Written in partnership with Kody Boye
Image credit: Leonce Gaiter
Author of well-received fiction (including Bourbon Street) and non-fiction (Whites Shackled Themselves to Race), Leonce Gaiter has written six books total and continues to write his own way.
Struggles of the Writing and Publishing Process
Gaiter believes that writing would be a lot simpler if he had a defined process. He starts with a broad idea of what he wants to write about. Then he has to sit on that like a hen on an egg for months or years to figure out how to approach the subject in a compelling fashion. Eventually, “I start writing and it sucks, so I start again. It sucks. I start again.”
To put it in perspective, Gaiter began A Memory of Fictions over 20 years ago. It was less disciplined then, but essentially the same book, and it was turned down by half the editors in New York. Gaiter is a black writer who does not write all-black worlds. Instead, he tends to write characters—black and white—who desperately seek to upend the world. Unfortunately, as Gaiter says, “There just ain’t a niche for that.” Since he writes about the often-harrowing tension of black folks living in white worlds, he doesn’t offer up white saviors. He tends more towards the black anti-hero or outright villain than the plain-old hero. Though he finds his work distinctive, the process can be brutal sometimes.
Where the Ideas Come From
Fascinated by forms and genres, Gaiter writes material that’s all over the place. For instance, I Am the Whore and the Holy One is his take on the thriller (while re-writing The New Testament in the process). I Dreamt I Was in Heaven is a western. He loves having to adapt his style and prose to the subject. Perhaps that’s due to years of working in marketing, where you write to serve the material, as opposed to adapting the material to fit your style.
A Memory of Fictions is based on aspects of Gaiter’s life. Per Gaiter, it’s “one-third truth, probably one-third lies I conveniently tell myself, and one-third stuff I made up.” His parents are from Louisiana, and he’s always perceived their worlds and backgrounds as Grand Guignol southern gothic. He wanted to present that half-hallucinatory sense of being surrounded by things utterly foreign to one’s being.
Rural Life
He has horses, a bit of acreage, and a full-time job. Between the three, he lives in a constant state of mild exhaustion. He was raised a pure city rat, and the idea that he now lives in a rural area with horses is one of life’s blazing ironies. He blames his partner for having opened his eyes to the more manual aspects of living on Earth. But he turned him on to jazz, so he figures they’re even.
You can find A Memory of Fictions (or) Just Tiddy-Boom on Amazon and further information about Leonce Gaiter on his website.
Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.