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Manjula Martin

Author/Editor Managing Editor, Zoetrope: All Story San Francisco, California all-story.com manjulamartin.com

Photo by Ted Weinstein

Manjula is our 10th subject in a new SLICE Special Guest Series, which introduces our readers to extraordinary, creative people – wherever we may find them.

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Manjula Martin serves as managing editor of Zoetrope: All-Story, a quarterly art and literary publication published by Francis Ford Coppola. In this role, she manages production, circulation, and design as one of only two staff members. Manjula is the editor of the anthology Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living (Simon & Schuster, January 2017), and the founder of Who Pays Writers?, a crowdsourced list of freelance writing rates. She was previously the co-founder of Scratch magazine, an online journal about writers and money. Manjula’s writing has appeared in the Virginia Quarterly Review, Pacific Standard, Aeon, Hazlitt, The Millions, and The Billfold, and she wrote The Dough, a series about creative professionals and money, for The Toast. Her experience as a writer and editor includes work in magazine and book publishing, copywriting, and communications work with nonprofit, educational, and activist organizations. Manjula earned a bachelor’s degree from Mills College as an adult re-entry student. When she’s not working, you can find her listening to records, writing letters, cooking, or being generally introverted. Manjula lives with her partner in the Mission District of San Francisco.

FAVORITES

Book: Ha, sorry, no way. It is physically and spiritually impossible for me to name one favorite book. However, I can tell you what I’m reading right now: Zadie Smith’s Swing Time and Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories.

Destination: Where the redwoods meet the ocean.

Film: One of my many favorite films is Billy Wilder’s The Apartment (1960). Also, pretty much anything involving Bogart, Bacall, Astaire, Rogers, Hepburn, Grant, and Hitchcock.

Motto: Your heart is a muscle the size of your fist; keep loving, keep fighting.

THE QUERY

Where were you born?

I was born in a trailer in the Santa Cruz mountains, in California. My dad delivered me.

What were some of the passions and pastimes of your earlier years?

I read a lot, and re-read a lot. I was also very passionate about theater and dance, as well as costume design. And I watched a lot of classic films. When I think back now, I recall a lot of very pleasant moments spent in solitude as a child, spending time in these fictional worlds and feeling very enchanted by them.

How did you begin to realize your intrigue with the craft of writing?

All my parents are very avid readers and writers. My dad taught me to love poetry; my stepmom taught me to read novels voraciously. And for most of my childhood mom taught writing at the local university. From a young age I helped her correct grammatical errors on her students’ papers. And my childhood interest in theater manifested as an obsession with Shakespeare and Greek myths, which are pretty natural jumping-off points for an interest in literature.

Why does this form of artistic expression suit you?

It’s much easier than painting.

How did you get your start in the business of writing?

I’ve had a pretty varied career as a writer and editor. I always wrote – letters, zines, stories – but started working in publishing at the age of 20 when I dropped out of college and moved to New York. I worked at a magazine, as the receptionist, and then eventually became an assistant editor and wrote and reported stories. I’ve worked variously as a copywriter, an editor, and a journalist, on staff and freelance.

All of that led me to start Who Pays Writers in 2012. From there I started Scratch, an online journal, which closed after a couple years but inspired my new book, also called Scratch, which is an anthology of essays and interviews with writers about making a living. At the time I sold the book, I was working as a freelance copywriter.

During the process of bringing Scratch to publication, I took a full-time job as managing editor at Zoetrope: All-Story, where I now work. So I’ve had a lot of different sides of the “business” part of writing, including the parts where there’s no money or the parts where you’re trying to balance creative writing with “day job” writing.

What led to your coming on board with Zoetrope: All Story in 2016?

I had been an unpaid intern at the magazine many years ago, and the editor and I stayed in touch.

How would you describe the guiding philosophy/mission of the publication?

All-Story is a quarterly, print-only magazine of art and short fiction published by Francis Ford Coppola. Francis believes that short fiction and film are two art forms that are most akin, as both are consumed by the audience in a single sitting. We publish original short fiction and reprints of classic stories that were made into films. For each edition of the magazine we invite a prominent artist—visual artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, architects— to serve as guest designer and contribute art to the edition and direct its overall aesthetic. We’ve won three National Magazine Awards for fiction, as well as numerous design accolades.

Do you have a process for selecting the authors you’ll feature?

Quality is our foremost standard. We accept unsolicited submissions (snail-mail only) as well as solicited submissions from literary agents and authors. The way we choose stories for each issue is an organic mix of quality, taste, fit within the particular issue, and je ne sais quoi.

How do you go about selecting the art/visuals for each issue?

