Interview with The Bristol Short Story Prize



I’m delighted to welcome Joe Melia, the main coordinator of The Bristol Short Story Prize, to the blog for a chat about the prize and short stories. What a treat. Enjoy!



Welcome to the blog, Joe. So, tell us about The Bristol Short Story Prize.
Many thanks the invite, it’s a real pleasure to be here. The BSSP is an annual international short story competition that publishes an anthology of 20 previously unpublished stories and awards cash prizes to the 20 authors featured in the anthology. We’re in our 3rd year. We’re based in Bristol, hence the name, and try to involve lots of different facets of the city in what we do: for instance, the photos on our website are taken by a couple of photography students from Filton College, we invite journalism students at Bath Spa university to do interviews for our site and we invite designs for our anthology covers from final year illustration students at University of the West of England. These initiatives all take place annually.
How and why did it start?
The BSSP was founded by the editors of Bristol Review of Books magazine in 2007.  The magazine is a free quarterly that has features on the local arts and culture scene as well as lots of book reviews. The mag. has always published poetry and the idea for the short story competition came from the desire to support and publish new and exciting short stories and also to raise some money for the magazine to ensure it remained a free publication rather than filling it with advertising. The winning story in the BSSP also gets published in the magazine. The central idea from the start remains – to publish great short stories and reward the writers.
What do you look for when you select the judges? (Click to see this year’s.)
We’ve been very lucky with the judges we have approached so far, they have nearly all said ‘yes please’ straight away. Up to now we have stuck with the Bristol theme in selection- everyone on the judging panels we have selected has a strong connection with the city, this may well change in future years. The most important thing for us is that the judges have enthusiasm for the project and the short story in particular. Our chair Bertel Martin is one of the editors of Bristol Review of Books and heavily involved in the setting up and direction that BSSP takes, he also, writes, publishes and performs which brings an awful lot to the compiling of the shortlist. As well as Bertel, we have a couple of people who have some standing in the publishing/book industry, something we look to feature every year. We’re very lucky to have Maia Bristol (yes, that is her name!) UK sales manager at Faber & Faber and a big short story and new writing fan, and also Bristol publisher Helen Hart who has worked previously for Harpercollins- this kind of experience is invaluable in the judging process. We look for people who bring other things to the process, too: Joe Berger tells stories in many ways as a cartoonist, children’s writer and animator and he will bring a unique angle to the judging process. It was a great day for the city when Tania Hershman moved here last summer, as well as being a superb writer her enthusiasm for the world of short fiction (although she doesn’t like that term much!) is such an inspiration. I was reading ‘Go Away’ from her fantastic debut collection ‘The White Road and other stories’ for about the fiftieth time when she revealed on her blog that she was moving here- let the bells ring out, I thought!
What do you think of the state of the short story in the UK at the moment?
There are so many exciting things happening that it’s difficult to get to sleep at night thinking about future possibilities! Just off the top of my head, if you go outside the major publishers, some of whom consistently publish great collections- Atlantic, Faber etc. look at what Roast Books are doing, for instance- phenomenal stuff. ‘A-Z of Possible Worlds’ is one of the most courageous, groundbreaking acts of publishing it’s possible to imagine, it’s also a wonderful collection. And Comma Press, Salt Publishing– we look on in awe at what these guys are doing. Then there’s Short Fuse , Story Slam Live, Pulp.net short story cafe, Word Soup, Year Zero Writers live projects- such an active scene. And look at that list of magazines Tania put together the other day and the latest prizes to appear- Manchester and the Sunday Times (I think!), £25,000 first prize.
Here’s a scoop for you, Nik. We’ve been developing something for the last 18 months which will be piloted this year on a small scale and then, hopefully, if we get the funding, will be up and running in a big way for our 2011 Prize. In the next month or so Henbury school in Bristol will choose a story from our previous anthologies and a year 10 art class will produce pictures/images, in response to the story. The author of the story will visit the school to chat to the children about their writing, short stories, their story etc. and the pictures/images/works will be displayed in a gallery at the Arnolfini arts centre in Bristol during the day of our awards ceremony in July. Next year, we’ll open it out to 5 or 6 schools, who will all work on different stories and on different types of adaptations- drama, film, music, dance whatever they choose to do. These performances/exhibitions will be a major part of a day-long short story jamboree culminating in our awards ceremony in the evening. We’ve got lots of other stuff planned including a short story dj. It will be a big fiesta celebrating the vibrant and dynamic world of the short story and with it we hope to be contributing in our own small way to all the exciting things mentioned earlier. This has turned out to be a very long answer-sorry! Long term we hope to expand this to a weekend and then a few days but it’s early days and we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves.
Can you tell us a little about the prize’s anthologies?
They’re full of variety and different styles and great writing. There’s some historical fiction in there, humour, verse, stories that score highly on the quirkometre- some from experienced writers and some from those just starting out. One of the joys of the competition is finding out about the authors of the stories. All the stories are read anonymously and you always have a picture of the author when you read a story and quite often it turns out to be wrong, particularly the gender of the writer, get caught out by that a lot. And interestingly, knowing about the author can really alter the reading experience a great deal.
What, in your opinion, makes a short story great?
A really difficult question because there are so many different kinds of short story and different aspects of a short story that I really like and that are very effective. I do enjoy stories that really go to town on inviting the reader to ‘come to the aid’ of the writer, as Harold Bloom puts it, because it highlights one of the distinctive aspects of the short story ie the reader is often much more involved than in say, lots of novels, for instance.
Take Hemingway’s legendary six worder ‘For sale: baby shoes, never worn’ – it’s entirely up to the reader to fill in the gaps. Is this an unbearable tragedy with a baby dying or given up for adoption , or a domestic dispute over the colour of the shoes, is the baby alive and well but with unusually large feet, have the shoes been stolen and subsequently turn out to be extremely sought-after with a high market value, have they been sent to the wrong address and the occupants happen to be desperate for money? The possibilities are endless.
But I also think that great short stories have numerous other qualities-they leave an indelible mark, make you gasp, make you want to read them again and again, create an entirely convincing universe within a few lines, describe an episode or encounter or moment of realisation that not only effects some kind of change or eureka moment in a character but also the reader.
What do you think the future holds for the short form?
Nothing but brightness!  Short stories are one of the most basic and common forms of human interaction. Think about how many times stories are told- meeting someone in the street,  arriving at work,  having a haircut, visiting friends/family, a lengthy evening at the public house, a phone conversation. All of these occasions and more are full of stories. How are you? Did you have a nice weekend? How was your holiday? Did you hear about…? Wassup? – these prompts are everywhere, every second of every day all over the world and nearly always lead to a short story of some kind. I’d love a clever clogs somewhere to estimate the number of short stories that are related worldwide in a 24hr period – how many millions of pieces of short fiction would that be??
Also, having 2 small children makes you realise that short stories dominate pre-school reading- there are so many examples of Joycean epiphanies and Chekhov’s ‘note of interrogation’, it’s astounding-.The climax to ‘I’ll Show You, Blue Kangaroo?’ is a great example of the elusive Chekhov ending.  Short stories are everywhere and will continue to be. So the idea that gets banged around in some circles that no one wants to read or write them or buy books of them and that the short story is something that needs ‘saving’ is way beyond outright absurdamundo that it deserves no more airtime from this day forward. As Douglas Coupland says in his latest novel Generation A : ‘Without stories, our universe is merely rocks and clouds and lava and blackness. It’s a village scraped raw by warm waters leaving not a trace of what existed before.’
What would you say about flash fiction and short, short stories?
A great form and really powerful. They are unbeatable at delivering sensational knock-out blows- Lydia Davis is excellent at the art, for instance.  I’m still reeling from having read ‘Fear’ a week or so ago- it contains about 100 words and has a strength , intensity and resonance that defies belief. This is what flash fiction can do.
Do you think there’s anything more us short story writers (and readers) could and should be doing?
Just keep writing and reading stories. And write what you want, really want. Not what you think other people will want to read or something you think might be like another writer- just write your truth and stick to it. It’s wonderful the way in which writers support and encourage each other- it really is an act of courage writing something and letting other people see it. I have nothing but the utmost admiration for writers.
As a short story lover yourself, which five collections would you say are required reading?
Required reading is a tricky one. This is Earth’s toughest question!
If I may, perhaps I’ll give you 5 collections that immediately shivered my timbers and I return to ever such a lot (there are a lot more than 5):
          The Lady with the Little Dog and other stories’ Anton Chekhov
          Drinking Coffee Elsewhere and other stories’ ZZ Packer
          Burned Children of America’ ed. Zadie Smith
          My Oedipus Complex and other stories’ Frank O’Connor
          Not Her Real Name’ Emily Perkins
It would be a different 5 tomorrow and again the next day. Just thought of loads of others
Anything you’d like to add?
I’m looking forward to reading collections by these people very soon: Padrika Tarrant, Laura Van Den Berg, Sarah Salway, Gwendoline Riley, Panos Karnezis, about a zillion others and reading everything Lydia Davis has ever written.
Thanks once again for your kind invite, Nik.

