Monica Drake’s ‘Clown Girl’

Author notes Portland’s changes, next book

By Kate Lebo

Monica Drake’s first novel, Clown Girl, is a satirical story about making art, making do, and clowning around (literally) in a run down old neighborhood called Baloneytown. The book, published by local Hawthorne Press, is now in its second printing and was a finalist for the 2007 Oregon Book Award. Drake lives in Portland, but the VV caught up with her in Seattle at Richard Hugo House’s Literary Series, where she read a raunchy and poignant short piece about a guy, a newspaper, and a motion censor-equipped corporate bathroom.

Kate Lebo: I’ve read that Baloneytown was inspired by your years living in pre-gentrified, mid-90s Northeast Portland, and I’ve also read that a couple years ago you moved back to that neighborhood. What do you think about all the changes?

Monica Drake: I’m a fan of the older version of Portland. The former Portland. I liked it as a city of dollar theaters, dollar pitchers of beer, cheap rent and less traffic. I liked it when the Henry’s brewery spilled over into the gutters. I’ve been working on an essay lately that spans a twenty-year timeframe. This essay will be published in February 2009, in an anthology celebrating the 150-year anniversary of Oregon as a state. It’s about a few things, including gentrification, housing, what it means to be an artist in this town, and the death of a man named James Chasse. Gentrified NE will very likely show up in my next novel.

KL: Portland has a reputation for being an affordable place for artists like yourself to live, do art, and work part-time jobs. Is the rumor still true?

MD: I’m sure it’s harder for a person to get by on part-time work in Portland now than it was when I was younger. I’ve been here a long time, and that has advantages. When I worked as a mortgage underwriter, I was able to buy a house, which seemed absolutely necessary as both rent and housing prices climbed up. I’m surprised at how much money people spend in general now. Recently a student of mine said he had six hundred dollars in his hand and he showed me a new tattoo. The tattoo cost six hundred dollars—a far cry from a dollar movie and another dollar for a pitcher of beer.

KL: You’ve been writing pals with Chuck Palahniuk (author of Fight Club and Portland resident) for some time. How did that partnership come about? How has it influenced your writing?

MD: I met Chuck in Tom Spanbauer’s writing workshop in 1991. I was Tom’s first student. Chuck signed up soon after. He has influenced my writing in a number of ways. Maybe the biggest way is just by taking an interest. He laughed at my jokes. He offered an audience. That’s reason to go on, right? Having one person take an interest in my work has kept me going from the start, and I’m incredibly lucky that one person is Chuck. He’s supportive and funny. Writing is hard work, and it’s draining. Every week we meet as a writing workshop. Being able to share work with good writers, smart people, keeps it all rewarding in the process stage as well as in the final product. That’s important, because really the process stage never ends.

KL: What other local writers should we all be reading right now?

MD: Kass Alonso, my husband, author of Core: A Romance. It’s a dark, twisted drama. Cheryl Strayed is brilliant. Suzy Vitello is a longtime short-story writer. James Bernard Frost has a novel out called World Leader Pretend, which hasn’t yet seen the publicity it deserves. Chelsea Cain is writing a series of murder mysteries based on a fictive serial murderer, set in Portland and the surrounding wooded areas. There are so many terrific writers in town, if I let it this list would go on for pages.

KL: So what are you working on right now?

MD: I’m writing a novel based on a cast of characters, instead of one single protagonist. It’s a dark comedy. The first chapter is the story I most recently read at Hugo House.

KL: And when are we going to get to read it?

MD: Ah! Soon as I can turn it out. I’ve got about seven chapters, and plans for more. Thank you for asking!