Most Important Sound of a Rising Author

I got a chance to interview T.Z. Wallace over on my writing blog--check out the full interview there. Meanwhile, here are a wordsmith's most important sounds!

Petre Pan: What is the most important sound in the world--if you had to sum up the entire world in one sound, what would that sound be?   

T.Z.: The sound of the word “mom.”  That sound encompasses childlike innocence and uncertainty and fear and hope and desperation and promise.  It is the sound that calls to me in the night and rouses me from the warmth and safety of my bed.  It is the sound that calls forth everything fearless and primal in me.

Petre Pan: What sound would describe your writing style?  

 T.Z.: The sound, “Ahh!”  I try to craft my stories so that the readers get to piece things together and have moments of discovery and excitement.  Things that may have initially seemed unimportant may have a larger meaning; I love the idea of readers scrutinizing words and phrases, places and things to try to determine whether they serve a greater purpose in the story.  I have read books like that…where I was “rewarded” for remembering a detail, some minutia, and I always felt like the author and I shared a secret.  I love that feeling and I want to give that to my readers.

= ) Keep searching for sounds.

A book editor's Most Important Sound

On the outside, she has short brown 20s bob, and walks with a little bend. Her glasses have a strong, trendy look, and she dresses in clothes that can only be described as always absolutely appropriate. Her words have a metaphysical flavor, and they roll off her tongue with precise, elaborate diction and creative metaphors. She looks and talks exactly how I expect a book editor ought--and well she might, for she works at one of the oldest political publication agencies in the country.

She told me, as she leaned on the wall separating my doorless office from the general hallway, that she categorizes the world in colors. Decades have colors--dark brown is always a bad thing, and light blue is a good thing. The 20s and 60s have dark browns. The 1780s have a sky-blue.

I asked her what color F sharp was. She said a brown or grey. But see, for things other than decades, that is not a bad thing.

Then I asked what she thought was the most important sound in the world.

"Waves on a beach," she said immediately. "That is just the most beautiful sound in the world."

To her, important means beautiful, and important means dreams.

She told me she would like to have a home on a bluff overlooking the sea, and hear those waves all day long.

"Oh, yes, I know exactly what you mean!" I said. "I can see like fields of heather on top!"

"And sitting all alone, can you see my little cottage?"

"Oh yes I can!"

Can you?