Short Circuit – in conversation with Vanessa Gebbie

Welcome back, Vanessa. Last time you were here we were talking about short stories. Now you’ve edited a guide to them. So, Editor Gebbie, could you tell us a little about Short Circuit – A Guide to the Art of the Short Story? 

Thanks Nik, it’s great to be back, and thanks for the invite. I love being Editor Gebbie! It’s been a terrific project: knackering, exciting, challenging and frustrating by turns. Compiling something like this, identifying the right writers, working with  all 24 of them, has been at times like herding cats – with myself the worst of the cats to herd, I might add. But I am very very proud of the finished book.

 

Who’s it for? 

It’s for anyone who wants to write short stories. Maybe someone who had a go, and discovered that actually, writing good ones is not as easy as some people think! It’s aimed at students on writing courses, maybe at the universities, maybe not. It’s aimed at people who are already writing them, and want to do it better, stronger, differently. It’s aimed at people like me (they always say write for yourself, don’t they??) who may want a refresher. A ‘shot in the arm’. A reminder that when things don’t go right that there are a whole load of superb writers out there who share that feeling and can offer insights, ideas, inspiration.

But also, I’ve been told it is a good companion volume for anyone who enjoys reading short stories, to understand the craft behind the scenes, to be introduced to the works that inspire the writers. It’s a fun, fascinating and engaging read.

 

How much do you think good writing/ story telling is down to intuition, as opposed to what can be learned from How-To books, forums, and workshops? 

Good question! I’ve met a few ‘how-to’ books that didn’t help me to the ‘how’ at all, and were just platforms for ‘look at moi!’ from the author.

But is good writing/storytelling just something we are born with? Let’s look at storytelling first. That’s innate in us all. It goes back to dark nights in caves, round the fire, weaving stories to explain the rising of the sun and the movement of the stars night on night. When you listen to a voice telling a story, are in the presence of the teller, it is a mesmerising experience. You can get totally caught up with the world of the story. The word ‘novel’ seems to have its origins in the ‘news’ taken from one town to another, and relayed by word of mouth… then slowly, so the story goes, the sequence of events were juggled to make people wait to find out what happened… to make a better ‘story’…as people listened, they were caught up in the events of that other town.

It’s not so easy for the written word to have that transporting effect on the reader. But with a following wind and a bit of peace, the reader can sink into a story and disappear in the fictive dream in the same way – and there are good strong craft skills behind that, in the writing. Each time the craft falters, the writer stumbles into the reader’s space, and the dream breaks. A badly crafted piece will not have the same mesmerising, dreamlike effect effect on the reader.

Craft is a skill and it can be taught.  But one thing that stultifies the learning experience for this awkward cuss is that I always find this – if a single person is trying to tell me how to do something as complex as creative writing, I lose patience as soon as one thing they say differs from my own experience. But give me a range of tutors, with slightly different approaches, ideas, voices… I may be more willing to listen. To try new things. To come closer to my own creativity – and no one else’s.

In Short Circuit, the contributors may even contradict each other. That’s marvellous. Tobias Hill talks about writing in a relatively ‘plotted’ way, although he can also work intuitively. Marian Garvey talks about not plotting and ‘writing into the void’ as she calls it. Neither are ‘right’, and neither are ‘wrong’. They are different writers. And that’s the point. For you, the reader, to have a look at every which way, try things out, and discover something about yourself. That’s process.

What about imagination. Can we teach that too? Not so easy. But another thing that can be taught (or shown, I prefer that word) is a way of writing, or opening up, so that new ways of ‘seeing’ life feed the imagination.

I think anyone can be taught to write well. And encouraged to use their imaginations, to be braver, wackier, to ‘let go’. But what they write after that… well, that’s not so easy!  What drives you  as a writer matters. A spark has to be there, something different, original. Call that intuition if you like. Something innate. Maybe that’s what differentiates the greats from the rest?

 

 

Are you one for writing exercises? If you are, which muscles are being worked? 

Yes. I think they have their place. The very act of embarking on a writing exercise uses creative muscles that may need a workout. But they are just that, exercises… a chance to try things out, to experiment. It’s good to keep those muscles loose, isn’t it? So when we just have to get to the paper and write, or to the computer and tap away, we do it freely. Which muscles? Erm the story-biceps, the character-six pack, the gluteus maximus of theme!  

No, I don’t do writing exercises every day. But I do enjoy discovering new ones, and trying out new things. I love attending workshops  and courses. If I ever get fed up of learning about what I do, I’ll stop.

 

 

What would reading Short Circuit do for me? 

Cor, how long have you got? It is like sitting down in a one-to-one with a series of top prizewinners, and listening to their secrets. Hearing them talking honestly about their craft, maybe taking their own work to pieces, revealing the scaffolding. It’s like having a private session with a series of different writing tutors who have no axes to grind. Who are simply passionate about what they do and want nothing more than to help you achieve the same things.

You’ll find inspiration in their words, and in their company – because at base, writing is a lonely thing to be doing. It reminded me, after the mean-spirited events of earlier this year  of the innate generosity of spirit of so many superb successful writers. I hope it does the same for you.

24 writers sending you off to find other inspiration in the many ideas for trying things out for yourself. 24 writers giving you lists of stories they have found extraordinary, for one reason or another. And lists of reference books.

Short Circuit is a 288 page ‘door’ into a huge resource of craft, idea, inspiration and literature.

 

 

If you’d have read Short Circuit a few years ago, what would it have changed? 

I would have loved this book! When I was given the commission by Salt to compile a text book, they gave me free rein, and said ‘just do it.’ So I was able to pull together the perfect book that would have done such a lot for me.

