Alle Hall is an award-winning author, speaker, and writing instructor whose work focuses on the joy and creativity resulting from trauma recovery. She is a mother, which she takes very seriously. From my background in counseling and psychology, I know you don’t have to be a sexual trauma survivor to have suffered from less-than-nurturing parenting, as Alle had. She states, “It is critical to me that my children, that any child I come in contact with, receives nothing from me but love and respect under the auspices of good boundaries on my part.” As an author and educator, I wish I saw more of that in the world.
Alle has lived in Seattle for thirty-five years. Right now, her family, consisting of Alle, her husband, and their two sons, live in an old Craftsman, which she says, “Is very Seattle.” She lives by a park where she practices Tai chi with an ad hoc group that’s been getting together for decades.
Here is my interview with Alle Hall.
What was it that made you decide you had a story to tell and to become an author?
I’d been working as a journalist, never thought of undertaking a novel. Then, one day I was at work, just filing, and the novel’s arch popped into my head, fully formed: a young teen survivor of child sexual trauma comes across the Lonely Planet’s Southeast Asia on a Shoestring, steals the money from her abusers, runs away to Asia. That’s when begins what I think of as the real journey for every survivor who wants to thrive: the healing.
Funny, that I was never intimidated by the idea of trying to become a novelist—partially because I had been publishing for several years, and partially because I had a new writer’s concept that my book would be so fabulous, it would get published without effort, be an Oprah choice, and made into a movie. But primarily because I was so committed to sharing the story, my main character, Carlie, the travel, and the message of hope for trauma survivors.
As an author or writer, what sets you apart from others?
Most reviews—professional and from readers—comment I have a unique use of language. The Portland Review referenced David Mamet; without the misogyny, I trust. Also, I have the ability to portray emotion and subtext with very few words. Finally, my plots reflect the amount of time I’ve spent overseas, absorbing cultures different from my own.
How do ideas for your stories present themselves? How do you know what story lines to follow and which to ignore?
I just finished the fifteenth full draft of my second novel, which presented itself as a dream. 35 years ago. A real slice of an image that just would not leave me. I suppose that’s what it is: a “something” that happens to me I don’t want to let go of. Whereas I started writing As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back the evening that I had the idea for it. With this second novel, there was so much involved in the story that I did not understand, so much that scared me, that I put it off and put it off until I simply made myself sit down to write the islands of fiction that I knew.
In terms of following one line and ignoring others in fiction, I am learning to identify the main character’s goal, their primary motivation, and then cut everything that does not directly relate to that character moving toward her goal. I cut every chapter—ouch!—every scene, every word.
What genre do you write, and why?
I write literary fiction, short- as well as long-form. I have published a lot of short-form literary nonfiction/creative nonfiction/memoir.
Why? Because that’s how it comes out. Genre is no more than how the writer’s voice sounds. There is nothing we can do about our voice except get better with it.
I feel strongly that genre is determined by the market, so that The Library of Congress knows how to catalogue your book and so that booksellers can shelf in a way that makes it easiest for a reader to find it. In other words, the more writers attach meaning to genre—literary is deep and makes no money, and commercial is shallow and actually sells—the less happy they are because they become competitive in a in a non-effective way.
Besides writing and telling a good story, do you have any other talents?
My work had to be the best parent possible—on the emotional front. I kind of suck at getting the day-to-day stuff done, cleaning house and what-have-you. My younger son says, “When I want something done, I go to Dad. When I want to understand my emotions, learn how to express them, you are the parent I go to.”
I am a good cook, so at least dinner is always on the table on time, and is usually de-lish. Also—and don’t dismiss this element of a meal—I set a beautiful table. Even when it’s just our family, the bottom of the plate lines up with the bottom of the flatware. All set one inch from the edge of the table. (Can you tell I’ve done a lot of food service?) I lived in Japan for three years; I was taught that the visual element contributes to the enjoyment of a meal.
If you were to name one or two books that you deem unforgettable and that had a major impact on you, what would they be, and why?
Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, which portrays a Black family in the 1930s, who take in a destitute girl who is eventually raped by her father. Harsh material has never scared me! As an incest survivor who was utterly distanced from the emotional consequences of the abuse that went on in my childhood, I connected immediately with the book’s victim: Picola. The empathy I found for her, the ability to believe that incest happens in any group, despite race, religion, nationality, educational and economic standing, and having internalized these facts set me up to believe myself when I said, “I’m an incest survivor.”
