How did you first come to writing short fiction? What is it
about the form that resonates?
I think I've always been a storyteller and sometimes a bullshitter, seeking of course to amuse and delight anyone within earshot. In my literary pursuits I started as a poet, mainly because of my interest in language, rhythm and imagery. But after a long and relatively uneventful gestation hammering out jewelled but odd little verses, I turned to short stories and microfiction, to which my set of skills, given my limitations, seemed better suited.
How does a short story begin?
My stories begin one of two ways. Either I have a vague idea or problem I want to flesh out, and pursue it until it is realized or collapses under the weight of expectations or the clumsiness of the effort; or, I have no idea whatsoever what I am going to write, and begin by jotting down a first sentence and then following it with a second sentence and a third and so on. The results, in both instances, are always mixed, though I am often astonished by those colourful renderings of the second, less ordered approach.
How did publishing your first collection change your writing?
Hm. Well, to some degree it gave my work some much needed validation, though it was dismissed by a number of Canadian reviewers. But despite the ham-fisted hating of a few analphabetic cretins, I was nevertheless encouraged to continue. Without a book I felt like a fraud. I still feel like a fraud in some respects haha, but I have a few actual books to my name, and maybe a bit of cred.
Have you a daily schedule by which you work, or are you working to fit this in between other activities.
I do many things to pay the rent. Writing doesn't do it. But I write most days. I finished a novel this past summer, my second, and it left me depleted. Also, its uncertain status with a literary agent has left me in a weird creative limbo at the moment. In the new year I plan to return to the short form, regardless of what happens with the novel.
What are your favourite print or online literary journals?
I used to read N +1 but it doesn't speak to me anymore. As for other journals, I read many online, less in print than I used to. I steer away from MFA dominated rags and most things Canadian. The proliferation of online journals is stunning and of very mixed quality. Zillions of poems and flash shorts are being generated. I mean, props to folks for their efforts, but much of it is of very low quality and has the air of neediness or desperation. As for the "big" literary journals of old (you know Ploughshares, etc), they seem ossified, self-important, remote, and have become almost unreadable in my opinion. Haha. So negative! But that said, some beautiful work appears now and then in print and online and I welcome it. Maybe I'm just old school (or just old). I don't fucking care. Crap is crap.
Who are some of the writers you are reading lately that most excite you?
I am a big fan of Lydia Davis, Thomas Bernhardt and Joy Williams, three of my favourite miniaturists. I still enjoy Borges, Kafka and Beckett more than any contemporary writers. But my reading is far ranging. I'll read anything that swings. If it don't swing I'm not interested.
Salvatore Difalco's latest collection is Minotaur and Other Stories (Truth Serum Press).
A selection of his flash fiction appeared in the second issue.
I think I've always been a storyteller and sometimes a bullshitter, seeking of course to amuse and delight anyone within earshot. In my literary pursuits I started as a poet, mainly because of my interest in language, rhythm and imagery. But after a long and relatively uneventful gestation hammering out jewelled but odd little verses, I turned to short stories and microfiction, to which my set of skills, given my limitations, seemed better suited.
How does a short story begin?
My stories begin one of two ways. Either I have a vague idea or problem I want to flesh out, and pursue it until it is realized or collapses under the weight of expectations or the clumsiness of the effort; or, I have no idea whatsoever what I am going to write, and begin by jotting down a first sentence and then following it with a second sentence and a third and so on. The results, in both instances, are always mixed, though I am often astonished by those colourful renderings of the second, less ordered approach.
How did publishing your first collection change your writing?
Hm. Well, to some degree it gave my work some much needed validation, though it was dismissed by a number of Canadian reviewers. But despite the ham-fisted hating of a few analphabetic cretins, I was nevertheless encouraged to continue. Without a book I felt like a fraud. I still feel like a fraud in some respects haha, but I have a few actual books to my name, and maybe a bit of cred.
Have you a daily schedule by which you work, or are you working to fit this in between other activities.
I do many things to pay the rent. Writing doesn't do it. But I write most days. I finished a novel this past summer, my second, and it left me depleted. Also, its uncertain status with a literary agent has left me in a weird creative limbo at the moment. In the new year I plan to return to the short form, regardless of what happens with the novel.
What are your favourite print or online literary journals?
I used to read N +1 but it doesn't speak to me anymore. As for other journals, I read many online, less in print than I used to. I steer away from MFA dominated rags and most things Canadian. The proliferation of online journals is stunning and of very mixed quality. Zillions of poems and flash shorts are being generated. I mean, props to folks for their efforts, but much of it is of very low quality and has the air of neediness or desperation. As for the "big" literary journals of old (you know Ploughshares, etc), they seem ossified, self-important, remote, and have become almost unreadable in my opinion. Haha. So negative! But that said, some beautiful work appears now and then in print and online and I welcome it. Maybe I'm just old school (or just old). I don't fucking care. Crap is crap.
Who are some of the writers you are reading lately that most excite you?
I am a big fan of Lydia Davis, Thomas Bernhardt and Joy Williams, three of my favourite miniaturists. I still enjoy Borges, Kafka and Beckett more than any contemporary writers. But my reading is far ranging. I'll read anything that swings. If it don't swing I'm not interested.
A selection of his flash fiction appeared in the second issue.