A Series of Small Maneuvers by Eliot Treichel

Why write fiction for young adults? What care and complexities are required in writing for a young audience, especially with such a serious theme?ĮT: Why not write fiction for young adults? Young adults need good fiction, too. HB: A Series of Small Maneuvers is a young adult novel about 15-year-old Emma who loses her father in a canoeing accident. These are the men I grew up around and later worked with, but I’m also no stranger to failure and loneliness myself. How were you able to capture loneliness and hardship among a demographic of small-town folk who are often resilient and proud of where they come from?ĮT: I guess it goes back to my last answer. HB: Close is Fine is also very male-oriented: the stories share details about characters who work in traditionally male professions, who have marital issues, who have relationships with their sons, who are no strangers to failure. It’s me trying to explain to the world how precious that place is to me. Close Is Fine is a love song, albeit it a kind of sad one, to the place I came from. If you’ve read the collection, you know these details are all major elements of the book. And one time, while I was driving around on the back roads up there, I swear I saw a life-size fake cannon made out of discarded wooden cable spools that was displayed in front of some guy’s trailer home. Later, I also spent a lot of time at this classic northwoods bar where the owner’s father had apparently trained the bear who would become Gentle Ben. How did growing up in northern Wisconsin affect your vision for these stories?ĮT: Well, when I was about nineteen, I actually lived in a farmhouse way out in the middle of some potato fields, and one of my roommates was this somewhat sketchy older dude who ended up getting sent back to jail for violating his parole, and the whole thing turned very surreal very quickly. HB: Your collection of short stories, Close is Fine, tackles what it means to live the simple life in a rural, blue-collar town. I’ve now been in Oregon for fifteen years, but I still consider Wisconsin my home. Later, I moved north to a little town called Langlade, Wisconsin, which consisted of a four-way stop sign, a tavern, a gas station, and a ten-room motel. Hannah Bates: What’s your connection to the Midwest?Įliot Treichel: I grew up near Appleton, Wisconsin, along the Fox River.

MG staffer Hannah Bates talked with author Eliot Treichel about his new YA novel A Series of Small Maneuvers, Pinterest, high school writing workshops, and more.

A Series of Small Maneuvers by Eliot Treichel