5 Questions with Savannah Horton
Today, we published the final installment of Savannah Horton’s story, “Death Rattle.” Michael Colbert spoke with Savannah about voice, El Paso, and writing affection and obsession.
The Rejoinder: This story is so rich–the complicated relationship dynamics, Marta, Wheel of Bestsllers–what came to you first, and how did you bring the story’s various elements together?
Savannah Horton: I definitely think two separate ideas converged here—the increase in polyamorous couples I’ve seen on social media and the fact that I’ve been working for marketing agencies for a bit now and am totally fascinated by what I’m told to spend my time and company resources on. On the polyamorous side, I’ve always wondered how couples who start in a monogamous relationship come to the decision to branch out—even if it’s a communal decision, someone has to bring it up first, and someone likely wants it more. And are they jealous, even if they promise not to be? As a jealous person, I can’t even imagine. I guess a third thought wrapped up in this idea was my frustration with seeing women in TV or movies as withholding sex—often in heterosexual relationships—simply for an attempted power play. I wanted the narrator and the girlfriend to show two sides of the spectrum when it came to that part of a relationship. I think both are a bit insecure with their situations and frustrated with the other person for not fully understanding what they want or need at that time from the relationship.
TR: I was really taken by the story’s exploration of these complicated relationship dynamics, and they come to a head when the narrator confesses that their relationship might look more like an “obsession”; how were you thinking about how these two characters see, understand, and misunderstand each other?
SH: I think I am someone who is potentially a tad effusive and panicky when showing affection, yet I tend to choose partners who are the opposite. So I always wonder, when we’re around family or friends, or when I’m talking about them to family or friends, if I look somewhat obsessive. I also think I grew up believing only certain methods of affection signaled love, which just isn’t true. I’ve spent a lot of time reminding myself of this fact when I have had misunderstandings with family members or partners. I don’t know if I’m all-in on the “love language” thing, but there’s definitely some truth to the fact that people express their feelings or want to receive love in very different ways. And I do think if you’re not discussing that in a relationship—especially if those ways are pretty divergent—it can lead to unnecessary resentment or obstacles. I wanted to weave all this into the story in some way, particularly as the narrator and her girlfriend reach a point in their relationship where they know each other so well that they're comfortable being a bit cruel.
TR: The voice is so sharp, and it works in tandem with the narrator’s backstory to really clearly depict how she feels about her situation. How do you think about voice in your writing, and how do you home in on a particular voice?
SH: You are very generous to say that. I think what I enjoy most about reading and writing is voice. This tends to lead, in my own writing, to stories about nothing, so I’ve tried to work on this over the years to keep people interested in plot—still a work in progress. But I tend to start stories or novels with sentences I enjoy or thoughts I find entertaining rather than an idea about the direction itself. I like to read voices that say exactly what they’re thinking in their thoughts but not in their speech--I like the jarring honesty paired with the forced restraint of social norms. And I think I have a tendency to make characters a bit annoying with snark, so I’ve tried to keep more of that bite under the surface and hopefully keep the dynamic between characters slightly unsettling instead of downright irritating.
TR: The setting is really important to this story–between Cormac McCarthy and the dust storm. Why El Paso?
SH: Over the past couple of years, I've spent a few months living in Texas and New Mexico—I’m currently in Las Cruces—and I still just can’t get over the environment, physically. It’s so completely different from that of New England—where I grew up—and everything about it—the landscape, the climate, the colors—feels somehow both threatening and freeing. I’m experiencing every cliché I’ve ever heard about the desert, apparently. Whenever I remember that people actually get to live here full-time, I’m always a bit jealous. I thought it might make for a good spot to set a story where people are trying to reinvent themselves. I've spent the past couple of years traveling around the U.S., and the obvious lesson for me is that you’re likely going to be the same wherever you end up, you’re just reacting to a different set of circumstances.
El Paso was my first real experience of all this. We lived just outside of the city, and everything around our little neighborhood was under construction, so it felt like we were kind of abandoned in a way that I enjoyed. I liked being inaccessible—we’d driven eight hours or so from Austin through these enormous stretches of West Texas, and I was basically pointing out the window the whole car ride at all the mesas because I’d only seen them in textbooks or movies. At the same time, I thought it was so cool how close the border was—at night, you could see the split between all the lights in either city. I was also particularly interested in the somewhat biased reaction we got from most people back home whenever we mentioned the city and where it was located. No one could understand why we wanted to be there, but no one who said this had ever visited for themselves.
TR: What’s exciting to you in fiction now, whether with writing or what you’re reading?
SH: Honestly, I’m a bit of a sour sport when it comes to some trends in fiction—or maybe I’m undecided. Things like BookTok make me sad but also happy because more people are reading. I just don’t know if I love the fact that we’re seemingly going to need to adapt plot and style to what teenage influencers are telling followers to read. But I may be too harsh here. In my own writing, I’m trying to balance the contemporary need for an urgent, engaging story—I tend to struggle here—with a character’s ruminations or a group’s wacky banter, both of which have always been more fun for me to read and write but can lend themselves to basking in the pleasure of your own thoughts. My real-person job has made it pretty tough to read and write consistently—a terrible thing—so I’m not super up-to-date with new fiction. When I do read, I tend to choose 19th and 20th-century books. I just have a soft spot for them. I’m currently reading Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton again, which crushes me every time. The “newest” book I’ve probably read was Intimacies by Katie Kitamura, which I really enjoyed—I found the brain of the narrator very fun to live in.
