Interview with an Author: Dr. Amy L. Montz

Our May guest author is Dr. Amy Montz.

Amy L. Montz is Associate Professor of English at the University of Southern Indiana, where she teaching 18th-19th-century British literature, young adult literature, and teaching methods. Her research interests include British literature, young adult literature, and material culture, especially fashion.

Tell us a little about your specialty studies.

I’m lucky in that I work at a school that accepts the two fields I specialize in, 18th-19th-century British literature and young adult literature. What ties my interests in both fields is material culture.

I write a lot about the body, and fashion, and textiles, and other sorts of items.

I write a lot about the body, and fashion, and textiles, and other sorts of items. For example, in my forthcoming edited collection ADAPTATION IN YOUNG ADULT NOVELS: CRITICALLY ENGAGING PAST AND PRESENT (Bloomsbury 2020), my essay is on the materiality of 19th-century New York City and its presence in contemporary young adult novels.

I’m in the early stages of working on an article about rewrites of Jane Austen and her fiction as mysteries, and I’m also awaiting publication of an article on Austen and panoptic social media in YA. I play in a few sandboxes, and USI has always supported that.

Tell us about your writing journey. Have you always wanted to be a writer?

Yes, Lord yes. Ever since I was a kid and I figured out that people wrote books, that’s what I wanted to do. I wrote my first story on the bus in like third grade, and everyone on the bus just thought it was amazing, so that fanned the flames of my little heart. I thought I was a poet. But I was a BAD poet. It wasn’t until I wrote my first novel that I knew I had found my genre. I have elbow room in novels. Room to breathe.

I wrote my first story on the bus in like third grade, and everyone on the bus just thought it was amazing, so that fanned the flames of my little heart.

As for academic work, I’ve co-edited two volumes, published a number of book chapters and journal articles, and I’m working on a monograph right now (DRESSING FOR ENGLAND: FASHION AND NATIONALISM IN VICTORIAN NOVELS). It’s based on my dissertation (2008) but completely gutted and rewritten because my writing voice is so different now.

Where did the idea for your edited collection Female Rebellion in Young Adult Fictioncome from?

Well, there were three of us who just got to talking about The Hunger Games and dystopian texts, and we all had something we wanted to say. We thought other people might as well, so we solicited abstracts and received over 60. It was hard culling that to a book-length project. We co-authored the intro, edited the book and chapters, and each wrote a chapter. Mine was on fashion and dystopian literature.

Are there other books you’ve authored or collaborated on? If so, can you tell us a little about them?

See above re: ADAPTATION. That comes out I think in August. We just got our (final?) proofs and those are due May 15, so I have to get started on them! Lol. Also, I had sabbatical this past semester (which has been hard, given the pandemic) and through the summer to work on DRESSING FOR ENGLAND.

What makes ADAPTATION unique is that we’re the only adaptation collection thus far that focuses solely on young adult.

ADAPTATION is edited with Dr. Dana E. Lawrence, a colleague and friend of mine from graduate school. We started the conversation about literary tourism, because she works on Shakespeare tourism and I published an essay on literary tourism with Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell (Gaskell Studies I think 2016. I’d have to check my CV). We put together a panel for Children’s Literature Conference on Adaptation, solicited abstracts, proposed to presses, and signed a contract with Bloomsbury. What makes the project unique is that we’re the only adaptation collection thus far that focuses solely on young adult.

DRESSING FOR ENGLAND is a rewrite of my dissertation, which will now include three brand-new chapters and a complete rehaul of the other chapters. My argument is that the Victorian era is uniquely situated for women because of the fight for the vote, as well as the push for women’s rights. I argue that women used fashion to align with nationalism, or reject nationalism, at a time the nation would deny them a voice or a vote. Chapters include work on texts by Gaskell, Thackeray, C. Bronte, George Eliot, and my conclusion is on royal wedding gowns.

Then, there are my unpublished novels. I have an agent, we’ve tried three novels in three different genres, and nothing thus far.

How does the process of collaboration work between multiple editors? How does it differ from working on a piece of your own?

It’s harder, I think, for two reasons: one, you are not the only one making the decisions. For example, for the dystopian collection, there was an essay I loved that no one else could get to work. It’s hard making decisions as a group (three especially).