When I started out a few years ago now, I had to fight to concentrate on the short story at a university course. The course I did wanted only novels – and I wasn’t ready to do that. I discovered the power of short fiction, thinking mechanistically – ‘I’ll cut my teeth on something shorter’. Then I discovered how hard they were to get right. Discovered the intensity of experience that reading a short story can give you. Short Circuit would have been a brilliant companion for the whole class– injecting more than a little energy into my own journey – but also feeding the craft skills of those who were struggling with their novels.

 

 

I asked (fellow Short Circuit contributor) Sarah Salway, when I interviewed her last year: If there was a Miracle-Gro for writers, what would it do? and she replied by saying: ‘I think we have it right now, and it’s called blogging.’ How would you answer that question? 

Something that feeds writers… intensely? Before answering this question, I read a bit about Miracle-Gro on the internet. (Bless the Internet, occasionally!) And I discovered that it forces growth fast. And most of the time that’s fine, but it causes weakness in the plants if over-used.

Why would a writer need to grow faster than is natural? Let experience work its way through, I’d say. The best Miracle-Gro for writers has been around for ever. It’s called life. And it’s also called reading. Reading lots – anything and everything.

 

 

Has editing Short Circuit changed your approach to writing? 

It’s a bit soon to answer that one. It’s been fascinating to read everyone’s essays, to learn what goes on in their creative lives. I hope Short Circuit will enrich all the readers… including me!

 

Can you recommend any other good books on the subject? 

If I had to choose just one, I’d go back time and time again to Dorothea Brande’s Becoming a Writer

 

And to finish, can you recommend a writing exercise (or a few) to my readers?

·         Switch off the computer. Pick up a pen. And write a chat between yourself and the pen, letting it talk to you about the words it keeps locked in the ink…words it can’t tell you about because you hardly use it…

·         Keep two lists of words. First, a list of emotions. Second, a list of colours.  When you don’t feel like a writer, pick one from each list at random, and let the two words open up a story…

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And you can see which book I’d recommend, if I could only recommend one, here.

Short Circuit

Just a little heads up really. Vanessa Gebbie will be here on Monday talking to me about Short Circuit – A Guide to the Art of the Short Story, of which she is the editor.

I’ve been flicking through it. It’s really rather good. I particularly like what Alison Macleod had to say (I’ve not read anything by her yet, this will change) and the essay in there by my good friendTania Hershman.


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And in other news, I’ve just emailed my recommendation to the good folk over at One Book – bet you can’t guess which one I chose.

Like Spinach, Flash Fiction is Good For You – David Gaffney Interview

I’m thrilled to welcome flash fiction writer and novelist David Gaffney to my blog today, to talk about, well, a whole manner of stuff, including why flash fiction is like cooked spinach and getting to the point of the chase. And sandwiches made by your dad.




Welcome to the blog, David. You have a new collection of flash fiction out, Aromabingo – can you tell us a little about it?

Aromabingo came out in hard back last year and now the paperback is just out. It’s a follow up to sawn off tales, which was my collection of ultra-short fiction – stories all exactly 150 words long ( count them, its true as long as you allow me a hyphen  in the word pop-tart) Aromabingo  is one third flash fiction, one third slightly longer pieces and one third even longer than that. I’ve divided the sections like old vinyl records – 45s, 12 inch singles, and LPs.

 

I read and enjoyed your debut collection, Sawn-off Tales, how does the new book compare?

The themes are my usual stuff: weird people in humdrum worlds, humdrum people in weird worlds, weird people in weird worlds, and a few humdrum people in humdrum worlds (but not so many like that). A couple of the longer stories maybe feel a little more serious, possibly just because they are longer. I only publish longer ones when I have completely failed to find a way to cut them right down as I do prefer ultra short; but longer stories have the advantage of allowing the reader to relax a bit more and settle into the fictional world. In flash fiction you never get time to kick your shoes off and pour a glass of wine.

 

What, in your opinion, is flash fiction?

It’s stories of less than 500 words I’d say.  Maybe flash is a male thing like minimalism -there are no cushions or scented candles in flash fiction, it’s all barebones and getting right down to the nitty gritty. When people go shopping in flash fiction story they buy only essentials, things they are going to need for the next few hours. I see flash as concentrated injections of pure distilled reality. I read an article recently comparing sandwiches from different shops; a Marks and Spencer’s sandwich was like one made by a posh chef, whereas a sandwich from Boots was like one your mother would make. Well if flash fiction was a sandwich it would be the sort of sandwich made by your dad, complete with thumb prints –  and definitely no salad. In fact, to continue the food theme, making flash fiction stories is like cooking spinach;  you fill a pan with enough leaves to feed an elephant then after a few minutes all you have left is a coating of thin green sludge on the bottom. But don’t worry – its incredibly tasty. Flash fiction, like spinach is very, very good for you.

 

And what makes good flash fiction?

Flash fiction don’t just cut to the chase, it cuts to the point of the chase, hitting you with a powerful one off injection of ideas and emotions which flood the mind and leave you reeling. But the problem is with this intensity is you often need a break from reading. A few flash fictions in a row might amaze and delight – one after another and you feel like you’ve been run over by lorry full of fridges. I think that really good flash has a kind of formal and emotional exactness. You can find yourself lost in these frozen little shards of time, and you hold your breath, suspended between an endless known  moment and an endless unknown future. That’s why I love them. A good piece of flash may seem innocent on the surface but glows from the inside with secret menace. I think that flash fiction sometimes has more in common with text art than literature; people like David Shrigley, or graphic novel/comic books artists like David Frith with his Salad Fingers series. And why not celebrate short things? Short songs have always been the greatest – Blitzkrieg Bob rather than Pink Floyd, that’s what I say.

 

What’s your writing process?

I type, but I hold a pen at the same time. Holding a pen helps you think. I recommend it. Long hand is good too. I wrote a lot of my recent set of stories – 24 stories about the M62 motorway between Liverpool and Hull – longhand in cafes then typed them up later. I tend to write longer and then edit down, I have never written a short piece and stretched it out, I’m not sure I could do that.

I have an ideas folder where I put all my rough sketches for stories and there’s a lot of stuff in there, so I never really have to start with a blank page. In fact I would recommend never starting with a blank page, even if you have a pick a bit of paper up off the street that someone else has written on, like a shopping list,  its better than starting blank. I once found a torn piece of card which turned out to be the packaging off something called Party-Feet – sticky plastic pads you wear in high heeled shoes to make them comfortable to dance in. On the back someone had drawn a map showing how to get to the railway station from their house. This was a short story nearly written out for me!  All I had to so was fill in the gaps. Or not. Gaps are good in short stories aren’t they?  The devil is in the detail, but God is in the gaps.

 

It’s been a couple of years since Sawn-off Tales was published, have you noticed any shift in the public perception of flash fiction in that time?

I think that there has been more interest in flash over the last few years. I get asked to do a lot of workshops on flash fiction and there are loads of web mags and print mags publishing it. However I don’t think flash fiction is ever going to be up there with longer short stories – the 3 – 5 thousand worders. Those stories are the competition winners,  those stories are the big hitters. I think us flash fiction people are doing something a little different.

 

I’m assuming you’ll have been asked what most short fiction writers are asked: Are you working on a novel? What’s your standard response to that?

