An Interview with Kimbilio Fellow Donald Quist

Form should follow function. Throughout To Those Bounded, I employ a variety of tenses, structures, and points of view in service of the narrative intention. Tense is hugely important in conveying tone and emotion. For the opening, I wanted to pull the reader in with a sense of movement and urgency. The present tense does this well. This choice in tense also helps convey a universality to that moment. Coupled with a second-person (“you”) the present tense becomes a list of imperatives for those who may find themselves feeling pursued elsewhere.

Donald Quist, from an interview in Assay: A Journal of Nonfiction Studies

Read the rest of the interview at this link: https://www.assayjournal.com/donald-quist.html