What authors do you read regularly? Why?
Long-form, Morrison, of course. Her work is fearless and beautifully formed. In nonfiction, Joan Didion’s Slouching Toward Bethlehem is an essay I read over and over. No one uses language the way she does. She is simply better that the rest of us.
Short form: I am in awe of Meg Pokegrass and Amiee Bender. Both write flash. Bender also writes long-form, but I am most enamored of her flash. Flash is one of the most complex forms. You have to convey an entire life, an experience or just an image that captures you, in fewer that 500 words; even 250; even 50. Bless our hearts.
If you were to have dinner with 5 individuals living or dead, who would they be and why?
Ug. I’m so unimaginative with questions like this. I’ll go for low-hanging fruit. Morrison. I just want to sit at the feet of greatness. Joan Didion is a “No,” despite worshipping her writing. Those same pages tell me she was an alcoholic and had an eating disorder. I get triggered, being around that behavior. Hitler. I’d stab him in the eye, then in the heart. Then slit his throat for good measure. Gandhi. I like the minds of people who change the world! Along those lines, Barack Obama. Despite his brilliance, I’ve never seen or heard him talk down to anyone, and Harriet Tubman. Her bravery astounds me.
What is your writing routine? When you write, do you plan or outline ahead or are you a “pantser”?
I am terrible. Too many times, I write overnight. My husband and I watch what we call “the funny guys”: Colbert, Meyers, and Kimmel. We watch on YouTube, so we usually are done by 10 or 11. Then, I settle into it. I always, always, tell my husband, “I’ll be up soon, Sweetheart,” but then don’t go up until 4 or 7am.
On an ideal day, I’m up around 9, eat a Keto breakfast, write until 4pm, then practice, then make dinner.
I am a big believer in getting that first draft, that crappy first draft, getting it on paper no matter what. For me, that takes pansting. Then it’s time for revision. Lots and lots of revision. For me, a novel takes years of revision, draft after draft, with multiple loops within each draft. I am more structured in my revision drafts because I have notes from an editor or a peer-reader that I am working with.
When writing, how much do you read? Do you read in or out of your genre?
I never read (except for the news) when I’m writing. I got no time.
Is there something you set out to do, but somehow, it didn’t work out for you? (In writing, or something else you felt was important to you at the time?)
No.
What tips would you give to new or even experienced writers?
Revision, not editing. I love teaching a class I’ve put together about deep revision. I’ve come up with exercises that make me look, literally, at every clause, every word. It sounds a bit too-too. However, that’s when the good writing happens.
After you think you have a solid draft, put it away for a while. Then pull it back out. Prepared to be embarrassed about previous assumptions.
The only way to really know if your work is affecting the reader is to have people read it. You’ll get over being hurt by critique. If you want someone to tell you your work is perfect, give it to your grandmother. However, don’t expect to improve if that is all the feedback you set yourself up to receive.
Build your career castles in the air, but don’t live there.
Never give up.
How did you “teach” yourself to write or did it just come naturally? What lessons would you pass on to others?
Being good at writing is something we are born with. Being great takes a practice, just as Tai chi or any skill takes practice. So no matter what level of talent we are born with, we all can improve.
I’m good at taking critique. In writing groups, I’ve learned to listen without comment, without explaining my choices, without justifying them. I apply the advice in context of what I know about the commentor’s world view and respect for my work, in context with my respect for their abilities as a reader. Unless that reader is mean or simply an asshole. In this case, I leave the group.
How do you handle a negative critique?
It is critical to get over it, or you won’t improve, and you won’t publish. I try to imagine the skin of a rhino. That is what this career demands.
Is there a type of writing/genre that you find difficult to write? Why?
Poetry and child lit/YA. I don’t know why. In as much as I have a specific voice, I have a way of expressing that is geared for adult readers of literary fiction who like it dark and dire.
How important are the elements of character, setting, and atmosphere to a story, and why?
Critical. What I like about these elements of fiction is that they are much easier to learn how to employ, as opposed to voice.
To your list, I would add imagery, point-of-view, story, and, to some extent, theme. Theme is really the purview of English classes. Theme emerges, for me, in the revision process. When I write fiction to a theme or message, the work comes out preachy and boring. Theme and message are completely appropriate for nonfiction, especially self-help and how-to.