I’ve already published a novel called Never Never. It’s out on Tindal Street Press – and it’s about people with debts biting back. It’s set in West Cumbria and is a comic thriller (or a thrilling comic, whichever you think sounds best). However, I prefer writing short fiction  because of the sense of elation you get every few days when you finish a story – with a novel, it feels like your acting out the sex life of some withered-up cactus that flowers every  two years for five minutes, and even then waits till your down at the betting shop.

 

Tell us about you. Who is David Gaffney?

I’m a man without a hat, but with glasses and a coat.

 

What’s next for you?

I have a new collection of short fiction out in June on Salt called the Half life of songs, and a  novel half-written which is about some bailiffs who write a stage musical about Mott the Hoople and take it to the Edinburgh festival. The last part will be based on my experience of taking my show, Destroy PowerPoint, to the Edinburgh festival this year. I also have a project at the Poole Literature Festival coming up called The Poole Confessions which consists of people in Poole telling me their secret confessions which I then turn into short stories and read to the public in a mobile confessional box which will tour Poole in 2010. The public will decide on a penance for each of the confessional stories and the penances along with the final stories will be published at the end of the festival.

 

Anything you’d like to add?

Check my website for more stuff is all I would say www.davidgaffney.co.uk




David Gaffney is from Manchester. He is the author of Sawn Off Tales (Salt 2006), Aromabingo (Salt 2007), Never Never (Tindal Street 2008),  Buildings Crying Out a story using lost cat posters (Lancaster litfest 2009), 23 Stops To Hull stories about junctions on the M62 (Humbermouth festival 2009)  Rivers Take Them  a set of short operas with composer Ailis Ni Riain (BBC Radio Three 2008.) andDestroy PowerPoint, stories in PowerPoint format (Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2009) and In 2010 The Poole Confessions, short stories based on the confessions of people form Poole and delivered in a mobile confessional box at Poole Literature Festival,  and The Half Life of Songs a  new collection of shorts on SALT press.


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And if anyone would like to buy themselves a copy of Sawn-off Tales WITH a 30% DISCOUNT, they should go here and enter this code: GM36ne27

Special Birthday Post

A very warm welcome back to my very good friend, the super-talented Tania Hershman, who’s here to talk about things one year on (and is also here to talk to us about a free book giveaway…).

 

Tania, September 1st is a bit of a special date, isn’t it? Can you tell us why?

It’s the first anniversary of a dream come true, a dream I have had since I was 6 years old. It is the day, one year ago, when my book, The White Road and Other Stories, was published, the day no-one can ever take away from me, the day I became an author.

 

 

What’s happened over this last year?

It’s been quite a rollercoaster year, the highs were very high, but they came with some pretty bad lows. On the day of publication, I didn’t have a copy of my book yet, it hadn’t reached me in Israel, although other people had it in England. The day before Sept 1st I was pretty upset about this, it felt as though I’d given birth and someone else had my baby and I couldn’t see it.  However, the day itself was wonderful! I was utterly serene, I loved every minute of it. And then, when my book arrived a few days later, it was a wonderful, magical moment all to itself.

           

Because I am published by a small press, Salt, even though they are amazing and they made me this beautiful book, most of the marketing and promotion was and is down to me. And I have no clue about selling a book! Well, perhaps now I have a bit more of a clue. So, basically, I made it up as I went along. I built a website for the book, I set up a Facebook Page, I organised a hectic 11-stop Virtual Book Tour where I was interviewed on 11 blogs over 11 weeks about everything from my love for science to writing and religion…. I cajoled as many people as possible into writing reviews….I obsessively checked my Amazon rankings, searching for some indication of whether what I was doing was working. And whirring through my mind, all the time, was: “How can I sell the book? How can I sell the book?” It was a bit of a shock, having to not only become a salesperson but having to overcome my natural modesty and shyness and shout out: “Buy my book!” but every time I find it on the shelves in a bookshop, just after Hemingway (!) I am close to tears.

           

Getting used to the idea of people reading my book was another odd thing. I didn’t imagine many people would, and I never dreamed that they’d want to talk to me about it. And slowly, slowly, over the 12 months, I have had to get used to the idea of people I don’t know and who are in no way related to me who want to talk to me about my stories!

           

I would be lying if I said that this was pure and unadulterated joy. I would be lying if I didn’t say that I found some of this extremely stressful. I am going to be honest here and say that I got to a point, several months in, when I felt completely overwhelmed by it all, by the unexpected attention in my home city as well as online, and it caused me to physically retreat from the world for a while. I am by nature quite a shy person, and I began to suffer from anxiety for the first time in my life. My body, it seems, decided to protect me in rather an extreme manner!

           

However, luckily, I have a rich online life and I have wonderful writer friends who understand that while many people would assume having a book is easy and joyful, it can also be difficult. Your dream has come true, so what do you do next? And who are all these people reading your book??! But – and this is important – I wouldn’t have it any other way. It is totally wonderful. When someone says to me, “I don’t normally read short stories, but I really enjoyed your book,” there is nothing better than that! And when New Scientist magazine not only gave my book a glowing review in their Christmas Books Special but also published the title story, which is inspired by a New Scientist article,  on their website – all my wildest dreams were realised!

 

 

What’s been the biggest surprise?

Being commended for the Orange Award for New Writers was an enormous surprise, and a shock! I had no idea I was being put in for the award, and found out about the commendation from a Google Alert for my name. But somehow, while I couldn’t get my head around my book being noticed in this way, what I felt about this was pure and unadulterated joy. It lifted me, that the judges said of me and the other commended writer that they want to see more of our writing. It made me grin and grin and grin.

           

The other surprise, though, is that I thought that the validation of my book being published would last for a while. The “your writing is good enough” feeling. And yet, the very next day, September 2nd, I was back to checking on the stories I had submitted to contests and to literary magazines, wondering when they might reply to me, hoping they accept what I’d sent, that I might get longlisted, shortlisted. So, 24 hours of validation. That’s it. But again this is a good thing. Otherwise I might have stopped, rested on my laurels, not cared. The stories in my book were written between 2003 and 2006, I have many stories, mostly flash fiction, written since then, and am writing more all the time. I don’t want to stop. I don’t want to stop caring. Each acceptance is a boost, but I never want to feel so complacent, so confident that it doesn’t matter anymore.

           

And the third surprise was finding out a few weeks ago that I am currently Salt’s bestselling book – and no 4 on their all-time bestsellers. That was hard for me to process, I just don’t know what to make of it other than that it doesn’t really have much to do with my writing (lots of people may have bought it, but they might not have enjoyed it) but that my marketing efforts definitely did pay off! I was doing something right, it seems.

What’s the biggest change that being published has been responsible for?

Hmm. Biggest change. Well, it’s not in my bank account! I guess that it’s about my confidence. This has been an enormous shift for me, from writer to author. I had had stories published, but to hold your book in your hands, as I am sure you know, Nik, is a completely different feeling. And when the Orange commendation happened, this intensified: I felt suddenly that I  was being seen, and that I could do anything. I am still feeling that way, happy in my own writer’s skin, writing what I want to write, not what someone else might want me to write. There are several agents I am in touch with, but I don’t feel in a rush now with anything.

 

 

Is there anything you’d have done differently?

Another good question! I don’t think so. I really don’t. No regrets. I am a first-time author, I learned as I went along, everything was useful. Other writers were enormously supportive and helpful, the Bookarazzi Bloggers with Book Deals group especially, they listened to my rants and moans and gave me the benefit of their experience.

 

 

Has anything disappointed you?

