Troy James Weaver: The TNB Self-Interview

This is kind of weird, isn’t it?

What? The whole interview with yourself thing? Nah, it’s butter.

I think it’s kind of weird. But I’ll give it a shot. Tell me, why the misspelling in the title of your book?

Misspelling? There’s a misspelling?

Yeah, Witchita Stories. Shouldn’t it be Wichita Stories?

Oh, yeah, I see what you’re saying. But no, it should just be plain old Witchita Stories.

Can you please explain the reasoning behind that for me?

Well, I’ve seen it misspelled like that before and Wichita is a city most people have never been to or hardly care about…so, I guess it’s kind of like a shout-out to all those people. I’m embracing it, the fact people don’t come here, but also I’m embracing the fact that they probably should, because it is a great city.

Also, since it is fiction, mostly, I wanted to create a sense of disturbance between the real and the fake. Though I hardly think you’ll even know the difference.

I know what you mean. What’s your book about? Why should people read it?

Well, it’s a lot like a self-interview. Except, see, it’s not a self-interview, it’s a book. I wanted to write a book that felt like a diary, something intimate, but also universal. I wanted to write a book that would create a dialogue, some kind of exchange where by the end of it the reader would start talking back to the book, telling the book about their lives, and feeling good about it all.

Do you think you succeeded?

Do you think you succeeded?

This interview isn’t about me.

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TROY JAMES WEAVER lives in Wichita, Kansas with his wife and their dog. His work has appeared in Hobart, Everyday Genius, Heavy Feather Review, Atticus Review, and elsewhere. He’s the author of two books, Visions (Broken River Books) and Witchita Stories (Future Tense Books).