Spineless Wonders Asks Susan McCreery
1. Who are the short fiction authors you admire (Australian or otherwise, alive or dead)?
Amy Hempel, Miranda July, Raymond Carver, Alice Munro, Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Peters, Wells Tower, Etgar Keret, Karen Hitchcock.
2. What is the most memorable short story you have read? And why does it stand out for you?
Tricky, since I have a few faves. So I’ll cheat and narrow it down to two: ‘Feathers’ by Raymond Carver and ‘Something That Needs Nothing’ by Miranda July. With ‘Feathers’ I was out-loud laughing at the teeth on top of the TV and the ugly baby. He’s a master at making the ordinary into a page-turner. ‘Something That Needs Nothing’– well, Miranda July just breaks your heart. Funny, too. Can I mention another one? ‘Day of the Butterfly’ by Alice Munro.
3. What do you like about the short story form?
The craft of small things. Honing language. The fact that it’s so hard to get right, keeps you trying.
4. How would you describe your own writing?
I know how I’d like to be writing – like Amy Hempel, Miranda July, Raymond Carver… I’ve had more attempts at answering this question than any other. I guess my style is still evolving. I firmly believe you have to find your own truths, whether they’re hip or not. Otherwise it’s pointless. I’m also trying to make my stories denser, less thin. Becoming more confident with complexities. I’ve written plenty of domestic, relationship/children stories, and I’d like to try to extend myself into a wider landscape. But then again, if that’s my truth…
5. Which of your stories are you most fond of right at this moment and why?
I’ve always been fond of a story I wrote when I was about 19 (sooo long ago). It’s a delicate little 800-worder, about a lonely girl and a cleaning woman. I don’t think I can ever do that again. No point in looking back, though.
6. Where do the ideas for your stories come from? (Take us through an example)
I’m learning to trust my subconscious. I’ve wasted too many years thinking ‘if I don’t have the most brilliant idea it’s not worth starting’. Wrong. You only have to start for the ideas to come. And you’ll never improve if you don’t start. I’ve actually found that planning kills it for me. One method that can unearth surprises is to write to the sound of a loudly ticking timer – no stopping till the bell rings. This seems to quell distractions and editor-think. I handwrite first and only transfer to computer after I’ve scrawled enough pages to look like a story. Some of the stories I’m happiest with have started with a simple freewrite, to limber up. It’s almost as though I uncover the story as I write. Sometimes, when I’m flagging, I’ll break off and read someone I admire to reinvigorate me. I go through all the usual procrastinating rituals before starting, it’s awful! Yet I’m dispirited if I have nothing on the go.
7. What is your writing process – from idea to publication? (Do you go it alone or are others involved?)
Until a couple of years ago, I’ve always gone it alone. But these days only the early and final drafts are done alone. The middle stage is presented to my lovely writing group. These five women are brilliant at brainstorming through dilemmas, pointing out ‘I don’t get it’ moments, telling me I have too many characters, and so on. I adore a good critique. I come home and know what I have to do. This is the fun part. I’m finally inhabiting the story. It’s such a relief after the struggle to get something workable down. And the longer I let it lie after the first of ‘final’ drafts, the better chance it has of being any good.
8. Do you feel the short story form is valued in Australia? What makes you say this?
I value it! You value it! Hooray for us. I wouldn’t call it undervalued, it just doesn’t attract as much attention. Like most small, good things (thanks Raymond), apart from diamonds.
9. How do you feel about your work being published in non-print forms such as digital and audio?
Great! Spread the word. Let everyone grab a tasty bite in whatever medium suits. I do love a fine, handheld volume of stories, though.
10. What advice would you like to offer Spineless Wonders?
Keep it up. Please.
Susan McCreery’s stories have been published in Award Winning Australian Writing 2010, Island, Islet, Page Seventeen and Sleepers Almanac 7. She has been shortlisted for The Age and Hal Porter short story competitions and won first prize in the 2009 Julie Lewis Literary Competition. She is also a widely published poet (Best Australian Poems 2009, Hecate, Poetrix, Blue Dog, Five Bells, Going Down Swinging, among others) and her first poetry collection, Waiting for the Southerly, will be out in 2012 (Ginninderra Press).
Susan McCreery’s ‘The Gardener’ was the inaugural winner of the Carmel Bird Short Fiction Award 2011 and is published in Escape.
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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.
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