“Once Upon a Time in Times Square” by Mona Leigh Rose appeared in Issue 45 and can be found here.
We’d love to hear more about thisstory.
I was walking on the beach, scanning the sand for wave-tumbled glass, when the final scene of this story flashed through my mind exactly as you’ll find it in these pages, and I mean exactly. I thought, who is this woman? What is the strange film mashup she’s watching? And most importantly, why is the name Cinderella stitched in loopy letters across the cup of her bikini top? From there, I pieced together the story that led this woman to that moment.
What was the most difficult aspect of writing this story?
This story was fun to write, but it was a bit, shall we say, different from my usual writing process. I’d never been to a strip club and mentioned to my significant other that I should do some research to get the vibe right. Before you could say “lucite heels,” he’d booked our flights to Vegas and a VIP experience at the town’s largest Gentlemen’s (cough) Club. The women I met there were warm and intelligent, answering all of my questions with grace, wit, and generosity. Ever wonder what a stripper thinks about when she’s working the pole or grinding on a stranger in the champagne room? Laundry. Taxes. Whether she has enough cereal for her kids’ breakfast in the morning. Everything except the men. (Sorry, gentlemen.)
Recommend a book for us which was published within the last decade.
I’ll interpret “last decade” a bit loosely and recommend Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. Ms. Cain changed my perception of my value and place in the world, and for that I am supremely grateful.
If you could have a drink with any living author, who would it be? Why?
Easy: George Saunders. I’d love to see his mind work in real-time.
What are you working on now? What’s next?
Heaven help me, I’m writing a short memoir piece. I didn’t know that non-fiction uses different literary muscles than fiction, or that the experience of delving into deeply personal memories for an audience can be both freeing and constricting. At this precise moment, the piece is squeezing its meaty fingers around my throat. I look forward to getting back to the freeing part soon.
Our thanks to Mona for taking the time to answer a few questions and share this story. Read “Once Upon a Time in Times Square” here.
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