Rebecca Crandall is one of Undergraduates for Publishing and Wilde Press’ latest authors. In her debut novella World From Jar, to be released on December 9, 2014, Crandall creates a fantasy world that puts a twist on elements found in some favorite fairytales: with fairy-like flits animating wooden puppets into children.
Name: Rebecca Crandall
Age: 19
Hometown: Greenwood Lake, NY
Year: 2017
Major: BFA Writing, Literature and Publishing
Hobbies: Reading, baking, walking, video games, cosplaying
Guilty pleasure movie or television show: Teen Wolf
How did you come up with the idea for World From Jar?
I first came upon the idea when I was trying to figure out a story I was going to use as my workshop piece for my fiction writing class last semester. I couldn’t think of anything and I was sitting on my bed and looking around at the room, and on my roommate’s dresser there was a little necklace with a jar attached to it and inside the jar was a little ballerina. My thought was that the next thing I looked at I would write about and, well, that was the next thing I looked at.
How did you go about picking the title for your manuscript?
Originally it was just Jar. When I finished I was like, well this is told from a person inside the jar, so she’s really just observing the world. So, I said World From A Jar. It had the a in there. Then, I was talking to my roommate, she’s very quick witted and she said to take out the a because she didn’t think my character would particularly see it as a jar, but just jar because that’s all she knows.
What was your writing process like?
It was a workshop piece, so the story I ended up writing right after was not World From Jar. The next writing assignment I started working on was World From Jar. It ended up being this short story that was about fourteen pages long. It had really good reviews from my class so I thought maybe I could extend it.
Have you written other works of similar length?
I prefer to write full-length pieces. I have written two novels so far that are about 100,000 words each. They’re very sloppy though, so they need work.
What is a flit and how did you come up with a flit and their restrictions?
The original concept of a flit is what a soul would look like if they were personified. So, I adopted the idea of a soul and combined it with the classic idea of fairies. From there I worked on the restrictions. A restriction all flits have is that they can’t speak and don’t have vocal chords. At first, this is a device I used to make it easier for myself, because when you have a lot of world building to do there’s not a lot of room for dialogue. The real reason, is because they’re mostly essences, they have their appearances and basic personalities and that’s what they pass on when they’re made into humans.
If you were a flit what would you look like?
The problem with answering this is that flits appearances tend to mirror how they are inside. I don’t really know how to classify my personality. I’d like to say I’d be very mellow, I don’t know if I really am. If that were the case I think I’d have a nice really cool mint green hair and probably have rainbow sprinkle kind of freckles, also wings.
What’s the genre you write the most in?
I tend to write mostly in fantasy. I like a lot of stories that are set in modern times with a magical twist.
What your favorite fantasy or fairytale character?
One of my favorite fairytales is Little Red Riding Hood. I really like the idea of wolves, but I also like the adaptability of it.
What do you see yourself doing in the future?
The dream life would to be an author. I’d like to get published by a traditional publishing house and have that life of just being able to write for a living. I’d also like to work in publishing or as a literary agent and just surround myself with books and that world.
What has your favorite experience been at your time here in Boston and at Emerson?
Boston Book Festival was really fun for me last year. I got to see my favorite author, Maggie Stiefvater, for the first time. I also went to a Panic! At The Disco concert last year which was really good. I just like being here, the aesthetic is really nice. Those were two really memorable things.