Going to the Orange Awards ceremony was the biggest disappointment. Even though some might say I was ungrateful, I felt I had to write about this on my blog because I was so upset. First, it wasn’t about books, it was about champagne and shmoozing, which I was naïve about so now I know! But Salt was going through enormous financial difficulties at that point, and a mention at the awards ceremony of the two of us who were commended could have been wonderful for them. The stated aim of the award was to give new writers a boost, so not to mention the two of us who were singled out for commendation was a shame.

           

But then, the worst disappointment came when the judge of the award, which is for “novels, novellas and short story collections”, told the assembled throngs how much she enjoyed reading “all the novels on the longlist”. Short stories? Gone. Novellas? Vanished. On the bus home, I cried.

 

 

What have you learned?

I’ve learned that I can sell something, that I am pretty good at this Web stuff and can use it to promote my writing. I’ve learned that it’s sometimes more about creating “buzz” than about the quality of the writing. I’ve learned that it’s ok to ask people to buy and review your book, it isn’t vulgar or shameful! I’ve learned that being published by a small press is most certainly not a disadvantage, that Salt loves their authors and the books they publish and are doing everything they humanly can (and sometimes more) to keep on doing what they do. I’ve learned not to put enormous stock in what reviewers say, both the glowing and the critical. I’ve learned not to respond to questions about particular stories because I have to let them go, it’s not about me any more, it’s not up to me to “explain”.

 

 

Do you think that there’s been a shift in the perception of the short story at all over this past year?

I don’t really see it myself. As editor of The Short Review, we get many offers of short story collections for review every week, so there are more out there than you might think, but are mainstream publishers shoving aside novelists as they rush towars the hot new short story writer? No. They aren’t. Foolish, foolish people! But at least there are publishers like Salt, Comma Press, Two Ravens Press, Dzanc Books, Rose Metal Press and others who are championing great writing in whatever form it happens to be. Please support them!

 

 

What will this year bring?

A calmness, I hope, and a move away from thoughts of promotion and selling towards more focus on writing, but not necessarily on “the next book”. Just writing for the joy of it. Last week, we  relocated ourselves and our two cats from Israel, where I  lived for 15 years, to Bristol, UK. It seemed the right choice for many reasons, among them the thriving arts scene here. In Israel there is no funding body for artists and writers, and if you are writing in English, there is not much of a literary scene. I am already looking forward to reading at the launch of the latest issue of the London Magazine  (ICA in London, Sept 11th ) and at Ride the Word XV (The CAFE YUMCHAA 45 Berwick Street, Soho, London W.1 Wed. 23 September, 7- 9.15pm Free admission), and to hearing Margaret Atwood in Bristol on Sept 9th, and then going to the Small Wonder short story festival in Lewes, E Sussex at the end of Sept. It feels like a treasure trove of delights, and it’s all in English… which is certainly a relief and a delight. 

 

I have many, many ideas, some related to short stories and cake, which I am looking forward to developing! Nik, thanks so much for having me. Just a quick last promotional plug: I’m doing a 1st birthday giveaway of signed copies on my blog, so pop over there and you could win!

Nuala Ní Chonchúir Interview

Last week I read Nuala Ní Chonchúir’s Nude, and I really enjoyed it – more than I thought I would to be honest. It’s a collection of short stories about art, nakedness and, well, sex (of sorts), and not the thing I’d normally go for. But I loved it, loved that the stories are stories in their own right and very, very good at that. It’s great being exposed to new things and finding out that I really like them.

 

And  it’s with great pleasure that I welcome Nude’s author, Nuala Ní Chonchúir, to my place to answer some questions…

 

 

Welcome to the blog, Nuala. Can you start by telling us a little about your latest collection of short stories, Nude?

Thanks Nik, I’m delighted to be here. Nude is so-called because each of the stories features an unclothed body, mostly in the world of art but sometimes as a lover. The stories are set in Ireland but also Paris, England, Austria, India, Spain…I like to travel as I write; writing about exotic locations keeps me interested.

 

Who is it for? Do you have an audience or reader in mind?

I never have an audience in mind, no ‘ideal reader’ but I hope readers of contemporary literary fiction will like it. Also art lovers and artists. If all the people who loved Tracy Chevalier’s Girl with a Pearl Earring bought and read it that would be cool too – I just know they’d enjoy it!!

 

And a little about you. Who is Nuala Ní Chonchúir (and what a terrific name)?

I’m a full time writer and mother of three – I went full time five years ago and it has paid off in terms of successes with publishing and in lit comps, if not in financial terms. Yet. All of my jobs before writing all the time involved books: bookseller, translator, library assistant, arts administrator in a Writers’ Centre etc. It is practically impossible to live off writing; I earn shockingly little. Luckily my fiancé has a job and he supports us.

My unpronounceable surname is the Irish for ‘O’Connor’. I was educated in Irish language schools and just kept the Irish form of my name afterwards.

 

Many of the stories in Nude are about art. How do you think literature and art dovetail?

They can feed off each other; one art form inspires the other. I have met so many writers who also paint; lots of my writer friends love art galleries and are obsessive about visual art. Creativity is like a personality trait – invariably the people who thrived in English class at school also loved art class. I’m fascinated by any type of creativity – I think people who can write good songs, for example, are amazing; I always wonder how they do that.

 

Many of the stories also deal with desire and temptation. Do you think that the temptation of sex is temptation in its purest form?

Oh God, I don’t know! What about food? Isn’t food more of a temptation because we actually need it? Do we really need sex? Some people manage celibacy. Am I changing the subject?! I guess many of the characters in Nude give in to temptation, not truly analysing the consequences for them or others. That’s the beauty of fiction – you can make your characters do crazy things without any danger to yourself.

 

What’s the difference between nakedness and nudity?

Nudity as we consider it in Western society is a posturing thing. John Berger gave me permission to use a quote from his fabulous book Ways of Seeing, to preface the stories: ‘Nudity is a form of dress’. I was really struck by that.

The narrator in the story ‘As I Look’ in Nude has the following to say on the subject: “Naked and nude are two different things, you know. Naked means unprotected or bare, stripped or destitute. Nude means unclothed, or being without the usual coverings. Think about it. There are a lot of nude ladies in this gallery, but are they really naked? I mean, are they actually naked, as opposed to nude? Being nude is a beautiful thing (supposedly), but to be naked is to be exposed.”

 

Is a picture worth a thousand words?

It can be. Artists can say so much in a painting, a lot that we won’t necessarily understand as viewers. It’s like dropping a secret reference into a story; it makes you smile to know it’s there but most people won’t even notice it, though you would hope that someone might. I’m sure it’s like that for visual artists too – they will reference painters they admire, incidents from their lives etc but maybe all we see is a picture of a landscape and its beauty.

 

A couple of the stories in Nude are set in the past; how do you think attitudes to sex and the body have changed over the years?

Levels of prudishness change with the generations. We’re still repressed in Ireland. Even now we are in the grips of the hangover from all that the Church, in collusion with the State, did wrong. Freely expressed sexuality is not a norm in Ireland. Edna O’Brien’s book The Country Girls, which is such an innocent read, was banned in the sixties because the female characters had sex outside marriage.

Ireland shot forward very quickly recently in an attempt to catch up with the modern world – it’s left people confused about expressing their sexuality. We’re still a bit gobsmacked by permissiveness, I reckon. That’s to do with a type of Catholic conservatism that I, and many of my peers, object to.

