Valerie Gonzalez, Author-in-the-Making
Valerie is currently an Adjunct Professor of Music at New Jersey City University; and the Musical Director for the musical at County Prep High School in Jersey City. She is also the director of Viva La Diva Music Studio and Music Jam Ensembles in New Jersey.
Her diverse cultural experiences of being a native Filipina growing up in Canada, immigrating to America, wandering the globe as a performing artist, being married to a concert pianist, teaching in diverse venues, and raising two wildly artistic boys have given her a unique and eclectic perspective as an artist and writer.
Ask-the-Author
Why did you decide to be a writer?
A writer writes, therefore, I am.
I write because not writing would mean the world no longer had essence about which to write. Not writing would mean there was no purpose to the world or life; no principles of the universe to unearth; no love, heroism, bravery, idiocy, hypocrisy, delusion, mockery, self-deception or tomfoolery to applaud. Since there is no end to all that, I have reason to be a writer, so I write.
What are your goals as a writer?
I give the same answer a hippo would give when asked about his goals as he hunkers down his butt-fat into the sludge of a Botswana mudflat. “My goal is to scratch the itch that would otherwise make me into a rancorous, frothing beast.”
A less pompous answer would be: publish 10+ novels, and pass on writing skills to whichever students I have the privilege of teaching.
Emerging author/writer, Valerie Gonzalez is completing her MFA in Creative and Professional Writing at William Paterson University. She has written a historical novel called “The Buggy Driver” based on her father’s memoirs during the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines in WW II, and is now working on her second novel, "Mad Island" and a tween series called "The Wack Wilds of Siri and Jack".
Valerie Gonzalez was a sojourner of several professional spheres before becoming a writer, including the world of opera and music education.
As a professional opera singer, Valerie Gonzalez performed in numerous international opera theaters portraying soubrette, coloratura and comprimario roles. Having enjoyed professional collaborations with many remarkable musicians/artists, conductors, directors and teachers around the world, Valerie now shares her knowledge and passion through teaching and developing rising talent. She heads various musical outreaches and concerts throughout the year, fundraising for special needs in the community.
What do you hope to accomplish from writing?
To sing my songs; give voices to the mute and unspeakable; and turn the mirror on a world gone mad.
When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?
I always wanted to be a writer. I was writing rants in journals since 7th Grade. My first career inclination was to be a writer. I enrolled at the University of British Columbia in the Arts One Program, which was heavy in literature and philosophy. But after the first year, I seriously wanted to jump off a balcony because the metaphysical thoughts were too heavy for me to bear. I decided to become a doctor instead. I figured the only way to keep off the balcony was doing good for society, so I enrolled into pre-Med and got a degree in Chemistry. Ironically, just as I was graduating, I got picked up by the Canadian Opera Company Young Artist Apprenticeship and became an opera singer overnight.
I spent the next 15 years singing opera professionally; wondering how the heck I got there; and deliberating my raison d'etre. Opera singing was a glamorous, exciting life for a while, but after living out of a suitcase for years and spending many lonely nights in hotel rooms in foreign cities, I realized show biz just exacerbated my predisposition to existential angst. Despite its exuberant heights, the life of a travelling minstrel only grew the void that was forever threatening to devour me.
I just wanted to fall in love, have babies, make pot-roasts and grow a nice garden with asparagus and Asian lilies. So I did that. I married an amazing collaborative-concert pianist (Craig Ketter) and raised two boys. Somewhere between cursing groundhogs, perfecting macaroni-n-cheese, nailing shingles on the roof, and voice-teaching, I started writing again.
How was the leap from being an opera singer to a writer?
It is actually the same brain processes in a lot of ways. An opera singer and musician must tell a story with sound and emotion. A writer must do the same. Phrasing, shaping audio-bytes, tempering the beats in a scene, creating crescendos, climaxes, diminuendos and tragic endings - both opera singers and authors must do this.
I think the harder career transition was between singing and motherhood, and motherhood and writing. Motherhood for me was the quintessential architect of my will to succeed as a writer, but also the prime detractor.
Which art form do you prefer, singing or writing?
Singing on a stage is certainly a glorious thing to do - it is exhilarating and infinitely magical to sing Mozart or Strauss over a 40-60 piece orchestra, and be simultaneously part of an unfolding drama. But after the curtain call, the thrill is over. You go home, and then hope that you get hired again so you can experience that thrill over and over again. In that way, Opera singing as an art, has a shelf life. Your ability to do it is contingent on too many unpredictable variables - way out of the artist's control. Too much depends on other people's opinions of you before you are even allowed an opportunity to produce artistically. And baby, once you've been put to pasture by the industry, it's curtains for you! You can't give what is in your heart any longer. Opera is a cruel vehicle for an artist who has a lot to say.
