Flash Interview: Tara Isabel Zambrano
What does it mean to be “ruined a little when we are born”? Writer and engineer Tara Isabel Zambrano searches for the answer to that question in her newest collection of short stories, Ruined a Little When We Are Born, which explores motherhood and family within the context of Indian diaspora and culture. In these forty unique stories, Zambrano uses stunning prose and magical realism to dissect how individuals—especially girls and women—are molded beneath the weight of a patriarchal society. While tales of girlhood traditionally focus on all things innocent and sweet, Zambrano’s characters are anything but. In each story, Zambrano depicts characters as real and ruthless as the world they live in, with familial duty or expectation burdening them in various ways.
In “Mother, False” a grieving daughter assumes responsibility for the family after the death of their mother—and is eventually confronted by her mother’s ghost. In the short story “There Are Places That Will Fill You Up,” a girl leaves her father to join her mother’s world of dangerous magic. The title of the collection itself stems from one of the final stories, which explores the complicated idea that the birth of a daughter leaves her “ruined” in cultures that heavily favor sons. Zambrano writes, in a story first published as “Fangs” in CRAFT, “At night, we hear the trains move in the distance. Coming down the hillside like a long, dark tongue, slamming the levee. One day, we’ll slip inside it and travel to a place where we’re offered a sky.”
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Zambrano about the new collection, including her writing process and inspiration for it. A lover of all things magical realism, I couldn’t wait to read it. Yet all the expectations in the world couldn’t have prepared me for the stunning prose and unabashedly sensual themes therein. The collection’s simply one that you must experience for yourself. And as Tara Isabel Zambrano is widely known as a flash fiction writer—you’ll probably note the wonderful concision and precision of her answers in this flash interview as well.
—Rebecca Loggia
RL: I have to say that, as the daughter of an engineer, I think it’s really neat to be interviewing someone from this background who also writes such exceptional fiction. Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?
TIZ: First of all, thank you, Becca, for taking the time to read Ruined a Little When We Are Born, and for formulating these thoughtful questions.
I didn’t always know that I wanted to be an engineer, but since I was nine years old, when I started writing, I knew writing was going to be a part of me. For the longest time, I did not share my writing with anyone, that is, until I came to the United States and started writing a blog. The posts about my day-to-day life as a parent got attention and gave me the confidence to write fiction and poetry.
RL: How has your professional experience as an engineer, especially as a woman of color in a male-dominated field, found its way into your writing?
TIZ: I believe writing became/is my escape from my day-to-day work. It has allowed my weird, creative imaginations (far from my otherwise logical brain) to form shapes on paper. However, I must admit that my training and work as an engineer have given these stories a foundation of reality and objectivity.
RL: What was your inspiration for Ruined a Little When We Are Born?
TIZ: A year after Death, Desire, and Other Destinations came out, I started thinking about my next book. While going through the pieces I had written, I saw a pattern of parenthood and female desire amid the Indian diaspora as the centerpiece. So, I continued writing stories in the same vein, hoping someday they would be a part of this new collection.
RL: While each story has its own world and characters, the book itself flows effortlessly from beginning to end. What was the process of creating each of these worlds? Did you have trouble making sure each character had their own distinct voice?
TIZ: To write these stories keeping a distinct voice was probably an instinctive thing. My sole purpose was to stay true to the story whether it harmonized as a part of a collection or not. We went through several iterations of choosing stories and then sequencing them, first with my agent and then with the publisher, and I am glad it has worked out well.
RL: Your previous collection, Death, Desire, and Other Destinations, was published in 2020. Was there anything different in the writing process of Ruined a Little When We Are Born? How did you navigate those changes?
TIZ: This new collection has been deliberate in terms of theme. Death, Desire, and Other Destinations came together by chance and includes stories on diverse themes. While putting together my first collection, I picked the best stories and didn’t spend too much time sequencing them. Also, I’d like to believe that over time, my writing has evolved in terms of clarity. I went through several rounds of edits to make these stories the best they could be. As a result, I have developed patience and kept an open mind to kill all my darlings, so each piece rings true to its purpose.
RL: As a writer myself, I love the idea of characters not always being “innocent.” In “Shabnam Salamat,” for example, we see the protagonist wrestle with feelings of desire and guilt. However, you also write her in a way that elicits compassion from the reader—or, at the very least, understanding. Can you describe how you went about creating these characters and their needs/motives?