Some people – like my Ma – are a bit scandalised by how much I write about sexual matters. I think she hopes it’s just a phase!

 

What do you find difficult when writing about sex?

The actual description of it – I end up repeating a lot of the same words and phrases in different stories, then I have to go back and change them. I keep it brief and suggestive, rather than explicit. A lot of my stories are 1st person POV, so it’s usually about how one person is feeling as opposed to descriptions of the ‘mechanics’! It’s hard to write about sex – no doubt about it!

 

And writing about art in fiction?

I just love it; I find it so easy to get an idea for a story or poem from visual art. I love paintings and sculpture; I’m interested in the whole process of making art, from inspiration to models to artist. I try to explore that in the stories in Nude, looking at the making of art from different angles. One of them is even from the POV of the figure in the painting. (‘Roy Lichtenstein’s Nudes in a Mirror: We Are Not Fake!’)

 

What’s your writing process?

I forget! I’ve just had a baby (10 weeks ago) and I’m not really writing at all, I’m spread too thin. I’ve sort of edited three half-written poems into existence since she’s been born and kept my blog and made a few notes for the only story I have on the go – the same one since March. (March!)

I think the process changes as your life evolves. I used to be very prolific but I’ve slowed down enormously in recent years. That’s why I founded a Peer Group in January of fifteen professional writers. We meet once a month and workshop our work – they are all brilliant and I need that group to keep me producing.

The good thing is that the work I wrote when I was writing a lot is now being published so I am doing plenty of readings and promotional stuff. I’ll get back to writing more at some point soon, I hope.

 

What’s wrong with most art nowadays?

Gosh, it would be hard to generalise, there is so much art being produced. Maybe, like books, there is too much samey, lowest-common denominator art out there. That cheapens it.

 

How does Nude compare with your other work?

I think it’s pretty similar in style and I’ve written about art before, but I hope it’s better work. Writing is a never-ending apprenticeship and I learn new things about it every year. Hopefully that brings improvements to my writing.

 

You’re a poet as well as a short story writer. Which comes more naturally to you and why?

I’ve been writing poetry longer but I’m more passionate about fiction, especially short fiction. Stories are harder to write than poems – harder to get right – but they are my preferred form.

 

What is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?

My two sons’ welcoming smiles for their new baby sister.

In art, Manet’s painting ‘Olympia’.

 

What’s next for you?

A virtual tour and several launches for Nude; publication of a poetry pamphlet of 24 poems from Templar in October and hopefully a full collection with them next year. And something exciting that I’m not allowed talk about yet.

 

Anything you’d like to add?

Just a big thank you, Nik, for having me round at yours – I always enjoy your interviews and I’m delighted to be the interviewee. And I wish you well with all of your writing – may your ink flow!

Born in Dublin in 1970, Nuala Ní Chonchúir lives in County Galway, Ireland. Her third short fiction collection Nude will be published by Salt in September 2009. She has poems and an essay in The Watchful Heart – A New Generation of Irish Poets, edited by Joan McBreen (Salmon, 2009). Nuala was chosen by The Irish Times as a writer to watch in 2009; she has won many short fiction prizes including the Cúirt New Writing Prize, RTÉ radio’s Francis MacManus Award, the inaugural Jonathan Swift Award and the Cecil Day Lewis Award.

She was recently shortlisted for the European Prize for Literature and she was one of four winners of the Templar Poetry Pamphlet and Collection competition. Her pamphlet Portrait of the Artist with a Red Car will be published in October. Website:www.nualanichonchuir.com

Vanessa Gebbie Interview


It’s interview time again! It’s a genuine thrill to welcome Vanessa Gebbie to my blog. So. Let’s get to it…


 

Vanessa Gebbie: short story writer, author of a collection, prize-winner, judge, poet – there are so many things I could call you (all of them nice); which describes you best? 


Dear Nik, I like the word ‘writer’. It’s simple. A bit like me.  I still find it amazing that I have a book out there with my name on it, and another in the pipeline.  I enjoy this journey, mostly, whatever happens round the next corner.  I am enjoying the teaching as much as anything at the moment, and have some exciting gigs coming up – Ipswich, Ireland, Somerset, Kent, Southampton, Dorset, and I’ve just accepted an invitation to do a workshop in Hertfordshire in the New Year.  I’m seeing a bit of these islands as I go.

 ‘Those who can’t do, teach,’ they say. Yep, I’ve met some crap writing ‘teachers’. And some stunningly good ones.  And very special ones who can both teach AND write. Viz the forthcoming text book, ‘Short Circuit’! I would like to be OK at both.

 

Tell us about you.

Eek. Whaddyooo mean, tellyoo about moi? I am a perfickly Nordinary Human Bean. The sort that masquerades as a chubby old bat with a big grin. This farticular Human Bean lives in a village in Sussex, with a load of blokes. Nah. Nothing like that (snigger) – merely an espoused one, a son one and a  cat who is also a bloke or was until he was deknackered.

 

What does the word ‘story’ mean to you?

Once upon a time there was a deep dark cave. And in this deep dark cave lived a lot of deep dark people.  And these deep dark people were utterly fed up of living in the dark so they sent forth one of their number (I believe it was Number 46,) to discover light.

Number 46 left the cave at the dead of night (memo to self, why do we say ‘dead’ of night?) and travelled east, carrying nothing but a large bag made of reindeer skin.  In the east he had many many adventures. Then he travelled to the west, still carrying the large bag made of reindeer skin. In the west he had even more adventures. Then, still carrying the large bag made of reindeer skin, he travelled to the north. But it was cold. So he travelled south to warm up and on his way he passed this deep dark cave, which looked very familiar. So Number 46 entered the deep dark cave.

‘Who are you?’ chorused the deep dark inhabitants.

He thought for a while. “Ah. Number 46?”

“Great. We have waited for a very long, very deep dark time, actually,”  said the inhabitants. “Where’ve you been, and what have you been doing, and did you find the light we sent you out for?”

“No idea,” said Number 46. But I had some walloping great adventures, and I got hot, and cold. It was quite something.”

“Cor,” went up the chorus, “Walloping great adventures? What were they? Hot, what’s that? Cold? What’s that?”

Then Number 46 put down his large bag made of reindeerskin, and invited them to sit round in the deep dark, and he began to tell them of his adventures. He talked for many days, and he told them about the east, and the west. About the north where it was cold, and the south, where it was hot. And when he’d finished, there was silence for a moment. Then a small voice (the latest arrival, Number 103.5, probably) chirped, ‘More, please…’

So Number 46 carried on telling his adventures. And when he ran out of what really happened, he made them up. And know something?

He’s still talking.


.

(PS. And what was in the large reindeerskin bag? I have no idea. It wasn’t mine, it was his..)

 

And the word ‘writer’?

Someone who can’t think of a studious and clever answer to “What does the word story mean to you?” so makes up a story to answer it.

 

What’s wrong with most writing these days?

It’s not FUN. As in original, different, engaging you, challenging you. It’s samey. You’ve met it before.  And however good it is technically, if you’ve met it before, it’s not FUN even if it is sad. There is no joy in the stuff. Is there?

It takes nutters who create boys who dream about Romans in their sleep, or nutters who create ladies who set up cafés at the South Pole to come to terms with loss, or nutters who are brave enough (because that’s what it IS!) to write something different, without knowing if it is ‘OK’, or ‘will sell’ or if  ‘THEY will like it’ because it is what they love themselves. The world of writing needs more brave nutters, please.

