In which I am interviewed in "The Bird is the Word" No. 38

 At Rare Bird, we aim to push boundaries, be a platform for exceptional authors from all backgrounds, and carve a streak of independent voices across and against the grain of mainstream literature. The Bird Is the Word Weekly Shorts offer a glimpse into how those very qualities stir within our published contributors.

This week we're joined by Linda Burrows, whose book, Flip City, came out earlier this month. Linda is a graduate of UCLA's Master Class in Novel Writing. Portions of what would become Flip City won awards in the Writers Digest Short Story Competition and as a screenplay in Independent Features West. A short story adaptation was published by Akashic Books. Currently, she's at work on a new novel that follows characters introduced in Flip City.

Flip City is available at rarebirdbooks.com 

or wherever fine books are sold. 

Would you like a soundtrack while you read?

Ask me for the Flip City mixtape o Spotify! 

The Bird Is The Word No. 28

with Linda Burrows
interviewed by Delia Bennett

I’d love to begin talking a little bit about the inspiration behind Flip City. How long have you been living with this idea?  

 

Linda Burrows: I think I’ve been writing about JDR since I began writing fiction as a preteen, I just didn’t know it at the time. I have kept notebooks of handwritten stories about him, which grew more sophisticated as my writing improved over the years. When my two boys were little, I would watch afternoon talk shows such as Oprah Winfrey and Phil Donahue, who often featured the survivors of terrible things telling their stories. One show was about a young kidnapped boy who was returned to his family after many years. His story affected me (I still remember his name to this day, may he rest in peace). Later I read “Buried Dreams” by Tim Cahill, a chilling account of the crimes and victims of John Wayne Gacy and his eventual arrest. And I wondered, what would a kid need to have experienced to survive a madman like Gacy? What would JDR do if faced with that situation?

What’s your favorite work by William Shakespeare and why?

 

LB: Romeo & Juliet, sparked by the 1968 Franco Zeffirelli movie, which made Shakespeare come alive for me and made me eager to read the play—especially the dialogue. I found the rhythm and rhyming stanzas intriguing in telling a story. Since James is a boy who relies on music for his sanity, I wanted his narrative voice to reflect the lyrical rhyming and melodic rhythms of the music he loves.

 

Do you sleep through the night without music?

 

LB: I do.

What is a voice you’d like to hear and read more from?

 

LB: The adolescents of 2024. Especially those that turn 18 this year. 

 

Who is your favorite historical figure of rebellion? And your favorite fictional figure?

 

LB: John Lennon. Fictional, I want to say Holden Caulfield, but considering what happened to John Lennon, it’s a regrettable pairing.

In what ways have you experienced being an outsider in your own life? In what environments have you felt most seen?

 

LB: To my dismay, I was never invited to prom — the one outsider boy who I thought I’d go with ended up asking someone else (still remember his name too), but I think I’ve always been an outsider, which for me growing up, meant an artist, a hippie, the wife of a rock guitarist who left Chicago and headed west, until their feet got wet. 

 

As a relatively shy person, I’m not comfortable being seen—I’d rather be at home writing. But being recognized for what I’ve created makes me feel validated—such as awards received as an art director and graphic designer, and seeing the accomplishments of my amazing sons, and now celebrating the publication of Flip City.

Flip City is your first novel. I’d love to hear more about what that process was like for you. How long did you spend writing it? How many drafts did you work through? Is there anything that surprised you about the writing, editing, and publishing process for your first book?

 

LB: What is now Flip City has gone through many years of rewrites and title changes. I loved writing this book, and it was hard to let go. Every time I read through it, ideas and scenarios would pop into my head—what I started to call ‘What ifs?’-- and I’d explore them, rewrite them, and add them, until the manuscript ballooned to over 140,000 words. The last six rewrites were guided by Rare Bird’s Hallie Johnson, beginning in 2022. But I loved every word! So, much of what was cut may find itself in a novella of its own, tentatively titled “Footsteps on the Moon,” or “Backwords.”

Who is your favorite artist? 

 

LB: Right now, it’s my sister DeanaRB, who’s been posting the beautiful portraits she sketches of people’s faces every day. But as an art student, I loved the Impressionists, and try to visit the collection at the Art Institute of Chicago whenever I’m there. They also have a few Rembrandts which are masterful, how one brush stroke or dab of color pops the entire painting to life. I once made a list of great paintings I wanted to see in person. I’ve checked quite a few off my list; they are like rock stars from art history, you can visit face-to-face. Standing before “The Last Supper” in Milan brought me to tears.

Mental health/mental health facilities play a large role in this novel. This comes at a time where it seems more and more writers, fiction and nonfiction, are focusing their work on anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicidal ideation, and various mental health disorders and how we, as a society, navigate those and provide support for people who are struggling. I’d love to hear a bit about the experience of writing a character who has mental health struggles. Were there conversations you had or research you undertook in order to be able to fill that character and the setting out? 

 

LB: I think all of us struggle with emotional difficulties, and most of us find some way of coping, whatever that presents itself as. As a writer addressing those issues, I mostly see myself as an observer and an absorber and simply a human that has experienced a life full of sad and happy events. Advice given to me from a writing teacher was to hold on to those emotions, they will help make your fiction real. I did lots of research, absolutely, and many conversations with my sister, Dr. Betty Burrows, who is a clinical psychologist.

What do you think is the most overrated quality looked for in literature? And the most underrated? 

 

LB: Overrated is the plot twist. What used to be a clever device, feels like it’s now expected. Also overrated are triggers. I had a fiction teacher at UCLA whose advice was “be kind;” I still have that on a Post-it stuck to my computer. I take that to mean, as a writer you control the emotional journey your reader is on. So don’t break that trust; don’t kill the cat. 

 

Underrated are book bannings, a very ugly trend that I hope ends immediately and goes away forever.

 

Could you talk a little bit about your relationship with music while you were writing this book and the ways in which it influenced the characters and plot of Flip City?

 

LB: The music in 1970 was so fresh and explosive to us, and so distasteful to our parents, that it awoke not only rebellion, but possibilities and freedom of expression in every aspect of life. It felt like the world was ours and we could change it. Which I think we did. It was hard fought, which makes the loss and devaluation of many of those freedoms very sad to see happening today. 
 

Speaking of music, tell me a little bit about the Spotify playlist you created for this book. Were these the songs you were listening to while writing it? Did they inspire certain characters? Is this music that you hope your readers will listen to while reading the book?

 

LB: In the narrative, many times James references certain lyrics from those songs. I realized I needed to include the playlist when my sister, only three years younger than me, didn’t know that “Quick Joey Small” was a real song. The cool thing about the Spotify playlist is that you can listen to the entire album if the listed song moves you; you can wear tie-dye and hip huggers and grow your hair long. Your parents might even kick you out of the house! The playlist was made by Toddrick Spalding, music supervisor extraordinaire. His weekly playlist called “This Week” on Spotify is a treasure trove of “all the new and not so new tunes that caught his ear.” It’s a great place to discover all kinds of cool music. 

 

If your style of writing was a music genre, what would it be? 

 

LB: Psychedelic rock. Or whatever genre includes Bob Dylan.

Now that Flip City is out, what’s next for you? Are these characters you want or plan to continue developing? 

 

LB: Absolutely! I’ve been asked by readers about James’ family, and I have a short story about them that I may post to my writing blog if there’s enough interest in reading it.  (ggburrows.blogspot.com) Besides “Footsteps on the Moon,” mentioned above, I’ve been working on a novel tentatively titled “Razzle Dazzle”, which is Baby Boy’s story, as he and his generation come of age.