A Chat with Jess Mize


Jess Mize
is a blonde-haired surfer girl from South Carolina. Her favourite author is Stephen King. Vampire Weekend three albums in stores now.

 

Crab Fat: How did you first begin writing?
Jess: I began writing when I was seventeen. Up until that point, I hadn’t paid much attention to books or writing. By chance, I came across a copy of Les Illuminations by the French poet Rimbaud. My eyes were really opened to the images and ideas that could be created with words.

CF: Which do you prefer, poetry or prose? Why?
Jess: I prefer poetry for its ability to have so much power contained in such a small space. Nothing against novels, essays, and plays, because I love those, but a great poem can convey what they do in a single page.

 

CF: Are there any writers or works that have influenced your own writing?
Jess: I try to learn from everything I read. Whether its style, point of view, vocabulary. I can remember reading Save Me The Waltz by Zelda Fitzgerald for the first time and being mesmerized by her metaphors; her descriptions of flowers would leap off the page. So that was a big influence in terms of inspiration.

 

CF: Many of your pieces contain mentions of water, and the first sentence of your bio is “Jess Mize is a blonde-haired surfer girl from South Carolina.” Has surfing influenced your writing in any way?
Jess: I wouldn’t say surfing, in particular, has influenced my writing, but anything like that where you can clear your mind, have time to yourself, will probably open up avenues of thought and creativity that wouldn’t be there without such a release.

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