Spineless Wonders asks Moya Costello
1. What inspired you to write the prose poem/microfiction which is published in Small Wonder?
These were extracted from my unpublished PhD novella ‘Harriet Chandler’. The novella is a hybrid text of prose poem and prose fiction, but also in terms of content: art, ecocriticsm, fictional biography etc. I am very conscious of ecocriticism, or an ecological point of view in literature, because of the crises in climate and environment. Ecocriticism is a rising genre in the twenty-first century. I wanted to try my hand at it in ‘Slippery as a Fish’. I also adore the prose poem for its intensity and brevity, for its narrative and poetic language. ‘Travelling (East–West)’ is my attempt to make a prose poem from my old travel diary. The final piece ‘Australia: Terra Omnium’ is specifically related to Murray Bail’s Australian novel, Holden’s Performance. (Harriet Chandler is a minor character in that novel.) Bail lovingly critiques the white, Anglo-Australian male, and ends the novel in a kind of list that foregrounds Holden’s mechanical being. I wanted to end my novella in a list that celebrated Australia’s plurality and diversity.
2. Tell us about that process. (Do you start sparse and widen out, or do you write down every possible association and cut back? Do you research the subject matter you are writing about? Is it pure intuition?) Take us through an example if you want.
I am a slow writer, like Bail, and I draft and re-draft a lot. I also work by imitation (intertextually). I love working with language over narrative/plot. That’s why I love the short forms. I do research.
3. What advice do you have for other writers ? about the first or last line? About how to choose the title? Do you follow any rules?
If you get the right first line, you are often away on a short piece. Listen to your voice, to what you are telling yourself about something. Generally speaking, short pieces work organically, coming to their own ‘natural’ end. When you have a larger piece of work, you need to work from the top down, imposing structure from above, otherwise the work gets out of hand. I love titles. Often there’s one somewhere in the piece. But you may have to choose one that is indicative of the piece, while also enticing, so that the reader enters the work desirously.
4. Who or what inspires your writing?
My pieces for Spineless Wonders have been inspired by Murray Bail, and the prose poem as a form and writers of it, but also the need to write ecocritically, contributing, through art, to … saving the planet! I love the short forms: the novella, the prose poem. They work via intensity and resonance.
5. Tell us what do you do if you haven’t written anything in a while and you want to get started writing again? Could you share your favourite writing exercise with our readers?
I read (not only fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction, but, say, New Scientist). Go to the theatre (even watch television). Listen to songs. Exercising, getting the body moving, is a great way to get inspiration. If you’re working steadily and consistently, which you should do, you are chock full of ideas, because one piece feeds another. Also, I am constantly on the look out for publishing opportunities, like Spineless Wonders, because they inspire you to think about … well, both topics/subject matter and genres/forms for work. I keep a hand-written journal, where I put down ideas, or actually start stories. Usually I write because I want to understand something, explain it to myself. Never throw anything away: there’s usually something, even a phrase, that can morph into a larger work. As well, sometimes it takes years to get the right angle on a piece, or find the right publication for it. Writing is hard work, but it’s also fun, a space to play, otherwise we’d never do it!
Moya Costello has published two collections of short creative prose and one novella. She teaches Writing in the School of Arts and Social Sciences, Southern Cross University.
Leave a Reply
This entertaining collection includes a romp of a novella called The Rattler, as well as short stories and micro fictions all set in and around contemporary Melbourne. Sometimes serious, sometimes seriously playful –always written in breathtakingly beautiful prose – these stories uncover the heartbreaking tragedies, slow-burning emotions and serendipity of ordinary lives.
Cover image by Miles Allinson, illustrated by Miles Allinson & Maxine Beneba Clarke
Praise for The Rattler & other stories:
“Spare and taut, sometimes tricky, sometimes shocking, yet always deeply and satisfyingly tender. A great collection.”
Paddy O’Reilly.