 

(A question from Jo Cooper) Where’s the most unusual place you’ve found inspiration for a story?

Thank you Jo Cooper. 

1) When a train stopped in an old tunnel and there was just enough light to see the grime on the walls, and places where you could still see the old bricks.

And:

2) Hearing a piano being tuned, from an upper floor window in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego.

And

3) Visiting a tin mine in Cornwall, and reading about an old piece of machinery.

 

Jo also wonders: How do you keep writing and personal life separate? She says ‘I write about what’s going on in my life and struggle to develop ideas as I just want to write about me!’

Very good question. I know many writers who write about themselves, and manage to turn it into sparkling fiction. I don’t think I am interesting enough for that. So I weave a coat of stories to hide behind. My friends and family know the me without the stories. Other writers see the words. But there is nothing to say you can’t write about you if that’s what you want to do! And as for ideas – unless you want to stick 100% to actual events, and are writing a memoir,  try spinning the character that is ‘you’ up and out until that character lives and breathes something different to your everyday life.  Try it! Make them face something that ‘you’ never have, and see what they do.

 

What’s the best way for someone to become a good writer? Any tips or advice?

What do you mean by ‘good’? Do you mean RICH? In which case, find the blockbusters, read those, and write similar stuff. Then find a niche in those styles, and try to create something similar but different. The publishers will love you, and I will wait for the invitation to your new mansion.

Do you mean HIGH QUALITY? Then you need to work like stink. Read high quality work. Every day. Find a group of like-minded people, and work together. Critique each others work honestly. NEVER say ‘Ooh I like this, its good.’ Tell them WHY. Find the things that don’t work, and tell them. Over and over and over. In time, you will begin to avoid putting the mistakes in your own work. And your work will become ‘good’. And mostly, you will not be rich, but will need to sell your body on the streets to eat. (50p goes a long way.)

Find a good teacher. Someone whose own work makes you WANT to write. And learn with them.

 

Do you have any bad writing habits?

Yes. I am lazy, I am a butterfly. I say ‘yes’ too much.  I am inconsistent.  I don’t read enough. I lose confidence very easily.

 

What’s the Vanessa Gebbie Writing Process?

Wake up with good idea in head. Clean teeth, check emails, make tea, toast, read paper. Try to remember what good idea was. Fail.

Open piece of work from yesterday and turn to the sentence I stopped at. Look at said sentence.  Go back to the beginning of the piece, (as I did yesterday, and the day before)… and read it over for sounds. Dislike the lovely new sentence I invented yesterday and change it. Aware that I will change it again tomorrow.

Find a place where a character walks into a room. Place cursor on right place. Switch off the screen. Type like hell. Go and make coffee.

Switch screen back on, drinking coffee. Read back what I wrote with screen off.  Thank the character for doing things I would never have consciously created. Thank lucky stars that I am not a plot-driven writer.

Check word count. Write a few more pieces in the same manner as the first – screen off. (It cuts out the feedback loop.) Discover that some of the things that the characters do makes perfect sense. Edit, deleting bits I do not like.

Check word count and find I have less words than yesterday.

Invent  a few lies for when people ask ‘And how’s the novel going?’


Do short stories matter? Why? Or why not? 

Yes.  Silly question. All fiction matters. Sometimes more than non-fiction. It is good for the soul, the psyche, the spirit, the heart.


The internet + literature = Thriller,  killer


Anyone who writes short stories, or has spent any amount of time on internet writing forums,  is used to (and probably sick to the back teeth of) hearing ‘short stories don’t sell’ – do you think this is true? Do you think that perhaps they don’t sell because of that mantra? Self perpetuation?

 

Of course they sell. The internet is chocca. Many places pay. They don’t sell for MUCH, but that wasn’t the question. If you are picky, if you don’t let your work go for nothing, you can get the odd sou. Enough to buy a stamp for the next submission.  If you want more dosh, aim at the good comps. Work at it. Learn what wins and what doesn’t.  And cross your fingers that the readers like your work.

Enjoy the opportunities afforded by the internet. But don’t become its slave.

 

You’re published by the wonderful Salt. How’s that been?

Fantastic. I love them to bits. The books are beautiful objects, and as the daughter of a librarian, that mattered to me. I would not have wanted a half-baked product. You have to work hard yourself at publicising your book. That is good. I have learned SUCH a lot thanks to having to do all that stuff. And they are prepared to take risks. I like that, hugely.

Salt are a very important part of the publishing world in this country. Without them, a lot would be lost – to writers  and to readers.

In the midst of the recent ‘Just One Book’ campaign, I was incensed to read intelligent writers arguing that Salt should be allowed to fold. There was no good reason given. Because there isn’t one.

 

Katie McCullough asks: Are there any reoccurring themes or characters in your work?

Yes, Katie, lots. The stories in my collection Words from a Glass Bubble are mostly those which have won prizes for me, and it is interesting to note that prizes are not often given to rip-roaringly funny stories. These stories deal with loss, atonement, miscommunication, love, death.  They are not without lightness though. I had a lovely re view from Mslexia which praised the humorous element therein.


And if we’re talking about themes, are there any that are always present in your writing?

Not ‘always’, no, I don’t think so. Although having said that I find I am often drawn to explore characters who are on the edges of communities, people who are not the ‘movers and shakers’ but who are far more meaningful in many ways than the characters who reckon they are veeeery important..(we’ve all met those!)

 

Is there anything that stops you writing?

Sleep.

 

Talk to us about this word: Rejection.

Seriously. From the point of view of an adopted adult who has experienced the greatest rejection possible on the planet, a few people not wanting to print a short story is, in the words of the prophet, a piece of piss. But I still don’t like it! I DO however, not get arsy. I am an editor too. I can’t publish everything I’m sent, much as I’d like to. Learning to accept rejections gracefully is an important lesson for any newbie writer. They should seek them out actively.  Knock those corners off!


Everyone who writes should…

Be able to accept rejection.

Actually WRITE, not talk about it.

 

What’s next for you?

Short Circuit, a Guide to the Art of the Short Story, (Salt Publishing) (I am editor/contributor) comes out late August. A series of craft and process based essays and exercises from winners of Bridport, Fish, Commonwealth, Willesden, Writers inc. Writer of the Year, Asham Award and many more. Prizewinning writers who also happen for the most part to be excellent teachers of writing.

Finishing the novel, hopefully in the next six months.

 

Anything you’d like to add?

Yes. I’d like to add lots of money, please.

And a big thank you!!

And a sloppy kiss.





Vanessa Gebbie’s short fiction is widely published, is translated into several languages, has been broadcast on BBC radio and handed out on London Underground. She has won several awards at places like Bridport, Fish (twice), Guildford, Per Contra, Cadenza, Daily Telegraph, Willesden Herald, Small Wonder Festival, Binnacle, Flashquake and others.
Her debut collection is Words from a Glass Bubble, and a second collection of surreal micro fiction, Ed’s Wife and other Creatures, is forthcoming in November 2009. She is also contributing editor for Short Circuit, a Guide to the Art of the Short Story. All the aforesaid either to for by with or from Salt Publishing.
  www.saltpublishing.com She is also contributor to The Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction (Rose Metal Press, USA).

