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Unbraiding the Short Story: An Interview with Author and Conference Co-Director, Dr Sylvia Petter

I met Sylvia recently and fortuitously through twitter via a mutual connection. I was grateful to hear of another writer in Vienna and we have met on several occasions since, including at a reading of her newest short story collection at Shakespeare and Co. in the city. She is an inspiring and enthusiastic writer who is organising events at the International Short Story Conference in Vienna in July 2014. I wanted to find out more about the conference and share with you some of Sylvia’s experiences and writing. Her short stories are thought-provoking, often touching on social and political issues.

Hi Fiona,

Thanks for giving me space on your blog!

What drew you in to writing short stories and what is it about the form that appeals to you?

I came late to writing. In the late 90s, on the way back from a course in the UK I picked up my first writing magazine. There was a contest for a story about a ghost in a computer room. I started writing and couldn’t stop; I wanted to find out how the story would end. Magic? The story got nowhere, but I was hooked. I had to learn how to write fiction and I’ve been learning ever since. I learnt a lot in the Geneva Writer’s Group and also online in the pre-web days in Alex Keegan’s Boot Camp where a group of us had to analyse not only our own stories but also stories from the Best American Stories series. That was an intense three years online, my “MfA”.

The form seems to come naturally; my cruising count is relatively short – under 2K. But it’s a difficult form. There is story and story, and what I’m looking for is resonance.

Which writers inspire your work and do you have any favourite short stories or collections?

I love the work of the Australian expatriate, Janette Turner Hospital, and the Canadian, Timothy Findley, who also wrote short stories. Edna O’ Brien’s stories move me, as do Alice Munro’s and stories by the Australians, Cate Kennedy and Paddy O´Reilly. Favourite collections would be ones by Janette Turner Hospital – Dislocations, Isobars, North of Nowhere, South of Loss, and her most recent prize-winning collection, Forecast: Turbulence. I’m also fond of the adult short stories by Roald Dahl. There is so much good short-story writing around in different media – online, audio, and the reading I attended at the Word Factory in Soho this summer to listen to Kevin Barry, Keith Ridgway and Mary Costello. Then there´s terrific flash fiction by Tania Hershman, and a host of others.

You’re an Australian living in Vienna, having also lived in Geneva. Have the cultural differences helped to give you new insights or fueled your writing in any way?

When I was in Geneva, my stories were mainly set in Australia, although taking inspiration from happenings in the region. The same thing is happening in Vienna, but to a lesser extent. This may be linked to the expat experience and also to the fact that I feel at home in Vienna now – despite the word ‘home’ being a difficult one to pigeonhole. Many of my stories have a political tinge to them, so the setting depends on who the characters are and the issues that are making me and sometimes them say ‘what if?’

Your reading of the collection, Mercury Blobs, at Shakespeare and Co. in Vienna in the Summer was a wonderful event. Your short stories are full of life and exude the enthusiasm that flows through in to your conversation. How much of your character and experience filters through into your work?

Thank you so much for your good words, and I’m so glad you had fun that night. The atmosphere was terrific and the audience attentive. That makes things easy. And I was so pleased that Annie Evett, my Australian publisher, was there and that the kids made some videos and didn’t fall asleep. Most of my stories are triggered by some happening I’ve experienced, or been told about, or read about in the papers, and then I do a lot of ‘what iffing’. I suppose bits of me and bits of people I’ve met are all mixed up in the characters. So, beware, you may find bits of yourself in a future story.

As Co-Director for the 13th International Conference on the Short Story in English in 2014, you are organising the conference held in July next year with Dr. Maurice Lee. What are your hopes for the conference in raising the profile of the short story form and what are your expectations for the event?

I’ve been going to the conferences since 2002. I only missed the 2006 one in Portugal because I was moving from Geneva to Vienna. I’m very excited that the 2014 conference will be happening in Vienna, and the international mix is bound to demonstrate all the things the short story can do. There´ll be several stories in English translation from the local Austrian writers and from writers from Asia. The event is timely as recent international recognition of the genre – the Man Booker to Lydia Davis, the Giller to Lyn Coady for a short-story collection, and of course, the Nobel Prize to Alice Munro – will put a spotlight on the Vienna conference. Behind the scenes with her magic wand is also Dr Susan Lohafer, who vets all the papers and proposals.

