Not too long ago, Katherine Vaz read to our class and many other her newest work, Below the Salt. After reading Our Lady of the Artichokes, a collection of short stories, one of her other books, it was interesting to see how her writing techniques and thought process could carry on throughout her work. In both stories, she showed the struggles of families and how they survived them.
She explained to us, “I wrote for about a year, stuff that was so terrible that I threw it in a box.” It was almost nice to know that a top-notch author could encounter writer’s block, like the way I’m sure many of us do too.
Vaz continues to read to us an excerpt of her latest work. It uses a lot of detailed words describing a man named John imprisoned with his mother in the 19th century. Feeling trapped and despair, they look to music and each other for inspiration and happiness. John is soon sent to fight in the Civil War. Vaz conducted extensive research to get the facts right and add her emotions of sympathy toward the ones who fought in that war. Through a well descriptive narrative of a man Vaz created, she was able to portray her sentiments on the war. Vaz explains, “the story just came to me.” She knew she had to write something about them, all the struggles and emotions families of that time faced. Her brilliant work did just the thing.
