Q&A With Pamela Gwyn Kripke

I’m delighted to be doing this Q&A with author & journalist Pamela Gwyn Kripke! Pamela is the author of At The Seams & her recent release which is a short story collection titled And Then You Apply Ice. I am so excited about getting a copy of And Then You Apply Ice in the mail soon. Pamela’s essays & featured stories are in the publications The New York Times (Sunday Review, National, Real Estate), The New York Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Dallas Morning News, Elle, Seventeen, New York Magazine, Newsweek, D Magazine, D Home, D CEO, Metropolis, American Homestyle, Martha Stewart Living, This Old House, Southern Accents, Crain’s New York Business, American Way, Southwest Magazine, Modern Luxury, Redbook, Child, Family Circle and American Baby. 

Q: Pamela, would you please give a brief description of your books, beginning with your recent short story collection And then You Apply Ice?

A: And Then You Apply Ice is about transgression, in varying degrees and forms, and how girls and women respond to it. The characters find themselves in situations and relationships that test their limits, that require them to act somehow in order to move along, ultimately revealing who they are and what they want. The book is also about human connections and how they change and identify us at different stages of life. There are 21 stories in the book, with recurring characters or hints of them, arranged to tell a story of its own.

At the Seams is a novel based on a true story, my grandparents’ mysterious loss of their newborn in a New York hospital in the 1930s. As a reporter in real life, I investigated details of the incident 80 years later, as the main character does in the book. In the end, it’s a story about family loyalty, secrets and generational loss. 

Q: What drew you into fiction writing & journalism writing? Is there one you prefer over the other & why?

A: I’ve been a widely published journalist for 30-plus years and have written for some wonderful and prestigious publications. Just before the pandemic, I began writing and submitting short stories to literary magazines. This felt like a natural progression from writing essays, which I’ve done for a long time. As for preference, I suppose that I enjoy switching back and forth between fiction and nonfiction since each uses different muscles. One sharpens the other. I’ve been told that my articles read like fiction and that my fiction is as detailed and specific as reporting needs to be. 

Q: What lessons & emotions do you hope readers learn & feel after they read your stories?

A: I write about characters who are living ordinary lives. They typically aren’t princesses or fighter pilots. I think that the details of day-to-day situations provide a great opportunity for exploring human relationships and the emotions that come from them. So, I hope that readers come away with a new perspective on something that they’ve seen or experienced before. I think that writers offer ways to see the world. We’re all seeing the same thing, but what moves us is different from person to person. I hope I’m giving readers a look at what they may have seen from a different and unexpected vantage point. The result of that, or maybe it’s the point, is to help people appreciate the infinite ways people can experience the same thing. 

Q: Can you reveal any details about what you are currently writing right now?

A: I’m working on a novel about a bad marriage, told from the perspective of the couple’s wise old dog. It’s a story about instinct, loyalty, love and friendship (she has a compatriot). 

Q: What’s it like having your featured stories & essays featured in The New York Times (Sunday Review, National, Real Estate), The New York Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Dallas Morning News, Elle, Seventeen, New York Magazine, Newsweek, D Magazine, D Home, D CEO, Metropolis, American Homestyle, Martha Stewart Living, This Old House, Southern Accents, Crain’s New York Business, American Way, Southwest Magazine, Modern Luxury, Redbook, Child, Family Circle and American Baby?  For anyone wanting to submit their work to these publications, what would your advice for them be? 

A: Over the years, I’ve worked hard to get my work placed in all sorts of magazines and newspapers. And getting the go-ahead from an editor is a terrific feeling. It’s also necessary when it’s your line of work and source of income. Unfortunately, the heyday for freelancing has passed. There was a time when I had five assignments at once, for five different publications, with others on the horizon. Freelancing was viable, and I chose this path since I was a single mom and wanted to be home for my girls after school. Now, with the demise of print magazines, such a career isn’t sustainable. Some existing publications will hire freelancers to write certain kinds of pieces, so I’d advise researching their guidelines to see what may be possible. Many online publications will entertain pitches but offer low fees. In this landscape, I’d advise aspiring journalists to find staff positions.