Writing has a quieter thrill, but provides much more freedom and longevity for an artist, and a greater sense of artistic accomplishment. The entire responsibility of creating the drama belongs to the writer. An opera singer needs to go through a huge rigmarole to execute their art. A writer writes. Basta cosi. What a beautiful, fantastic art form! You only need a pen and paper and the will to do it! And nobody can stop you, even if they think you suck. The blame and the glory for your artistic product belong entirely to you.
My greatest inspirations: My sons, Isaac and Daniel.
Planting things, figuring out how to make life forms flourish - grow roots, become strong, vibrant; opening myself to the ever-jarring lessons of birth and death - these, for me, are part of the same dynamics that give me wherewithal to write.
Huge elephant ears sprung from a weird potato from the grocery store! Exotic stories hide in forms that we take for granted!
How did you develop your skills as a writer?
Years ago, I took it to heart that "a writer writes" and believed that was all that was necessary. I wrote a book of depressing poetry and embarked on a great American novel. After a few dead ends and hours and years of writing travails, I realized that I was sorely limited in my ability to fake my way writing novels. I had spent several years of trial-and-error trying to write "The Buggy Driver". What a grueling learning process! I learned the hard way that I was missing some very basic, critical skills. I needed to learn the ins-and-outs of plot, character development, peril and tension etc.. I enrolled in the MFA Creative and Professional Writing Program at Willilam Paterson University. I'm now in my second year, and I am absolutely loving it. I can't believe I went for so long trying to re-invent the wheel.
Do you wish you had become a writer earlier?
I think because I've had over half a dozen careers before I became a writer (chemist, opera singer, mother, housewife, gardener, chef, wrestling-team photographer, teacher, community rabble-rouser) that I've gained an awful lot of material for my characters and settings. Also, I needed to plant my flowers and grow children. It was a rite of passage for me.
There is also something to be said for slugging things out the hard way without anybody helping you, or telling you how to do things the "right way". Whatever artistry you achieve truly belongs to you. You "own" your writing. You've learned how to learn and can master new skills much quicker. So wasting my time messing around through the years has had its benefits. I have a lot of drive and purpose to produce, and I can do it much faster now.
What kind of things do you like to write about?
Right now, I am fascinated with exploring cognitive dissonances of characters caught in moral battles. I enjoy the ironies brought about culture clashes, and collisions between faith and self-determination. I like characters who have heroic struggles choosing between self-sacrifice and personal ambition; strong characters who defy societal tides, or weak characters who become strong.
I feel that many of my characters are driven towards redemption; that they deal with confronting their personal bankruptcies, or are defined by their inability to do so.
Would you consider yourself a historical fiction writer?
Because of the book I've been writing for the past five years ("The Buggy Driver"), I have become somewhat of a hobbyist connoisseur of Filipino history during World War II. I am far from being an expert, but I know a thing or two about the P.O.W. camps in Manila, and the suffering that those men and women endured in the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army. Digging through war stories has given me an appreciation for characters who act in bizarre, gratuitously cruel ways, and heroes who defy the limits of altruism. I've really enjoyed re-creating a world that existed 70 years ago, and trying to get into the setting and emotionalism of that particular culture and era. I'm not sure that qualifies me to be a historical fiction writer, but hopefully a writer who can be trusted in creating a truthful setting.
What are your other works in progress?
I actually started writing another novel, "Mad Island" long before "The Buggy Driver" but I put it to the side for a while to start writing the latter. It's about an New York opera singer who runs away to a deserted family Island in the Sulu Sea after the boyfriend with whom she breaks up, dies a suspicious death. It's based on the real "mad" island that belonged to my Grandfather off the coast of Palawan, Philippines. He lived out his old-age there, doing things that nobody in the family wants to talk about. I visited there long ago, and was so overcome by a sheer, random terror that I experienced on the island, I vowed to explore and write a story about it.
Alternatively, I really love comedy, and especially the linguistic talents of young people these days - middle schoolers and teens who are infinitely clever at what I call rap-chat. They fly in and out of witty lingo, jokes and revel in irony as a natural means of communicating with each other. I would like to try my hand at writing for that genre, which is the series I am blogging about "The Wack Wilds of Siri and Jack". I am basically researching how my characters are going to interact. I currently teach singing to that age group. I have so much admiration and affection for my students. They keep me on my toes, and they crack me up immensely.
© 2019 by Valerie Gonzalez