Author Q&A with Susan McCreery for Thurs. 8pm AEST - please leave your Qs here
We'll be chatting with the author of Loopholes, Susan McCreery, here on Thursday night. Loopholes is a collection of microfiction - many less than half a page in length - so it will be great chance to hone in on this short short form. Plus Loopholes has just been nominated for The Most Underrated Book Award which will be announced next week at The Wheeler Centre in Melbourne. So this will also be a good chance to chat with an emerging author about her writing journey and how she feels about the attention her book is receiving. I'm leaving a couple of questions below to kick off the evening's discussion. Feel free to leave your questions below too.
You have published a collection of poetry and your short stories have been widely anthologised. How long have you been writing microfiction and how did you first get into it?
Why have you called this collection Loopholes?
Thanks for doing this Q&A! Can you please explain the difference between micro fiction, short stories, flash fiction? Thanks
What attracted you to the form of microfiction? And how do you feel about the novella and novel as formats, would you ever be tempted to write a novel?
One thing I loved about Loopholes was the way you managed to create stories with such depth and complexity in less than 250 words. They never feel cut short. That said, have any of your short pieces - or the characters or scenarios in them - ever developed into something longer?
Since you also write short stories, how do you decide that a microfiction is "done"? How do you resist the temptation to add a little more information? When you revise, do you pare away as much as possible?
Susan, I thoroughly enjoyed your collection. So many of the pieces are handled with such skill: deft, subtle, surprising, chilling, original. I've long been a fan of your piece, "Hold-up", which is in Loopholes, but now I find I have added to my list! "Disturbance", "Rescued", "Lights", "Catch-up'. I agree with Mark, the individual pieces 'never feel cut short'. I like your habit of ending with an odd, slightly jarring comment, such as in "Rear Window" where you write "When would this heat break". Such an ordinary sort of thing to say, and yet you seem to be able to invest it with a good deal of spookiness! Well done. I was wondering whether you have a favourite in Loopholes?
With such a tight word count, the choice of title is crucial, I'd imagine. How do you choose them? Does your choice of title cause you to revise a story?
Hi everyone, good evening and thanks for being here. Please say hi in reply to this post and also remember to REFRESH regularly in case you miss a new comment.
found em
Evening all!
Is it what?! I'm so het up right now.
Yes, hi Mark!
Trying, Bron. And I'd just like to say that I'm only talking from my experience. I'm no expert!
Hi Susan, lovely to meet you. I really enjoyed your book!
Thanks, Mark! And I look forward to meeting you in person in Melbourne next week!
Has anyone seen a comment from Marjorie Lewis-Jones this evening - she was here and now i can't see her...
Bron, I think the url on the original email was different. I have just posted this url to the other page (Where Marjorie is) so hopefully she will see it.
Here I am ... hooray!
Hi Marjorie!
So ... what I said in my own recent little hyperworld of Tablo where I was invisible to you all was ... I've been looking at Loopholes in between deadlines today. And it struck me that each time I dip into it a different story leaps up as my new favourite and/or whacks me freshly between the eyes with devastating sadness. Today's were 'Something you're not' and 'Burden'. So I guess I just want to say, 'Thanks Susan, for writing and thanks Bron and Spineless for publishing'. This is a book that will keep on giving, which makes it a very fine achievement I think ...
Sorry I'm late.
Julie, hello!
I am still curious about the process Susan. How did the rich variety of subjects come to you – given that you set yourself a goal of writing a story each week for a year? Did you need prompts, or did the characters and situations arise spontaneously. How did you finesse these little gems?