Bella Majam

What was your favorite book as a child?

I don’t know how I came to love reading. There are things in one’s memory which seem to emerge, fully formed but without origin; books were like this for me. Though I can’t point to any specific works, I do remember collecting a series of fictional journals from the perspective of a fourteen-year-old girl. Nikki Maxwell’s narration took up whole chapters without shame, her feelings loud and anxious and excitable. I remember it as the first time I recognized myself on the page.

What was the original reason or motivation why you started writing creatively?

As a child, I didn’t have many dreams. Coming up with costumes on Career Day was a struggle. I enjoyed copying cartoon characters into my composition notebooks and teaching my dolls how to do basic subtraction, but I didn’t have a concept of what I should be.

Writing allowed me to inhabit two worlds: the one I lived in, and the one I retreated to. In my diaries, I mixed recollections of my school days with elaborate plans of running a spy agency from the attic. Though the line between fiction and reality is clear, I suppose it never mattered. The words were always real.

What was the most adventurous or thrilling thing you ever did/experienced?

For nearly two years, I lived on a mountain mired in fog, myth, and gossip. I was fifteen and studying to become a writer. Being a teenager living away from home was difficult, but I can’t say I regret it. It’s become part of who I am.

Do you listen to music while reading or writing?

Nope. Engaging in any type of art — music, movies, books, or what-have-you — tends to require my full focus. There’s also the fact that I’m a very slow writer, so silence helps the process move along more quickly.