Loren Stephens
Loren Stephens is a widely published essayist and fiction and nonfiction storyteller. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, MacGuffin, The Jewish Women’s Literary Annual, Forge, Crack the Spine, Amuse Bouche, The Writer’s Launch, the Summerset Review, the Montreal Literary Review, and Tablet Travel Magazine to name a few. She is a two-time nominee of the Pushcart Prize and the book Paris Nights: My Year at the Moulin Review, by Cliff Simon with Loren Stephens was named one of the best titles from an independent press by Kirkus. She is president and founder of the ghostwriting companies, Write Wisdom and Bright Star Memoirs. Prior to establishing her company Loren was a documentary filmmaker. Among her credits are Legacy of the Hollywood Blacklist with on camera narration by Burt Lancaster, produced for PBS and nominated for an Emmy Award; Sojourner Truth: Ain't I a Woman? produced for Coronet Films and recipient of a Golden Apple from the National Education Association; and Los Pastores: The Shepherd’s Play produced for the Latino Consortium of PBS and recipient of a Cine Gold Eagle and nominated for an Imagen Award. She is a member of the Regional Board of the Anti-Defamation League; a member of its Deborah Awards Committee for Outstanding Women; and a member of Greenlight Women, an organization of women in the entertainment industry who serve as mentors.
Twitter: @lorenstephensww
Is there a work of art that you love. Why? Have you ever visited it in person?
My sister and I stopped to admire Carnation, Lily, Lily Rose, an oil on canvas by John Singer Sargent hanging in the Tate Britain. The painting depicts “two small children dressed in white who are lighting paper lanterns as day turns to evening; they are in a garden strewn with pink roses, accents of yellow carnations and tall white lilies behind them.” The subjects of the painting are the seven- and eleven- year-old daughters of the artist’s friend. The title comes from the refrain of a popular song “Ye Shepherds Tell Me” a pastoral glee which mentions one of the dark-haired girls wearing “A wreath around her head, around her head she wore, Carnation, lily, lily rose.”
The light emanating from the Chinese lanterns, lilies, and white pinafores glow against the lengthening shadows. The artist captured a fleeting moment in time when day is fading into night. My sister and I gave the painting our highest honors. What we didn’t point out to one another standing in front of the painting, is that we have a similar photograph of ourselves at a young age dressed in starched white pinafores with ruffles, our dark red hair in sausage curls painstakingly arranged by our nursemaid so many years ago playing in a garden, enveloped in Nature’s soothing grace.
Do you collect anything? Is so, what why and for how long?
I grew up surrounded by art – in particular, post-Impressionist, Nabi and Fauvist paintings; Picasso; and later Pre-Columbian art of which my mother became an expert after studying the subject at Yale University and working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Whenever we would take a trip abroad, my mother’s first stop was to an art museum. I remember getting up a little too close to a Van Gogh and was nearly kicked out of the museum by the guard. I have inherited a few pieces from my mother’s collection and have built upon it, leaning most toward contemporary artists whom I have discovered on my own travels. I usually give a piece of art the “three day test.” If I can’t get it out of my mind for at least three days I know that it must be mine.
What is the difference between being a writer and an author? How do you shift gears between the two?
I have two distinct answers to this question. I earn my daily bread as a ghostwriter. I refer to my clients as the author; and I am the writer struggling to get their thoughts and ideas on the page in their voice, so that the writing becomes seamless. The highest compliment I can be given is for a client to say, “My friend heard my voice on every page.” I know that I have succeeded in some fashion.
The other answer is that I am a writer when I am in the process of crafting a novel, essay, or short story of my own. At the point when it is done, I then switch into author mode trying to find a home for my work, and if I am lucky enough to have it published by a newspaper, literary journal or publishing house, I become the Author with a capital A, which means I am marketing my work so that it is read by the general public. One of my writing teachers calls herself the marketing whore when she flips into this mode, and I happily embrace this name. Apologies to anyone who might be offended!
Is there another profession you would like to try?
When I was in the seventh grade, I wrote away to the Traphagan School of Design for their catalog on clothing design. I used to sit and copy the fashion illustrations in the New York Times (at that time photographs of live models weren’t common) and I took a sewing class in Home Economics. That is where I discovered that I couldn’t follow a pattern or sew a straight seam. I made a maroon jumper with straps and buttons and a zipper that went up the back. It barely made it through a full day’s activity and I relegated it to the darkest corner of my closet. Had I known about Dianne von Furstenberg, her wrap dress, and the fact that she didn’t know the first thing about sewing, I might have been encouraged to pursue a career in fashion design. As it is, I love to buy beautiful clothes and am often asked to consult with friends on their ensembles for a special occasion. I also love to dress my characters and adore looking at fashion style books.
Are there particular films that have influenced your writing?
In an earlier career I was a documentary filmmaker and docudrama producer. Producing films gave me a great appreciation for the idea of “scene creation” which are among the building blocks of a novel or memoir, for example. Producing films also gave me an appreciation for timing and pacing and action. When nothing happens, the reader will become bored. A scene must always have something at stake for a character, and not be overloaded with too many details. Details used sparingly have much greater impact than a string of them. Movies are also part of my toolbox, and I love to refer to scenes in films or with actors. For example, “he looked like Robert Duval” or “he smiled like Clark Gable,” and so forth. I have even lifted a scene from a film and integrated it into a novel with permission. For example, the first film I ever saw on a date was “The Eddy Duchin Story,” and I had my main character in “All Sorrows Can Be Borne,” re-enact a moment from the film. She was an aspiring actress and played both roles in a two-hander. So like books, movies are a treasure trove of inspiration for me.