I expect to have a week devoted to the short story, with readings and panels and workshops and networking, where there´ll be sharing and learning, cross-pollinating, and enjoying the buzz of immersion in this exciting and all too long somewhat neglected genre. There’ll be more than 70 writers attending, as well as a host of scholars. We want people to leave Vienna with a new and stronger appreciation of the short story and how these conferences promote them and their writers, and we want them to want to come to the next one, and the next one and the next. This conference is sort of my home, wherever it may be held.

There is a wide range of authors attending, can you tell us about how you chose and invited the various writers to speak and to get involved in the workshops?

One of the things that impressed me at the first conference I attended in New Orleans in 2002 was that Dr Maurice A. Lee, the Director, told us all to leave our egos at the door – the big ones and the little ones. The conference brings well-known and lesser-known writers together on an equal footing. We are there for story. Of course, there are some big names, but what we are looking for are writers who are ready to be there together and celebrate story. We’re expecting over 70 writers from all over the world. There is a tremendously inclusive atmosphere of sharing and cross-pollination, and we have fun.

Regarding the workshop leaders, all had to have demonstrated teaching experience in the genre, and we wanted a certain geographical distribution. Some of the participants have been attending since the first conference in 1988, so writers who had attended before were asked if they wanted to come to Vienna, and many do come back again and again. Thanks to the possibility of getting the word out about the conference via the website and social media like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, and by word of mouth, new faces will be at the Vienna conference.

Each conference also showcases work by local writers translated, where necessary. We’re honoured to have multi-prize winning writer, Friederike Mayröcker, attend, along with Clemens Setz, Doron Rabinovici and others. The exciting thing about the Vienna conference is that participants will also see the theme of ‘unbraiding’ a little like the unbraided plaits of Empress Sissi, reaching out into perhaps unfamiliar directions, as well as the braids that when opened allow for an investigation of the techniques, history and psychology underlying a short story. The local approach added to this, I feel, will help underline the universality of the genre itself even though it is one that is difficult to pigeonhole.

Cutting edge papers also play their role in bringing writers and scholars together—the birds and the ornithologists, as Robert Olen Butler once said. I remember at the 2012 conference in North Little Rock when writers and scholars attended a round table on flash fiction. The next day, a young scholar from Portugal spoke about the work of Lydia Davis. Flash fiction writers were in the room, and this year, flash fiction practitioner, Tania Hershman, was invited to address a colloquium at the University of Braga in Portugal. This year, too, Lydia Davis won the Man Booker for her micro-fiction. Synchronicity? Whatever. But some magical connections do seem to take place.

The presentation of papers as a more formal representation will be held alongside other formats, including performance, art and film. How do you think the different angles on the short story will appeal?

The conference has always had paper presentations interleaved with reading sessions, although performance and film have not been very present. The paper/reading tandem works very well. Some papers are sometimes on the work of participating writers, which adds a certain edge for both the presenter and writer concerned, and also for the audience. In Vienna, there may be some new offerings in the area of performance and film, but that all will be seen in the final programme which should be available in a few months. The Call for Papers is open until 10 January 2014.

How it will appeal? I think story can have so many different ways of being disseminated. The idea of performance and film also brings together different manners of representation. Everything is changing in the way things are presented. But hasn’t that always been the case? It is easy to look back and see the changes, but when you’re in the middle of change, it may sometimes appear a little overwhelming to some. We want to look at a variety of possibilities in a nurturing and supportive atmosphere. I also think the readings will appeal to the local Vienna population, so there will be great international mingling for them, too, when they come to hear writers from Austria, Australia, Ireland, Canada, UK and the USA.

How can people get involved in the conference and workshops and how can they support the event?

