Cole Lavalais’ work can be found in the Chicago Tribune, Obsidian, Apogee, Warpland, Tidal Basin Review, Aquarius Press, and others. Her novel, Summer of the Cicadas, was published by Willow Books in 2016. She is a fellow of the Kimbilio Center for Black Fiction, VONA and the Callaloo Writing Workshops. She’s been awarded writing residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and The Noepe Center for the Literary Arts. She holds a M.F.A. from Chicago State University and a PhD. from University of Illinois at Chicago. She has taught writing for over twelve years and is the current Director of the Chicago Writers Studio and a faculty member of the Chicago State University M.F.A. program.

Cole’s sessions for MWW19 include:

• Building Authentic Lives – This workshop will introduce you to strategies to imagine and develop compelling and authentic characters who leap off of the page.
• Short Story 101 – This workshop will introduce you to the basic tools every good short story writer uses to create engaging and unique fiction. We will discuss plot, point of view, setting, dialogue, and character development.
• Panel: Writing Beyond Your Experiences – Ashley Hope Pérez, moderator. As writers, we are always making a leap outside of our own experiences, but doing so responsibly is especially important when we are engaging in narrative with communities we aren’t part of. What are the dos and don’ts of creating a diverse world in your stories? How does this effort matter to the quality of your writing? (Mitchell L.H. Douglas, Cole Lavalais, Larry Sweazy)

Gail Werner, long-time friend of Midwest Writers Workshop, caught up with Cole recently and interviewed her for this Q&A.

Cole: I started writing about 20 years ago. I was working on my Masters degree in psychology, and my thesis supervisor mentioned something about writing a book based on my thesis research, and I got really excited at the mention of me writing a book. And I knew right then I was going to write a book, but it wasn’t going to be based on my research. Soon after I began writing my first novel.

MWW/GW: You write short stories and you published your first novel, Summer of the Cicadas, in 2016. Which style of writing comes more naturally to you-short stories or novel writing? Or do you enjoy writing both equally?

Cole: I didn’t really have a lot of exposure to short story collections growing up, so most of my models were novels. I only really began focusing on short stories after I finished my first novel because I didn’t have the energy to commit to my characters that a novel requires.  I figured in a shorter genre, I could write about them and be done with them in a couple of months.

MWW/GW: Where do you seek inspiration for your stories? Is there anything you do to generate ideas, other than wait for your “muse” to appear?

Cole: Luckily, I have never had a shortage of ideas for stories. I have more ides than I have time to write. Sometimes they come from a story I hear in passing or sometimes they come from those close to me. I’ve also been known to just make things up completely. I’m really good about unplugging in public, so I can watch and listen to the people around me. You’d be surprised to see the types of stories that will find you out and about in your every day life.

MWW/GW: One of your upcoming sessions at Midwest Writers 2019 is titled “Short Story 101”. I’ve heard it said that writing a short story is the perfect place to begin your writing career. Do you agree with that opinion? 

Cole: I do. The short story genre is the perfect place to hone your writing skills. If you can tell a whole entire story in 10 pages or 5 pages or 1 page, you are ready to tell a story in 300 pages. Writing the short story well teaches you about story structure and language that is easily translatable to longer genres.

MWW/GW: You were born and raised in Chicago, and you’re a founding director of the Chicago Writers Studio. Can you share your thoughts about the literary scene there? It seems like it’s really taken off, in recent years especially.

Cole: Chicago is a city of neighborhoods, so things happening in one part of the city, aren’t really accessible to the other parts of the city. While the literary scene has definitely spread in the last five years, we can really do better supporting and hosting events all over the city.

MWW/GW: Can you share with us anything about what you are working on right now?

Cole: I’m currently working on a short story collection set in Chicago in the early 80’s and a novel set in a small town in Alabama.

MWW/GW: And lastly, when you’re not writing, what do you enjoy doing? 

Cole: Sleeping, eating, and walking my dogs.