My colleague, Michael Ray, and I think of the most exciting artists working in any genre, and then we ask them! Our long list of previous guest designers — including folks like Tom Waits, William Eggleston, John Baldessari, Agnes Varda, Michael Stipe, Kara Walker, Marjane Satrapi, Guillermo del Toro, Chip Kidd, Gus Van Sant, David Bowie, Lou Reed, PJ Harvey, Barry McGee, Mary Ellen Mark— serves as our calling card. I spend a lot of time emailing people’s assistants!

Which author/poet/other have you most enjoyed working with, and why?

Well, I’ve only been at the magazine for a year thus far, so I can’t really speak to “favorites.” But I am a huge fan of Elizabeth McCracken’s work, and we have a tremendous new story by her in the Winter 2016/17 issue.

As far as the design process goes, which is my domain as managing editor, I most enjoy the moment when the guest designer realizes we really mean it when we say they have complete creative freedom and control (within the realm of our budget and physics, of course). A lot of our contributors are very successful, but they are often limited by various constraints in their work, and the idea of complete creative freedom in a 2D visual medium can often re-ignite a certain type of enthusiasm in our artists.

How would you describe your creative process as you begin a project?

The creative process with Scratch was a bit unique, because it’s an anthology. I’m in it as a writer but I also edited it, which involved a lot of so-called “non-creative” work – assigning and editing essays, conducting interviews, curating the order and content of the book, and corresponding with thirty different contributors over the course of a couple years. But I think at its heart the creative process behind it is the same as when I’m working on my novel or writing a personal essay – there’s a delicate balance between form and function, between language and meaning, and it’s the job of the writer – and the editor – to find that balance and hone it until it’s uniquely sharp.

For me, beginnings come easy. It’s what comes after the beginning that’s most difficult, but also most rewarding.

Is there a project/period along the way that has presented an important learning curve?

Everything about Scratch has been a learning curve. It’s a lesson in saying “sure,” and seeing what evolves, but also in learning my own boundaries in terms of bandwidth and resources. I took this project from a flippant idea to a tumblr to a digital magazine to a book, and along the way I’ve learned not only the process of making all those things, but the importance of making what you want to and can make, not just what other people say you should be making or wish you would make.

How has your aesthetic/approach evolved over the years?

I’ve actually always had a pretty firm aesthetic. I’ve always known what I like, even if it didn’t follow any clear external logic. I’m a perfectionist, but I’m also a pragmatist. That comes through in my writing, my editing work, and in things like my style and my sense of décor. In terms of my writing work, my approach has always been dictated by time – work versus work, writing versus writing for work, etc.

What themes/topics interest you most?

I do a lot of different kinds of writing and editing but I would say a commonality in most of my work is that I’m deeply curious about the relationship between people, culture, and place. I also revel in work that complicates questions rather than simplifies them – I think the most interesting writing doesn’t have, or find, easy answers. Maybe that’s why I’m drawn to the topic of writers and money. It’s complicated!

Do you have an artistic resource that you turn to?

Poetry.

Is there an author living today that you admire most?

I have always admired Rebecca Solnit’s career. Rebecca writes about whatever she wants to write about—Eadweard Muybridge, or the art of walking, or activism in post-Katrina New Orleans, for example. The connective thread of her career is her curiosity, illuminated via a skillful blend of memoir and research. Rebecca’s career is, essentially, herself. And I think that is a career to aspire to.

In the realm of fiction, with the Neopolitan novels Elena Ferrante has written an epic masterpiece that’s also a master class in balancing the minute personal and the larger political lives of humans. She’s the real deal.

What is it about the craft of writing that keeps you interested and intrigued?

Writing is communication at its most beautiful.

Do you have a favorite fictional character?

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about Madame Defarge in Tale of Two Cities. I wouldn’t say she’s a favorite, but she’s fascinating and relevant right about now.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

No one will save you, and you’re going to be all right.

From where do you draw inspiration?

From life.

What three things can’t you live without?

As the Magnetic Fields once sang, “Love, music, wine, and revolution.” Oh wait, that’s four.

Is there a book or film that has changed you?

I actually don’t think books and films change people, per se. I think they make us more aware of our true selves, or give us a greater understanding of who we are and our places in the world. That understanding, in turn, can change lives. That said, I did get a pixie haircut and move to Paris at age 19 because I was really, really into Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless.

Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

My advice is: Don’t pay too much attention to advice for aspiring authors. I mean, it can be great to hear what works and doesn’t work for other writers, and obviously I’m a big fan of sharing information, otherwise I wouldn’t have made Scratch and Who Pays Writers. But ultimately no one else will have the career you have, or do the work you do. So stop wasting time reading advice and just go to work.

#zoetrope: all story #journal #francis ford coppola #author #manjulamartin

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