TIZ: Thank you for that feedback! “Shabnam Salamat” was first published in the Black Mountain Institute’s Witness as a flash piece. For this collection, it was one of the flash pieces I decided to convert to a short story, and with that mindset, I needed to create arcs for every character in this piece. To create fulsome characters, especially the morally gray ones, it’s important to show the reasons for their actions. It’s also crucial to feel their guilt or regret because that’s what makes theirs a human story, something we can all relate to, or at least try to relate to. I am happy to hear this piece invoked a feeling of compassion because that happens when you understand a character, and that’s one of my foremost goals as a writer.
RL: Stories like “Punya Mitti” highlight the plight women face, from poverty to assault to the false nostalgia of girlhood. Was it your goal to hint at these themes from the conception of these stories, or did you find those messages along the way?
TIZ: I had the first draft (a few lines) of “Punya Mitti” open on my computer for the longest time. One day I wrote whatever came to my mind and let it sit. After a week, I went back to it and sieved what made sense. From there I started to add muscles and tendons, a network of nerves to give this piece a shape. I would say that I always strive to write a story that has a social significance, so, instinctively, those issues of poverty and assault seeped into this piece as well.
RL: “Punya Mitti” was one of those weighty stories that depicted a fragile system that often doesn’t benefit women. Did you have a hard time writing about these intense themes, or was there ever a time where you had to walk away from a story due to the heavy truth that this unfair system is a reality for many women?
TIZ: Yes, it was hard to be in that frame of mind while developing this piece and reading and rereading (for edits), thereby living it to some degree. And I did walk away a few times, especially white writing “White Ash,” because of the brutal truths these pieces dug into. But with time, I had to overcome my emotions and stay true to the piece, so it wasn’t overloaded with sentimentality but just was what it was, and I hope I bring these facts to the surface and give readers an opportunity to think about them.
RL: In “One Milky Window,” you write, “In the distance, police sirens are at work. Moths surrounding the streetlamps visible from our windows. Buzzing, birthing, dying…. Delhi illuminated with want.” The protagonist in “Punya Mitti” states, “Ma says the ocean churns and seethes, takes in all that is offered without attachment or aversion, and brings us rain.” These are just a few of the beautiful ways in which you write about setting. I couldn’t help but notice that, oftentimes, the setting itself feels like a reflection of what the character is going through. Is this effect intentional?
TIZ: Setting is, indeed, a reflection of what the character is experiencing. I draw a lot of inspiration from nature and the way the world works on a grand scheme and how everything is interconnected, transient.
We all carry little universes of thoughts and dreams in our heads too, a cosmos, if you will. What we act upon, or not, in our day-to-day life has an impact on us in the future. So, these descriptions and settings are an integral part of my writing process.
RL: Do you have a favorite story from this collection? Or is there one that you had the most fun writing? Why?
TIZ: My favorite story from the collection is “Skin, Breached.” It was a complex story to write because of the relationship of a growing daughter to her single mother. I can’t say I had fun writing this story, because it was challenging to find the words to accurately describe this complexity, this frailty. I knew how it felt but I always felt short of words. Language is limiting. I changed the last few paragraphs so many times because I wanted an ending that seemed like a beginning. Something that isn’t quite love yet equally fatal.
REBECCA LOGGIA has been writing stories since childhood, eventually earning a degree in creative writing at Arizona State University. Her work has been published in the Santa Clara Review, Allegory Ridge, and elsewhere. Her essay, “How to Rewrite a Medical Record,” placed second in the 2023 Doro Böehme Nonfiction Editor’s Contest, and her poem “Infirmary” placed third in the 2017 Phoenix Sister Cities Writers with Disabilities Competition. She is a reader for CRAFT and a teaching artist for the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing. Find her on Instagram @_aspoonfulofwords_.
TARA ISABEL ZAMBRANO is an award-winning writer of South Asian Indian descent. Her writing primarily explores female desire, family, and parenthood against the backdrop of Indian diaspora and culture. Her fiction has won the first prize in the 2019 Southampton Review Short Short Fiction Contest, been a finalist in the 2018 Bat City Review Short Prose Contest and the 2018 Mid-American Review Fineline Competition, and been published in The Best Small Fictions, Best Microfiction, and Wigleaf Top 50 series. In the recent past, Tara has served as fiction editor for Waxwing Literary Journal. Currently, she lives in Texas, where she works as a semiconductor chip designer. During the day when she’s not debugging simulations or faulty circuits in the lab, she’s either reading books, writing stories, or staring at others, but not necessarily in that order. Find her on Instagram @tizambrano.