The conference proper opens on Wednesday, 16 July and ends on Saturday night, 19 July 2014. But there’ll be kick–off events open to the public: a reading at the Alte Schmiede on Monday 14 July, ten workshops by seasoned and well-known teachers and writers on Tuesday, 15 July, readings on Thursday and Friday evenings. Of course, we would like people to register for the conference so as to take advantage of the mingling and the atmosphere, the learning, and to enjoy and be stimulated by the readings, papers and panels. There´ll also be a luncheon reading for conference participants and a farewell dinner at a Heurigen. Shakespeare & Co is also planning a books & brunch event on the Sunday morning for those leaving Vienna later.

People can support the conference by registering to attend, by going to the readings, signing up for the workshops—I don’t think Vienna has ever seen such a fantastic group of teachers in one place at the same time—by entering the short story contest which closes in April, by submitting papers and proposals by the 10 January deadline, by joining the Society for the Study of the Short Story by making donations, and by spreading the word about this wonderful event that I’m so happy to see back in Europe, and hosted in Vienna.

Born in Vienna, Sylvia grew up in Australia and after more than 25 years in the Geneva area, is now living in Vienna, Austria. She started writing fiction in 1993, and her poems, articles and stories have appeared in print and on the web. The Past Present, her first collection of short stories, was published in 2000/2001 in paperback and eBook formats by IUMIX, UK. Her second collection of stories, Back Burning, won the IP Picks Best Fiction Prize and was published in 2007 by IP, Australia. Her stories also appear in the charity anthologies 100 Stories for Haiti, 50 Stories for Pakistan, A Pint and a Haircut – True Irish Stories, 100 Stories for Queensland and New Sun Rising: Stories for Japan.

You can connect with Sylvia on twitter, her website, blog or facebook.

The Power of Words

In losing a great man, a human rights activist, a disturber of the peace to some, Nelson Mandela is remembered across the globe as a leader who endured twenty seven years in prison for the sake of his people, a man who fought against injustice and stood for what he believed to be a better way. He became the first black South African to hold the office of President, focusing on the dismantling of apartheid through tackling racism, poverty and inequality. I am reminded, as I read more of his life and his influence and words, that words hold great power in people’s minds and lives, words have the power to influence, to change and to move barriers in our society, our political systems and in our hearts. Words both written and spoken have the power to create change.

In losing Mandela yesterday, I can’t help thinking of a recent loss of a man remembered for a similar struggle, a man whose integrity and perseverance won the hearts of many in a country also affected by great political change and a turbulent history. I am reminded also of the power of his words and his influence. Vaclav Havel died on 18 December 2011: Playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician, his prominence as a participant in the liberal reforms of Czechoslovakia in 1968 were followed by his plays being banned during the totalitarian regime. His words continued to hold power through that time and he became president of Czechoslovakia in 1989, becoming the country’s first non-communist leader since 1948.

Both men spent time as political prisoners, incarcerated for standing up against powers that threatened to crush their countries. They believed in justice and equality and had the strength of character and tenacity to keep going in the face of great opposition because they believed in a better future. Both men spoke words that hold great power today, words which helped to shape their society, culture and politics. Their influence in the world and their contribution to their countries cannot be underplayed. In sharing these two incredible lives I want to remind us that the words we read and the words we write can have the power to shape, to heal, and to influence lives, to change the way people think and see the world. With this in mind I want to leave you with some of the great words that have become the legacies of these men.

NELSON MANDELA

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”

“I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles.”

“A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.”

“A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dreamt of.”

VACAV HAVEL

“I really do inhabit a system in which words are capable of shaking the entire structure of government.”

“Work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed.”

“Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”

“Isn’t it the moment of most profound doubt that gives birth to new certainties?”

“None of us know all the potentialities that slumber in the spirit of the population.”

“The period you grow up in and mature in always influences your thinking.”

What Can You Learn From Writing Blogs?

There are many writing blogs with an array of articles on different aspects of the craft of writing. I read a range of them and have learned a great deal about writing, publishing, editing and much more. The writing blog WRITE TO DONE is searching for the Top 10 Blogs for Writers in 2013. Edited by Mary Jaksch, Write to Done posts regular articles on writing fiction, copywriting, freelancing, blogging, creativity, and the art of writing. It is an invaluable resource for writers, so if you haven’t yet browsed their pages I would recommend having a look. It will be well worth your time. Their top 10 chosen blogs from previous years have led me to many new and useful blogs.

