Ask the Author: Laura Adamczyk

In the April issue, Laura invites us to Please Come In. She talks with us about sharing toothbrushes, finger weapons, and how she reacts to betrayal.

1. What would it take for you to use someone else’s toothbrush?

Pretty much just an absence of my own toothbrush. I’m not very squeamish about those sorts of things, so, assuming it’s a family member/friend/lover/etc., I’m cool with it. I’d rather have someone else’s mouth germs than tartar.

2. Is anticipation so much better?

Sometimes, definitely. There’s something about that feeling of not yet being satisfied. There’s energy and movement there, a movement towards the thing you don’t yet have. I find that in-between state interesting.

3. What kind of weapon do you wish your index finger and thumb to be?

I don’t know if I’d want them to be a weapon per se, but it might be cool if they could make a lighter, i.e., if the tip of my index finger made a little flame at my will. I suppose that that could be used as a weapon, but I’d probably more often use it for other things. Lighting people’s cigarettes, starting fires, etc. It wouldn’t matter if the box of camping matches got wet.

4. Have you had a moment like “Please Come In” where you want to crush your face with someone’s? Is this based on a patchwork of experiences?

I’ve definitely wanted to crush my face with someone else’s. But no, I wouldn’t say this story is from particular experiences. Occasionally there’s an action or piece of dialogue or something in my stories that might have actually happened to me or someone I know, just a little seed, and the rest is imaginative. But this one, nothing really came from an actual happening. For me it’s more a patchwork of influences. When I was done, I was afraid that I’d ripped off Cortázar and David Lynch.

5. How do you react to betrayal?

I don’t know. Betrayal is so strong, up there with treason. I don’t think I’ve ever been “betrayed.” I suppose it would depend on who/what it was, but I might forgive a person. I feel like I’ve done any number of small and large crappy things to other people that I can’t fault anyone for their own occasionally crappy behavior.

6. What song would you want playing in the background the moment the two characters have it out each other?

Ooh, good question. I could spend weeks thinking about this. But…I’d imagine something dark and guitar-y. Maybe “She’s Lost Control” by Joy Division—even if it’s not really the she losing control here. I like the mood of that song.