She is founder/editor of Tom’s Voice Magazine, a specialist mag for writing by those whose lives have been touched by addiction. She co-edited Cadenza Magazine, a small press literary magazine. She founded The Fiction Workhouse, an online closed group for lit writers. A Member of the National Association of Writers in Education, she teaches creative writing to students of all shapes and sizes. Her first novel has much in common with the Alpine black salamander, African and Asiatic elephants, Baird’s beaked whale and the white rhinoceros: it is following a record-breaking gestation period.

For further information: www.vanessagebbie.com 


***


Wow. Thanks Vanessa! And I should point out that the best (and cheapest!!) way to buy the paperback of Words from a Glass Bubble is by CLICKING HERE.

THIS IS IMPORTANT

Salt are an incredibly good publisher of short story and poetry collections. Incredibly good. And they’re dedicated to forms (ie short stories and poems) that are often overlooked. 

And they need your help because they’ve really suffered as a result of the economic downturn.

Please look at their catalogue and if there’s something there you like please buy it (there should be) – you’ll be making a huge difference. 
Their website is here, but buying their books from any seller will help.

Tania Hershman Interview

I’ve mentioned Tania Hershman here before, and with good reason. She’s a lovely person, a good friend, great writer, top editor (at The Short Review) and, most importantly, the author of The White Road and Other Stories, which was published on Monday.
I am extremely pleased to interview her about the collection, right here on the blog. Here she is…

So Tania, tell us about the book.
Well, it’s my first collection, it’s called The White Road and Other Stories, and it’s published by Salt Publishing, a wonderful small press in the UK where “small” actually means dynamic, innovative, great lovers of writers and writing. It contains 27 stories, half of them “flash fiction”, less than 500 words long, and half of them “science-inspired” meaning that they took as their inspiration articles from New Scientist, the UK science magazine (see below for more about this).

It was published on September 1st. As of the time of writing this, I haven’t seen a copy yet, since I live in Israel and the postal service is appalling, but the publication date was, nevertheless, wonderful, a dream come true.

Why short stories?
The “short” answer is that I love short stories. I love the minimalism of a great story, how it fills the space it needs and no longer. I read both short stories and novels, I also love to immerse myself in a long read, but when it comes to writing, short stories are all I want to write. I won’t say I will never write anything longer, but I don’t have a story in my head that would warrant that kind of length, that kind of commitment.
Who would you say it’s for?

If you mean what is the book for, well that’s a very interesting question. I guess it’s for me, to get me to the next stage on this writing journey, the next step on the ladder (oh dear, cliché after cliché!). I suppose it must also be, in some way, for a reader, or, if I am fortunate, several readers. Publication is a necessary part of being a writer, hand in hand with the actual writing. Some might disagree with me, but having my work read by someone else – apart from my writing groups who help me immensely and from whom I learn – is a very special and intimate dialogue, even if they and I are not in touch. My stories are a small part of me that I am sending out into the world, and I can only hope they make some kind of contact with someone, somewhere.
If you mean, on the other hand, what kind of person am I aiming the stories at, well that’s much harder to answer. I don’t think about a reader when I am writing. It’s easier to say who is not aimed at: someone who likes plot-driven fiction, who isn’t interested in language and what can be done with it, who wants realistic fiction. I would say my writing is a little strange, odd, magical realist at times. Not traditional, I don’t think.
How long did it take you to write? How old is the oldest story in there?
The oldest story is from 2004, written when I was studying for an MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. Most of the longer stories in the book – over 1000 words – were written during the MA. Most of the flash fiction, half the book, was written since then.
Do you address any particular themes in these stories, or does each stand on its own?
I don’t consciously address any themes in my writing, I just hear the characters’ voices in my head and follow where the stories lead me. I am sure that, when read all together, themes do emerge – there are several stories that deal with the weather in various ways, for example! – but I would rather leave that to the reader to decide what they are. I don’t believe in short stories as educational tools, trying to get across certain ideas or information. I believe that fiction should entertain, should move, should leave the reader changed by the reading experience. I only hope some of my stories might succeed in this aim.
Who, or what, have influenced these stories?

The half of the book that is longer stories are all what I called “science-inspired”: they take as their inspiration articles from New Scientist, the weekly UK science magazines, and then I let my imagination spin from there! I should stress that this is not science fiction, it’s science-inspired fiction. For example, the title story, The White Road, was inspired by a story about how the Americans are paving a “white road” through the snow to the South Pole in order to enable them to deliver supplies to the Pole when the weather is too bad for aeroplanes. My story is actually about a woman who, fleeing from tragedy, sets up a roadside cafe along the White Road. That’s the odd way my imagination works!

The other half of the book is flash fiction, short short stories only a page or two in length, and many of those were written during prompt-writing sessions in various online writing groups. I am quite new to flash fiction and have fallen wholeheartedly in love. There is something about the restrictions of such severe word limits (500 or much much less) that seems to work magic for me in my writing. You can write a complete flash story in one sitting, in 15 minutes. And often they need a tiny amount of tweaking before they are ready to be sent out somewhere. Whereas long stories are something I can work on for years – literally – trying different things, trying to get the voice right, trying to decide what to leave in and what to take out. A completely different process using a different part of my brain.

Did you use a fountain pen to write them?
Never! I can only write on a computer, on my laptop. My fingers moving across the keys seem to be part of the creative process for me.

Tell us something about you.

I’ve wanted to write fiction since I was 6, when I first attempted – and thankfully abandoned – a novel. I was distracted at school by a love for Maths and science and, because of the way the British school system was then, had to choose between science and literature. I chose science, and went on to study Maths and Physics at University, where it became very quickly apparent that I would never be a scientist! I just wasn’t shaped that way. I wrote articles for the university newspaper, then when I left, I moved to Israel, where I now live, and became a science and technology journalist.
After ten years or so, I started getting the itch to write fiction again and began going on short courses, in the US and the UK. On one of these courses six years ago, an Arvon course in Writing and Science – which I was astonished to find because it seemed tailor-made for me – I met my partner James. I went to England for a year to be with him, and did the MA in Creative Writing, and then there was no looking back. 18 months ago I gave up journalism to write fiction full time, and in June 2007 received the news I’d been waiting for since I was six: Salt wanted to publish my collection. It was a dream come true.
What’s next for you?
I am working on a collection of flash fiction, all the stories will be under 1000 words. I have quite a lot of stories already. There is also one character who appeared in one of my newer stories that is demanding I write more about her. Not a novel – but perhaps linked stories. I won a fellowship to the La Muse writing retreat in France to work on both these projects and will be there for the month of November, getting a lot of work done, I hope!
Anything you’d like to add?
I would like to say that I really only write for myself, I write what I would like to read, I write to move me, to make myself laugh or cry. I write, I think, to find out about the world, to get inside the skin of people whose experiences are different from my own, to learn things. I believe in writing what you don’t know, in letting the characters tell you their stories. My stories are not consciously about me, they are often set in places I have never been, and I don’t generally do any research to try and add “realism”. I believe in the power of the imagination, the power of story. Since my first story was accepted for publication, I am continually astonished that anyone else wants to read them, wants to publish them, connects with them in some way. I am both excited and nervous to hear what people think of the White Road and Other Stories. I appreciate honest feedback, I don’t want to hear just platitudes, so if you read the book, please email me through my website or leave a comment on my blog and let me know. Thank you.
And thank you Nik for interviewing me on your blog. I am always interested in finding out what I think!


Tania Hershman

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And I can only apologise and chunner at Blogger for ignoring everything I do regarding line spacing.