooks and get a sense of the magazine’s style. Other times I’ll hear about the magazine from writer colleagues in various online forums.

Who is your greatest champion?


I’m thankful that I have supportive family and friends. I’m also working with a marketing guy who is super supportive as well.

What do you do when you are not typing away on your latest prose?

I exercise…beach walks, yoga, tai chi. I alternate between reading short stories and novels and socializing.

What is the strangest event in your life that ended up in a work of fiction?

I love writing about oddball things I see. The strangest thing I saw that inspired a weird section of a story is a manikin’s head. It sat on a dumpster. I wrote about it in a short story and later worked it into my third novel.

What was your FAV childhood tome?
A Wrinkle in Time.

Who are you reading?
I am reading a nonfiction book, Words that Work by Dr. Frank Luntz. It’s a fascinating look at the use of language in politics and work.

I’m also reading Michael Chabon’s Mystery of Pittsburgh. It’s one of his early works and is a coming of age story.

What is next for Julie Ann Shapiro?

I’m working on various flash fiction stories and a story collection involving ghosts and mermaids.

Julie's Publishing credits

Published Short Stories/Essays

San Diego Union Tribune, North County Times, Los Angeles Journal, Pindeldyboz, Sacred Waters/Fire: (Adams Media 2005), Story South, Word Riot, Opium Magazine, Insolent Rudder, Cezzane’s Carrots, Mad Hatters Review, Ghoti Magazine, Spoiled Ink, Void, Elimae, Footsteps to Oxford, Salome, Skive, The 2nd Hand, Millennium Shift, Mega Era Magazine, Science Fiction and Fantasy World, Green Tricycle, Long Story Short, Storyglossia, Static Movement, Bewildering Times, Somewhat, Uber, Moon Dance, The Quarterly Staple, Journal of Modern Post, Rumble, Long Story Short, Cellar Door Magazine (Spring and Summer Issues 2005), Edifice Wrecked, Espresso Fiction, Flash Fiction – Coffee Cup Series Issue I & II, Red, Neon, Steel Moon Publishing, ISM Quarterly and other magazines.

Where can readers find you on the Web?
http://www.julieannshapiro.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Julie-Ann-Shapiro/6708563066
Visit http://www.julieannshapiro.com/publications.html for a more complete list of publishing credits.