“An explosive mix of muscular prose and sharp originality. In this collection, A. S. Patric proves himself to be a writer who must be taken very seriously.” Vanessa Gebbie, author of Short Circuit, A Guide to the Art of the Short Story.
“A.S. Patric is that rarest of writers- he is absolutely fearless. His stories take risks, his characters soar and his prose sings. Be careful. These stories might cut you.” Ryan O’Neill.
In Permission to Lie, Julie Chevalier casts a curious eye into many different worlds. Her characters ride the citybound bus route, spend the night in a nudist colony and wait tables. Quirky and beautifully-written, these stories provide insights that ring with integrity and compassion.
‘A new voice in Australian fiction, wry, gritty, knowing and true.’
Fiona McGregor, Indelible Ink
Read an interview with the author, here.
What makes a man?
In this collection of short stories, Pierz Newton John moves through the full range of masculine experience, with an openness not afraid to show men at their most lonely, sexual, loving, sometimes vulnerable, sometimes abusive. First touch of a woman’s body in a cold and foreign land, tender moments between father and son, the deep love of a father separated from his child, treachery and opportunism mixed up with loneliness and internet dating, the casual violence of young boys exploring the world, rites of passage from young rebels to comfortable suburbanites, and what men feel and think about women. In Pierz Newton John’s stories it always come back to emotion?tenderness with children, warmth with wives after dreams of alienation, the pain of treacherous girlfriends, the loneliness of men. Plus ça change plus c’est la même chose…….the reader is lulled by the seamless prose, undercurrents of contemporary music, the urbane writing, the suburban settings, but it is all happening behind closed doors.
Read an interview with the author, here
Purchase a copy, here.
In these seventeen stories, Melbourne writer, Mary Manning, looks at the ways people are shaped, or damaged, by their circumstances. The results may sometimes be humorous, sometimes tragic. Whether set on a tram, along a highway or on an outback road?it is the journey, the characters and the telling of the tale that will capture your attention.
Cover and illustrations by Paden Hunter
‘Mary Manning takes her stories to places few writers would dare to go. She ranges across different styles with ease in a unique voice that is tart, tight and compulsively readable.’ PADDY O’REILLY
Read our interview with the author, Mary Manning here
To purchase, click here
If you like your genres with a bit of edge, you’ll love this diverse collection of stories from Spineless Wonders.
Features award-winning writers such as Ryan O’Neill, Jen Mills, Andy Kissane, Louise Swinn, Julie Chevalier, A.S. Patric and Kim Westwood as well as stories chosen by Sophie Cunningham in the inaugural Carmel Bird Short Fiction Award.
Contains illustrations by talented young artist, Paden Hunter.
‘Quality short fiction, packed with surprises. Prepare to be transported.’ Marion Halligan
Purchase here
Read interviews with our contributors, here.
Listen to audio samples here.
An anthology of prose poems and microfiction from 30 Australian writers.
- Includes award-winning writers Michael Farrell, Keri Glastonbury, Judith Beveridge and Peter Boyle.
- Features prose poems and microfiction selected by competition judge, joanne burns.
- Cover and evocative sketches by talented artist, Paden Hunter.
- Read interviews with our contributors here
- Click here to here audio
To purchase, click here
Escape audio stories Vol. 2
Playlist
Those Gauls Must Be Crazy – Claire Aman 14:36
The End of the Beginning – Meredyth Cilento 25:50
Poioumenon – John Steiner 8:22
The Gardener – Susan McCreery 21:50
For more details about these stories and their authors and to hear audio samples from this CD click here. Also available as mp3.
Escape – audio stories Vol. 1
Playlist
Paper Anniversary – SJ Finn/JR Davidson 19:35
Under the Skin – Sue Booker 21:39
Unnameable – M. Giacometti 20:14
Home – Yin Lin 13:36
For more details about these stories and their authors and to hear audio samples from this CD, click here. Also available as mp3.
Click to Buy Now