Do you see yourself in any of the characters you create? How/Why?
In As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back, while I totally made up the story, Carlie’s emotional realizations are mine, in very much the same arch.
Other characters contain elements of myself — a good example is the Tai chi teacher’s love of his work and his purposeful generosity despite trauma. He, such as two primary minor characters, are me mixed with people I’ve based them on or simply met, even just glimpsed. An image that results in a feeling can drive a lot of imagination. Two good examples are the gay couple that mentor and nurture Carlie. One is a survivor as well, but not able to claim it and therefore stalled in her healing. That’s “the me” I could have become. I made different choices, is all. The other fave character is a tough-love woman, but soooooo caring. I’ve realized that she’s based on my therapist, who not only saved my life but showed me how to live it.
Is there an unforgettable or memorable character that will not leave your head, either of your own creation or from a book you’ve read?
I’m about to start draft sixteen of my current work, Crazy Medicine. “Crazy medicine” is the English translation of the Thai ya ba: a street drug that cuts methamphetamine with caffeine. When I had that dream—a jade mine in Burma, set into a mountain, I have no idea if that is how jade is mined. The rocks and ground were covered with a thick, grayish dust. As soon as I woke, I knew the story had to do with a young woman traveling in Asia. Lena decides to deal drugs. I hated the idea. The world was so terrible, destructive, violent, and ugly, and I knew about two things related to doing drugs, and absolutely nothing about dealing. To write it seems like so much work. But I couldn’t let go of Lena. I woke from that dream with so much compassion for her. Finding out the why. I was decimated by sadness. I stopped writing for six months. Again, I was driven back to the work by my compulsion to tell Lena’s story.
How did you come up with the title?
Fascinating question. The novel had so many titles before I settled on As Far as You Can Go Before You Have to Come Back. That’s everyone’s story, dealing with whatever they’ve been given to deal with in this life.
From your book, who is your favorite character? Who is your least favorite character? Why?
My fave is Cho, the woman who is compassion wrapped in tough love and, well, greatness. She’s cool. Sensible, fashionable, accomplished, all because she looks the world straight in the eye and accepts all the bullshit with all the good. She runs the department store where Carlie works. When one of the white male employees sexually assaults a Japanese woman who also works there, Cho doesn’t question the young woman’s truth or try to get out of the consequences of addressing sex-u haru (Japanese for sexual harassment) in Japan in the late 1980s. Cho says, “Fire him. Yesterday.” Love that! (Even if I wrote it …)
No surprise, my least favorite character is one of the pedophiles raping Carlie. I probably don’t need to explain further. Strangely enough, I came to a great deal of compassion for the father character, also one of Carlie’s abusers. As I revised, I tried to work in an understanding of his actions even as they are not to be condoned. But I don’t go too far into the boo-hoos of a pedophile. Most of them can fuck right off. This is not a book about perpetrator coming to terms with the sexual trauma they cause. It’s a book about thriving despite it.
One last question, how has your novel done in the market?
I didn’t have huge commercial expectations for a first novel by an unknown author from a small press about surviving sexual abuse. So I was thrilled that the novel received the reviews it did, as well as eleven honors:
Nominated, 2024 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Book Award; Amazon: #1 on Literary Fiction (Kindle Unlimited);Amazon: #1 on Coming of Age (Kindle Unlimited); Amazon: #4 on Feminist Literary Criticism; First Place, 2023 PenCraft Book Award for Fiction: Adventure; First Place, 2022 International Firebird Book Awards: Literary; First Place 2022 International Firebird Book Awards: Coming of Age; Second Place, 2022 International Firebird Book Awards: Women’s Issues; First Place, The 2022 National League of American Pen Women’s Mary Kennedy Eastham Flash Fiction Prize (for an excerpt); and First Finalist (for an excerpt); The 2020 Lascaux Prize.
I hope you enjoyed this interview, and I hope you check out her book. I found her to be captivating and refreshingly honest.
Check out some of the other interviews and articles on my Author Blog, located at www.jrlewisauthor.com and as always, thank you for following along on my writing journey. Until next time …
Links for Alle’s Book:
jrlewis85's Blog 
A writer needs the “skin of a rhino”! Love it!
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