Tim Jones-Yelvington on Writing About Sex Through the Affect of Language
In Conversation with Alex Higley and Lindsay Hunter on I'm a Writer But
Welcome to I’m a Writer But, where two writers-and talk to other writers-and about their work, their lives, their other work, the stuff that takes up any free time they have, all the stuff they’re not able to get to, and the ways in which any of us get anything done. Plus: book recommendations, bad jokes, okay jokes, despair, joy, and anything else we’ve got going on that week. Hosted by Lindsay Hunter and Alex Higley.
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In this episode, Tim Jones-Yelvington (Don’t Make Me Do Something We’ll Both Regret) talks to us about their new book, writing about sex, working toward accessing a more traditional narrative form, their work in social movement contribution, the influence of pop culture, their favorite camp authors, and more!
From the episode:
The type of sex or eroticized writing that I appreciate most is when there is some real heat, and I think for me to get there I don’t write it experientially, in terms of thinking about an actual encounter. I have to do something with language, where it’s like the affect of language—a poet may approach it with sound, for example. I’ll find some kind of text-generating tool, or something to get some language to play or work with that I can then charge through how it’s used.
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Tim Jones-Yelvington is the author of the fiction volumes Don’t Make Me Do Something We’ll Both Regret (Texas Review Press), This is a Dance Movie! (Tiny Hardcore Press), Strike a Prose: Memoirs of a Lit Diva Extraordinaire (co•im•press), and Evan’s House and the Other Boys Who Live There (Rose Metal Press), and the poetry volumes Become on Yr Face (DIAGRAM/New Michigan Press) and Colton Behavioral Therapy (Gazing Grain Press).
