Barnstormers: the writing zine you need to read

Photos courtesy of Amanda Depperschmidt and Lily Avery

Amanda Depperschmidt and Lily Avery, both fourth-year writing majors from small towns in the Atlanta area, have started a magazine. “Barnstormers,” the pair’s personal exploration into place writing, launches this Friday at the November Savannah Art March.

District’s Walsh Millette sat down with Depperschmidt and Avery to discuss what exactly place writing is and how “Barnstormers,” their first foray into self-publishing, got started.

So what is place writing?

Depperschmidt: I think that most of place writing is just using a setting or an environment as a character within the story. It plays a definitive role within the piece.

Avery: The setting is a central point and everything stems back to it.

And when did you two decide to take it and start “Barnstormers”?

D: It was our first time going out to get coffee. Our first time hanging out outside of class.

A: This all happened in one day. It just came up. This was in March, the end of March.

D: We chose the name because it had these exciting, flying circus-y connotations. It was a very rowdy, kind of Southern name and I think that’s where we get our spirit for “Barnstormers.”

So it’s a Southern magazine?

D: Yeah, [the South] is just where we’re from, where we’re rooted. Both of our families are very Southern.

A: Yes, and Shakey Graves, he’s a musician, he really inspired us to keep it Southern.

And did you two contribute your own work to the magazine?

 D: Yes, I wrote a nonfiction piece about our trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway at the beginning of September. I did a short memoir and then I have a fiction piece that takes place in a Walmart. It’s just a collection of all the strange things I’ve seen in Walmart. I come from a small town and that’s what we would do for fun, we’d just walk around the Walmart.

A: I took a place writing class over the summer and I wrote about a pizzeria in my hometown that is actually the only business that’s been able to stay afloat because it’s a very small town. So I wrote about it and how I grew up with that pizza place there, because one of my close childhood friends, his dad owns it. And then I also wrote a poem about a friend who served in Iraq. He shared some of his journals with me from Iraq, and that inspired me.

How many outside submissions did you receive?

 D: We got about 25 and then edited it down to 17.

What were some of the submission criteria? What did you really look for in submissions?

D: We didn’t look for length. It was definitely language and style.

A: Definitely language.

Did you gravitate toward a certain style?

D: We’re both very attracted to extreme voices and more experimental type writing.

Experimental in what way?

A: Not so much cut and dry.

D: Pushing the boundaries of what you can do and what can you say in a piece.

A: For example, we received an oral history submission.

From Professor Lough, right? Whose idea was it to ask him to submit?

 D: We were always talking to him and then one day we were like, “We should just ask him.” And he was very sweet about it and said he would be honored.

As far as other submissions, what did you receive the most of?

A: Poetry and nonfiction. Not many people sent us fiction.

Were most of these from the writing department here at SCAD?

 D: Yes, I’d say so. Most of them. We had one outside submission.

A: They saw our flier somewhere and sent us something, but they didn’t make it in.

How long did it take you to pull it all together?

 D: The submissions came in two waves. We had our original submission date in late July.

A: But I think we’d only gotten three by that point.

D: So we pushed it back to September and we jumped on social media. We got on Tumblr and Facebook and then we were getting plenty.

Where do you see the most interaction and feedback?

A: We get a lot on Instagram, a decent amount on Facebook and Tumblr.

And how is all this funded?

 D: Well, we’re doing a Kickstarter.

A: It’s pretty much self-funded so far.

And why now? Why wait until your senior year to start this?

 D: We were both so slow to become writing majors. I was film originally.

A: I was fibers.

D: And we both had very a unique niche within the writing department, so we wanted to make something where we felt we could have fun and we wanted to invite other people to have fun with us.

A: It’s just a crazy idea that we didn’t really think would actually happen.

So, ultimately, what is “Barnstormers” about?

 D: “Barnstormers” is all about just exploring — not just the physical location, but exploring in our writing and in our work.

A: It’s a lot of learning how not to be afraid of going somewhere else, trying something new.

 

“Barnstormers” launches Friday, Nov. 7, at the Savannah Art March. You can purchase issues there and at the Nonfiction Gallery right by SCAD’s Arnold Hall on Bull Street. Depperschmidt and Avery have also set up an Etsy store where you can buy “Barnstormers” merchandise as well as physical copies of the magazine itself.

Find them on social media at the following accounts:

Facebook: Barnstormers Zine

Instagram: @barnstormerszine

Tumblr: barnstormerszine

Pinterest: barnstormerszin

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