A Q&A with Fiction Instructor Shervon Cassim
This week, we sat down with one of our fiction instructors, Shervon Cassim. Shervon teaches Fiction I and Fiction II for us, in addition to his role as assistant director to the NC State MFA program and his position as president of the North Carolina Writers Network’s board.
Redbud: You've taught creative writing at the university level for years, and this is your third Redbud class. What is your favorite element of craft to teach (character, setting, plot, etc) and what's your preferred way to teach it?
Shervon: I have to admit I don't have a favorite element (maybe I should work on that), but I've found that encouraging students to look at fiction as a form of "built" mechanism made up of various working parts has been very helpful.
Redbud: What's your biggest pet peeve when editing student work? Phrased another way: if you could give one piece of STOP DOING THAT advice to every aspiring writer, what would it be?
Shervon: Tell your own story -- something only you can write. Don't be content with emulating other writers.
Redbud: Let's hear a bit about your own writing. What are your interests as a writer? What are you working on these days/what are your preferred characters/settings/themes with which to grapple?
Shervon: My writing is mostly centered around ideas of nationality, identity, and belonging. I'm currently working on a creative non-fiction book about Dubai, where I was born.
Redbud: How about reading? What are some recent books you've read and loved?
Shervon: Otessa Moshfegh's Eileen, Rachel Kushner's The Mars Room, Hisham Matar's The Return, Tana French's The Secret Place, and Laurent Gaudé's Écoutez nos défaites.
Redbud: In addition to the many teaching hats you wear, you're also on the board of the North Carolina Writers Network. How would you describe the writing community here in North Carolina: what are some of its unique advantages and its particular challenges? How do you hope to see the community grow over the next five years?
Shervon: North Carolina has one of the best writing communities of any place I can think of. It's got a rich history of producing world-class novelists, poets, and writers of short stories and creative non-fiction, and it continues to do so. I'd like to make sure our aspiring writers have access to our writing community and infrastructure.
Redbud: Tell us three fun facts about you that have nothing to do with the written word.
Shervon: I have a soft spot for Australian muscle cars, I'm a big G.I.Joe nerd, and I make a decent shakshuka.
Shervon’s next class for us is a Fiction I course at So&So Books, starting on Sunday, March 15. Sign up here!