OLD TRICKS, NEW TREATS is book three of the BAG OF TRICKS trilogy: a compilation of short stories about San Francisco punks in the early 80’s.
1 – The prose feels vivid and cinematic—was that a conscious stylistic choice?
I write like I hear it in my head. There is a cadence, like a song, and I have to ’sing’ it onto the page until the song is over. And absolutely, that includes the visual as well as aural. I want my readers to BE there- smelling the trash, feeling the fog moisten their necks, hearing the brash music at the club; be in the story with me.
2 – How did you capture the punk cadence in dialogue and narration?
I saw the interactions in my head and how they played out, like a movie or snapshots. As I wrote, I would rewind and try to capture the way the characters interacted, what they said and how they would say it. And of course, I wanted to share the place and time with you the way I recalled it, in all its fast rhythm and dirt and fun.
3 – What does your editing process look like for such emotionally charged stories?
What’s editing?!
Every day, I re-read what I’d written the day before, and clean sentences up, or add something that was missing. Then, my publisher only asked me to simplify and clean up what I’d written even more. Writers like to hear ourselves on the page, so we often have to get rid of a lot of extraneous words 🙂
4 – Did music influence your sentence rhythms or chapter structure?
Absolutely. I didn’t consciously think of writing that way before getting to it. But I do write stories like I write songs. There is an idea that sets the tone, then visuals to give you exposition- what the story or song is about- then something to bring the point of it all into focus, a moral, an ending, a dissolving into what’s next…
5 – How do you decide where realism ends and storytelling begins?
The funny thing about that is that the real experiences my friends and I had might not be believed by most folks as real. No WAAAAYY! That couldn’t possibly have happened! But I’ve said this before, I did embellish the facts and details about situations and characters to differentiate from the real life events and people. Why? Because I wanted to protect them. And not co-opt their stories. And because I could…
About:
OLD TRICKS, NEW TREATS is book three of the BAG OF TRICKS trilogy: a compilation of short stories about San Francisco punks in the early 80’s.
Follow the adventures of The Shits, Val, Sophie, Babs, Carla, Red, Marco, Bags and all the rest of the rag-tag gang of street punks that populate these stories. Ride with them as they hit new highs and lows, make mostly bad and occasionally good choices, and aim for uncharted lives in the end.
Link – https://amzn.to/4oFYSzL
About the Author
Ruby grew up in the foothills of Northern CA and the West Texas flatlands, riding horses in the back woods near Folsom Prison, and singing with family on the back porch. She attended SDSU at fifteen- studying electrical engineering and drama- then stumbled into life on the streets of San Francisco, enchanted by all the grime and glitz, the drugs and wild nights, even the discordance and insanity of life as a punk in those early days. Moving on, Ruby co-founded the North Coast California Earth First! in Arcata, CA while attending Humboldt State, and fished across Alaskan waters. Eventually, she moved to Seattle, WA where she opened a series of restaurants, then transitioned from restaurateur to singer/songwriter when she started the roots-rockabilly band Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers in 2002. Thrice Grammy-considered, they tour the world and produce award-winning records. In 2023, Ruby wrote Bag of Tricks after reconnecting with old punk friends and reminiscing about those lost years. Most of what she wrote came from events that really occurred, though Ruby took liberties and changed some details because she could. Find more at https://www.rubydeephilippa.com/
Find Part SIX HERE