Those of you who read this blog regularly know that there are a range of author interviews, book reviews, guest posts and writing posts, and despite advice from some bloggers not to blog about writing, they are precisely the posts which receive the highest number of hits on this blog. The difference between a post on writing and a book review, or a post on something less related to fiction is surprising. Many writers obviously read posts about writing, although some prefer not to, and readers are also curious to know about the inside workings of the craft of writing. Give me someone who loves Formula One racing who wouldn’t want to step inside a Ferrari or a Lotus, or a person who loves classical music who wouldn’t want to sit in an orchestra pit and watch the conductor at close range, and the bows of the string section moving in time to the conductor as he sets the tempo for the sound. Are you with me?

So, now is the time to vote for any writing blogs which have inspired you over the year. Here’s how you can nominate a blog:

How to Nominate Your Favorite Writing Blog:

→ Nominate your favorite blog in the comment section.

→ You have only one vote (only your first will be counted).

→ Please include the web address of the blog.

→ Explain why you think the blog is worthy of winning this year’s award.

To make the cut, a blog must be nominated more than once. Nominations must be received by 12th December, 2013.

The top 10 list will be incredibly helpful for other writers once it is compiled. Here is a brief list of some of the blogs which have inspired me.

http://annerallen.blogspot.co.uk which is written by Anne Allen and Ruth Harris. It is one of Writer’s Digest’s 101 Best Websites for Writers and is full of honestly and humour, and is really informative.

http://writershelpingwriters.net which used to be http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.co.uk written by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi.

http://www.jonathanpinnock.com This blog, Jonathan Pinnock’s Write Stuff has a great range of information and thoughts on writing and, again, is very honest. He also covers short stories, which keeps me happy.

http://helpineedapublisher.blogspot.co.uk Written by Nicola Morgan, who has had 90 books published (!) and knows what she’s talking about. She also self-publishes.

http://www.claire-king.com/blog Claire’s advice and insights are to-the-point and given from the perspective of a writer who is rigorous and, again, honest. Do you see a theme emerging here?

Don’t forget to vote for your favourite writing blogs and do add any others in the comments.

Diving In: Writing and How to Get Started

I read so many pieces of writing advice about planning your work, plotting and figuring out each chapter before you begin but I would like to propose just diving in. Some of my best work has been a blind journey into a world where there is no clear plot or outcome from the beginning, and in many ways it provides a freedom to explore and to let a story unfold.

E.B. White in an interview with The Paris Review on writing once said that,

“A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.”

I think he had a point in that we often wait, procrastinate, ponder, ruminate. Add any other word that fits and you have a writer who is too afraid to begin. The problem is that time is short and every day that passes is an opportunity for you to delve into a new world of words. I say this to encourage rather that to thwart the plans of those who truly like to plan. But I know that there are those who also wonder whether they can write if they don’t have a plan, an MA in Creative Writing, a bestseller to their name or any other reason to add to the list. Diving in can bring with it a freedom from the confines of your own expectations.

Imagine diving into a huge pile of leaves. There is something in us as adults that stops us, tells us it’s not the done thing and that it’s for children. Imagine the freedom of just plunging onto a freshly swept pile of autumn leaves. Then imagine putting fingers to the keys or pen to paper and writing one word at a time until you find yourself in a world entirely unexpected and intriguing, a world where the rules have changed and where new characters appear. For me this is part of the excitement of writing, and part of the freedom.

Dive in!

Photo: miquilter.blogspot.com

An Interview With Author Emylia Hall

What gave you the courage to leave an advertising job in London and launch into writing?

After five years in London straight after university, I’d reached the point where I felt as though I really needed to make a change. I was caught up in a very busy day job, one that didn’t leave a lot of headspace for much else.

