Reviewer Monica Robinson interviews Robert Paul Moreira about DIG, a cross-genre collection of short stories, microfiction, and drama that provides a kaleidoscope of modern human experience.

Most of your characters are Latinx, with a foot in two or more cultures, and many are at a turning point in their lives when we meet them. How does the concept of borderlands (both literal and metaphoric) and other liminal spaces figure in your work?

Characters under duress are the most exciting to read and write about. The job of any writer, Nabokov said, is to put our characters up in trees and throw rocks at them. The borderlands in all its permutations is my tree, and their complex relationships and plights, both internal and external, are the rocks I throw at them.

DIG is a hybrid collection of different genres of work, and also combines microfiction with short stories and plays. What made you want to take this unique approach to a collection of writing?

I write fiction and plays, and I welcomed the challenge of putting together a hybrid collection that included work from both genres. My primary inspiration came from Melville’s Moby Dick where he dramatizes several of his chapters, thus making the novel a hybrid work, arguably. Other writers have worked in both genres as well, such as Susan Glaspell, Ernest Hemingway, and George Orwell to name a few. In the end I wanted to stretch the boundaries of what a traditional book could accomplish by showcasing the two genres I write in. Needless to say, this was not an easy sell to mainstream publishers. I applaud Frayed Edge Press for taking a chance on a book like DIG.

How has your writing informed your teaching, and how has your teaching informed your writing?

“I am a writer who teaches, not a teacher who writes.” This is what I tell all my students at the start of every semester. What I mean by this is that the classroom has not consumed me to the point that I no longer write or publish. I teach creative writing because I continue to write creatively myself, and this dynamic helps me connect with students. They begin to see that writing creatively is not about the grade you get in class, but the hard work you’re willing to put into it.

What are some of the most exciting developments you’ve seen in recent years from Latinx writers?

Most recently, I’d say the fact that two Latinx writers (Juan Felipe Herrera and Ada Limón) have been named US Poet Laureates in the last ten years is a huge accomplishment. In theater, the success of playwrights Lin-Manuel Miranda, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Nilo Cruz, and others has opened doors for the exploration of Latinx themes and issues onstage and in Hollywood. In fiction, Kirstin Valdez Quade’s Night at the Fiestas and Orlando Ortega-Medina’s The Fitful Sleep of Immigrants stand out as must-reads. A shout-out to Daniel Olivas and the folks out at La Bloga also is also in order for supporting new/established Latinx writing, as well as Marcela Landres for all she does to help Latinx authors publish their work. 

What was the research process like for this book? How much of it was prior knowledge or informed by your own life, and how much did you need to do additional research for?

My research for DIG was a combination of online searches, prior knowledge, and conversations. For my story “The Lighthouse,” for instance, which deals with Cuban rafters heading for Florida and dreaming of playing professional baseball, I held extensive conversations with my brother-in-law who ventured out into the Gulf of Mexico until he was captured and spent about a year in Guantanamo Bay. In Proxima b, one of the short plays in the collection, I make references to astronomy, astrophysics, and space travel history. Some of the references I ultimately chose to include had more to do with their aural and dramatic effects rather than with factual veracity. I cherish this type of freedom in fiction and drama; that is, the ability to create or bend truths for emotional effect.

What authors most influenced you while you were writing DIG? What other media/outside influences did you utilize during your writing process?

For DIG my primary influences included Leslie Marmon Silko, Gloria Anzaldúa, Herman Melville, playwrights Nilo Cruz and Luis Valdez, and Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, just to name a few. I’m a sucker for musical theater as well, and since one of my plays in the collection includes an original song, I’d also have to include composers and lyricists like Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice, Frank Wildhorn, and Leslie Bricusse. 

Where did DIG begin? What compelled you to tell these stories, and what did they look like at their earlier stages?

DIG began with the eponymous story in the collection. As I crafted that story, I began to sense an excavation of identity, similar to what the protagonist is going through as his wife is dying of cancer and the present becomes too much to bear. As I continued composing new fiction, I found myself following a four-act structure, similar to play, wherein small collections of new stories/plays explored different themes or emotions or transformations inside and outside of the body. This ultimately led to the four sections in DIG—vivo, situ, utero, and vitro—all of which serve as a collage that runs the gamut from short fiction to drama, thus pushing the boundaries of what a “traditional” collection should be.

Are any of your characters modeled after figures you know in real life? Do you tend to favor representations of your experiences in your work, or do you stay away from anything too closely resembling your own life outside of themes and influences?

All of my characters are composites of people I know, regardless of whether they are real or not. I daresay much of my work is semi-autobiographical, and I’d wager we’d be hard-pressed to find any author who would say any different. We can’t help but write about what we know, but at the same time it’s also fun and exciting to write about the things we don’t know. I believe the best writers write about what is difficult to decipher in their own lives, and this should never be easy. For me, fiction and drama are where I have the freedom to explore disparate threads in/outside of my life in order to make sense of my own human condition.

What’s next? Are you working on any other projects right now that you want to talk about?

I’m working on a short fiction collection that explores our relationship to social media and the internet, along with my first novel. This summer I’m finalizing a full-length play that intersects cartel violence and US-Mexico geopolitics with the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe in 1531. Along with composer Josiah Esquivel, I’m also developing a new theatrical musical based in Cuba. Finally, in summer 2024, I’m looking forward to a full production of MALINALLI, my musical co-written with Josiah Esquivel, by Nikki Rowe Theater.

Is there anything else you want to mention about DIG that we didn’t already discuss?

DIG is not your traditional book, but that’s simply because it was never meant to be. I’d like to think that is exactly why Frayed Edge Press decided to take a chance on it, and I would hope readers will see the importance of that and offer their support.