Interview with Emily Ver Steeg by Sambidha Bhandari
Hello Readers, buckle up as I take you on a Potter express journey introducing Professor Emily Ver Steeg who shares similar love as a Potterhead, a reader and an explorer. Her current favorites are writing her novel, learning a new language, reading Russian literature in English and knitting pairs of socks and sweaters.
If I was a stranger that you met at a bookstore, how would you introduce yourself with 3 adjectives?
Haha! If you were a stranger, I would probably not introduce myself to you but since you asked, the three adjectives would be reserved for sure, quietly opinionated and kind.
2. What was a dream that you had when you were growing up in the suburbs?
I grew up in the South in the suburbs of Atlanta and it has helped me form a view of myself and the world around me. I moved to New York to escape the South. It was not because I did not like it but because I knew in order to be a well-rounded person I needed to take a small leap and surround myself in a different environment and people.
3. How did you find yourself writing and how would you identify yourself as a writer?
For as long as I can remember I have dreamt of being a writer. It's a dream I always had but something that I sort of tried not to have. I know it's confusing, but I explain it this way, I am a writer because I have to be and not necessarily because I want to be. Because it is hard to be a writer and also, I have no dreams of ever being the person who gets paid to do the kind of writing that I want to do. It's something I want to do because of how much value it has. Two things that primarily define my identity as a writer and a writer of faith. My form of writing connects to my faith and the things I write about, my perspective and the world.
4. In college what did you major in? And what do you specialize in?
I knew I wanted to write and wanted to become a fiction writer when I was kid. Then when in college I thought it is not a realistic dream to have so I moved my major to Journalism and French. And I felt like I was only doing this major because it seemed impractical. Later I realized what I need to do is not something based on what is practical and impractical rather what is valuable and worth it.
As a French major, I really enjoyed learning in school and wanted to continue that. I also enjoyed learning about the literature and the culture. But since I live in New York my French skills have been helpful plus the flexibility that comes with it.
For my master’s degree, I did creative writing with focus on fiction.
5. If not in New York, where would you settle?
That’s a good question. If not, New York I would want to live somewhere rural, maybe move back to the south or maybe somewhere in upstate New York. If not, I would like to settle in a small town where driving is not necessary to get around. I am between the extremes, either New York or the middle of nowhere. I am not a West-Coast person, but rather an East-Coast person.
6. Since you have been in New York for a while now, what is your go to snack at a deli?
In the neighborhood that I live in, the delis are not big. It is mostly taquerias, so I always like to get a birria taco from Taco El Bronco, the taco truck. Or I get an al pastor taco. I am a taco without cheese person in New York. However, in the south where I grew up we have melted cheese and so I have a soft spot in my heart with anything tortilla smothered in melted cheese.
7. If you had a superpower, what would it be?
This is going to make me seem like a lame millennial, but the ability to apparate from the Harry Potter books so that I can be in one place and then another. With a single magic spell, poof! And I am in another place. I am a millennial who is obsessed with Harry Potter. (Aren't we all!)
8. If you could ever go back in time, what era would you like to go to?
That is really tough because I am someone who always says I am glad to be born when I was, mainly because women have more rights now than in the past. And if I was born in the past, I would have a completely different life plus the mortality rate was high. So, I would not necessarily like to be in the past. But on another thought, I would like to go to a time where there were no cars or suburbs to see how it would be to live in a time like that. The time where there is no sprawling of development, and everything is inside the town.
9. What is your favorite literature book and why?
That is tough because I usually give top five but one that is really close to my heart is Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson and she is coming out with another book soon. I am planning to go and see her this time when she is here in New York. Housekeeping is a book about two girls whose mother dies and are raised by their aunt. There is huge generational trauma in the story, affecting the newer generation. The things that fascinate me about Marilynne Robinson is the way of her writing and creative mind. She is more opinionated than me and I agree with her on some significant things.
10. I heard a podcast where you narrated the story “Shelter.” What are major tips you would give us on writing a fictional story?
Do not limit yourself when it comes to writing. There is this idea on what constitutes realistic fiction with people and scenarios, and I do not think this is true. I believe good literature can be funny, exciting and accessible, it can be about things that do not dwell on reality, it can have supernatural, magical and mystical hints in it. My advice would be to write, just write and do not think about if people would like it or if it is interesting, and do not put a goal story on your mind as you write. Keep the flow and do not make it significant or symbolic, just make it interesting. Morals or themes of stories will inherently be as you make it interesting, and you do not need to force it. Writing fiction is worth it even if no one reads it.
11. As an ACES tutor, how were you impacted by the various students with different backgrounds? Did it change perspectives in your mind?
I have a beef with the suburbs because they tend to flatten the American experience into one. Not just being in the ACES but in New York as well has helped me interact with so many different people and hear experiences which are so valuable. These interactions make us have more value and sympathy towards each other and it makes it hard to be negative to anyone. It has given me more empathy rather than making sweeping assumptions based on what things have to look like or that way. Everyone says this, but we are in a moment where we are politically divided, or religiously, and I think it is because we do not talk to each other face to face and just online. So just meeting each other here changed my perspective. And I love doing my job here at ACES because it has helped me understand, as a French speaker, the difficulties in learning another language. Another plus point is that I can talk to students about subjects that I am interested in a way that I cannot write about inside my fiction world.
12. If you do not mind me asking, I noticed that you have a website where you wrote a particular post by quote that you wanted to stop writing because of the pressure in writing. Were you scared as a writer or challenged yourself to achieve higher?
The internet is a very strange place, and everyone wants to consume or prove their worth. I did not like playing into the concept of consumption and my blog was not just for people to consume for entertainment. Writing my blog slowly made small changes in my life such as me thinking what should I do next, how will I write about this in the blog. And this thought was disgusting to me because it made me realize people only read to consume the entertainment that came with a blog. Since I did not like consuming entertainment from others' content, I came to a conclusion that I do not want people to do the same with my content. I did not have the energy to keep up with the blogs and frequent posting with the blog. I was also scared to put my life outside and even my faith hoping that it was not wrong. As writers we have to think about how one might give the wrong impression on something, or one says something false or ignorant. And to write for the sake of writing and posting is not something that I value. This is why I stopped writing in the non-fiction world. On the brighter side this also helped me focus on working on my fiction novel which is a slower process than writing blogs every week and this made me achieve higher.
13. What is a message you’d like to pass for anyone who reads this again?
The one thing that keeps me up at night, are the trends I see as a teacher is critical thinking on students. This is our fault, millennials' fault on accepting the internet without asking valuable questions on if this is important, is it healthy or hurting us? It takes being an adult to think about how important critical skills are. To anyone reading this, develop the skill of critical thinking because in this new world of AI we need to distinguish between what is true from what is not true and also what is good, what is better, or what is the best?