For quite some time I’d felt that I wanted to do something more creatively fulfilling, something that was more for myself, but it was a matter of choosing the right point at which to make the change, as there were things I really liked about my job, and London life. My husband and I have always loved snowboarding, and we’d talked idly about doing a ski season many times. Going to live in the French Alps, and working as chalet staff, was a great way to break from our old routine, and explore new horizons – literally and figuratively. That was when, and where, I began writing. I think when you make a decision that’s from the heart, but you’ve also really thought it through, it doesn’t feel like courage comes into it all that much.

What have you learned about the process of writing and the publishing industry since you first put your ideas down?

While I was writing my first novel, The Book of Summers, my biggest concern was that it would get lost in the slush pile among all the other hopeful manuscripts, never finding its way into the right pair of hands. As soon as I had an agent on my side, the brilliant Rowan Lawton, I felt much more confident – I still knew that publication wasn’t guaranteed, but I felt like I was on the right path. When I got ‘the call’ with the news that Headline wanted my book, I was floored. The thing I’d been working towards for some years, and had wanted almost more than anything else, had actually happened. It felt like a dream. That was July 2011, and sometimes I have to remind myself of how incredibly lucky I am, and what a privilege it is to write full-time. It’s easy for it to feel normal, and I don’t want that to happen. It’s not normal – it’s wonderful – an extraordinary way to spend your days. But for all the joy, there are aspects that make writing a job like any other, days when putting pen to paper feels like a chore, and my daily word-count target like an insurmountable mountain. That’s when a well-timed and self-administered kick up the backside is just the thing. Be rigorous, be tough, and make yourself work even when you don’t feel like it. That’s what I’ve learnt. It might be my dream job, but it’s also very real work.

You have talked previously about poetry being an inspiration for your work. Do you have particular favourites or other key inspirations?

I wrote a piece for Book Slam recently on this very subject, which you can read here.

My favourite poem is probably Fern Hill by Dylan Thomas – I love the evocation of a rural childhood, and the melancholy of the poet’s ability to recollect, but never be fully able to return. A desire for some kind of time-travel, driven by nostalgia and longing, lies at the heart of much of my writing. I almost always start a story with ‘place’, and those places are often landscapes that belong to my past, or hold a particular kind of allure for me, mostly of the unreachable, or faintly exotic, kind. I live in Bristol, and I love it here, but I have no particular interest in setting a story in the city. That said, if I moved away I’m almost certain that I’d think ‘ah…. Bristol’ and want to do something with that feeling.

The Book of Summers, your debut novel, has been translated into eight languages and was a Richard and Judy Summer Book Club pick in 2012. How did it affect your profile as a writer?

I think Richard and Judy probably made a huge difference, and certainly introduced many more readers to my work – for that, I’m hugely grateful. Having their seal of approval also gave me a wonderful confidence boost, it’s something to hold on to. I’ve always had great respect for their book club choices, and have found some of my favourite contemporary novels thanks to them. The translations of The Book of Summers are really exciting to me, it’s a real thrill to hold a foreign edition of your work in your hand, especially for a travel-junkie like myself. I’ve been to Hungary and Spain for promotional visits and literary festivals. One of Budapest’s biggest bookstores devoted an entire window display to The Book of Summers, which was a real thrill to see, and my Spanish publisher ran an amazing publicity campaign that included radio ads and an aeroplane trailing a banner in the skies above Malaga…. Surreal, and brilliant.

Your next book, A Heart Bent Out of Shape, was published last month in the UK (and will be released as The Swiss Affair in the US in 2014). How did the books differ in the length of time that it took you to complete them and are there any similar threads running through both?

I wrote The Book of Summers over the course of about four years, in quite a meandering fashion, most of the time writing alongside a day job. I did however take a clear six months off to give it ‘the final push’, and then another six months working part-time in a bookshop while finishing it. I burnt through my savings, but never regretted giving myself this kind of focused time on the book. It really worked for me. A Heart Bent Out of Shape was written under quite different conditions. It was the second book in a two-book deal, and I quit my part-time job in a Bristol marketing agency in order to write it to deadline. It took about a year and a half, from start to finish. During the process I sometimes wondered if I was trying to move too quickly, but then it all came together, and the last six months of work, with the wisdom of my agent and editors filling my sails, turned out to be the most pleasurable.