It’s *fun* working with people. It’s exciting, and you have cheerleaders the entire way.

Also, when you write together, you have to form a collective voice. A part I wrote for the intro was removed because it was too much in my voice, and not in the collective voice.

But it’s *fun* working with people. It’s exciting, and you have cheerleaders the entire way.

Describe your biggest writing obstacle and how you overcame it.

Right now? Covid-19 pandemic, because my work feels so tiny and insignificant when people are dying and being kept from their families. I had a deep depression last month when I had to leave my research trip in England a week early to come home because of self-isolation. I was in quarantine for two weeks, and everything I worked on felt ridiculous. I’m just now slowly coming out of that.

How do you balance teaching and writing?

There’s only one real way to do that, and that’s to give yourself permission to set limits. Teaching will eat up as much time as you let it, so I have writing days when I do no teaching work (no grading). But you also have to be flexible. There are no big chunks of time to write anymore, like I used to in grad school (or now, on the sabbatical I guess). I’ve trained myself out of that.

Teaching isn’t the real problem for time, it’s service.

In grad school, you had the luxury of say, 4-5 hours of time where you could sit and write. Now, I give myself 30-minute chunks. I bought a timer and that helps enormously. If you can write almost every day for 30 minutes, that’s a good deal.

But teaching isn’t the real problem for time, it’s service. The higher you get in your career, the more people need you. Emails, phone calls, people dropping by your office, it’s hard. I try to always have Fridays off, and stay home. No meetings, no teaching, etc. I also use Wednesday mornings for writing.

Since you teach classes about teaching English, where, if any, do you see intersections between your teaching and your writing?

I think allowing for time for yourself is so important, and I stress that to my teaching majors. I tell them to set limits. For example, I decide, before I start grading, depending on class and need, how many comments I’ll make on a project. Usually for a composition class, it’s five.

I think allowing for time for yourself is so important, and I stress that to my teaching majors. I tell them to set limits.

I no longer do in-text commentary, as so many studies have proven students are intimidated by lots of commentary. So I give them five actionable items with corresponding places on their paper (i.e. “on page three, paragraph 1, you state…”)

What is the part of the book (or process) you are most proud of?

Oh, none of it! I’m frightfully self-conscious about my projects and refuse to read my work once it’s published. I mean, the part I’m always happiest about is getting the cover. But proofs and proofreading are hard, and it’s tough to do. I’m always proud of my colleagues I work with though.

Do you have plans for another book or additional published writing in the future?

See above. Also, I’m working on a new novel, a Steampunk-inspired Victorian epic.

You also right creatively. How does your creative writing process differ from your academic work?

It doesn’t! I give myself permission to be sloppy, which is counter to my diagnosed OCD. I will organize pens by color, type, and how much I like them, but when I write, I’m sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.

I don’t outline for either one, but do lots of research and sketch writing, and fill in holes later.

That freed me so much when I started it 15 years ago, about the time I started dissertating and writing my first novels. I don’t outline for either one, but do lots of research and sketch writing, and fill in holes later. I’m also very chatty in my writing, so I have a strong narrative voice in both.

Do you have trouble separating your creative writing from your academic work? How do you organize and process that separation or does it all fall under the same umbrella of writing?

It’s all writing. All of it. Don’t think about it separately. The same rules apply: you want someone to read it, at the end of the day.

It’s all writing. All of it. Don’t think about it separately.

Make it interesting. Make it well-written. Don’t use awkward academese or language or jargon. Be clear, be concise, be interesting.

At the end of the day, is there a type of writing you generally prefer or is more “fun” for you? Tell us a little about it.

I just love it. Period. I mean, it’s hard when you’re on a deadline, but I get to do this for a living. Are you kidding me?? How amazing is that??

What do you want the world to know about you as an author?

That authors suffer from raging egotism coupled with crippling anxiety. I’m a nervous wreck about putting my work out there.

Authors suffer from raging egotism coupled with crippling anxiety.

Impostor syndrome is rampant. But I love what I do, and I hope that comes through in the work.

What is the biggest piece of advice you would give to aspiring writers?

Write. Every day. Every moment you have free time, write.

Read everything you can get your hands on. All genres. All voices.

Write what you love, not what you think will sell.