I share your love of the slopes but am happier on skis than a snowboard. How important do you think it is for writers to have passions that take them out of the writing process and away from their book?

I love what snowboarding gives me; it’s exhilarating in every way. I love the speed, the way sometimes you can scare yourself a little, but ultimately always feel in control. And the setting… I love the mountains, and the beauty of a blue sky and powder day is, in my mind, unsurpassable. I also have a big crush on alpine style; the architecture, the food, the rugged exteriors and the cosy interiors… it all comes together to be, for me, the perfect pastime. We spent two winters living in Morzine in the French Alps, and I had a year in Lausanne as a student, so the mountains never feel far away; there are seven snowboards in our house, and I’m a sucker for vintage ski art and old resort postcards. As to writers and their passions, I think the great outdoors is the best tonic for us solitary, desk-bound folk. A beautiful view can’t help but give perspective, and it’s good to feel your heart pumping and your muscles straining, giving your mind and body something else to think about. My third novel has a bit of a surf element to it, and I’m keen to take some lessons down in Cornwall.

Your books are set in Hungary and Switzerland. Is travel important to you and how do you create a sense of place in your work?

Travel is really important to my work. I love books that transport the reader, emotionally and physically, and give a real sense of place. They’re my favourite books to read, and therefore my favourite to write. So far I’ve chosen places as settings that I love and feel a real connection with, so conjuring the detail of them, trying to capture their essence, is a really enjoyable process and feels quite natural. Desk-bound travelling! The book I’m working on at the moment is set in Cornwall’s Far West, and the wildness of that landscape really appeals to me. I grew up in Devon, and so it doesn’t feel like a world away, but retains enough of an exotic edge to make me interested in writing about it. I think a lot of my obsession with writing about place comes from my rural childhood. I lived in the same cottage in a tiny village until I went away to university and moved to London, and as a child I always had a great curiosity about other places, and other people’s lives. We travelled quite a lot as a family, always driving across Europe each summer, and those trips have really stayed with me. I grew up holding onto the memory of one trip, and looking forward to the next, always savouring the details of our travels, and loving sharing them as a family. When I went to university I made sure that a year abroad was part of that experience, and I chose Lausanne, in Switzerland, which became the setting for A Heart Bent Out of Shape. I guess I have the kind of mind that holds on to the details of a place, and the kind of imagination that wants to do something with them.

Are there any books that have taken your breath away or left a lingering sense of another world?

Many, but to name just a few… The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. The White Woman On The Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey. The Silver Dark Sea by Susan Fletcher. Each conjures place so vividly, be it Congo, Trinidad, or a remote Scottish island, and I was utterly lost in their worlds. I really admire the writing of Daphne du Maurier, and love how central Cornwall was to her work, inspiring her life on the page, and beyond it. And Ernest Hemingway’s epilogue to Death In The Afternoon is, to my mind, a truly perfect piece of writing about place… the opening line ‘If I could have made this enough of a book it would have had everything in it,’ exactly sums up how I felt when writing A Heart Bent Out of Shape. My greatest desire was to do justice to my memory of Lausanne, to capture its beauty and convey that very particular feeling of being young, and abroad, and everything seeming full of promise. I wanted to write the whole city into that novel, every view, every scent, every sight, but in the end you have to step back, write what’s right, and keep the rest for yourself.

After studying at York University and in Lausanne, Switzerland, Emylia spent five years working in a London ad agency, before moving to the French Alps where she began to write. The daughter of an English artist and a Hungarian quilt-maker, Emylia enjoys travel and snowboarding. She now lives in Bristol with her husband, also an author. Her first novel, THE BOOK OF SUMMERS, was a Richard and Judy Summer Book Club pick in 2012. It’s published by Headline in the UK, MIRA in the US & Canada. Her second novel, A HEART BENT OUT OF SHAPE (or THE SWISS AFFAIR, in the US) was published in September 2013 (Feb 2014 in the US). Emylia’s writing and short fiction has appeared in a variety of publications, including ELLE magazine, the Book Slam anthology, Too Much Too Young, and broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music. She is currently at work on her third novel.

You can find Emylia on twitter and her website and blog.