{"id":1493,"date":"2022-01-10T10:00:28","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T10:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nationalflashfictionday.co.uk\/?p=1493"},"modified":"2022-01-10T10:00:28","modified_gmt":"2022-01-10T10:00:28","slug":"honest-work-that-shines-through-every-narrative-layer-an-interview-with-christopher-allen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalflashfictionday.co.uk\/index.php\/2022\/01\/10\/honest-work-that-shines-through-every-narrative-layer-an-interview-with-christopher-allen\/","title":{"rendered":"Honest work that shines through every narrative layer: an Interview with Christopher Allen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the second in our series of interviews with this year’s National Flash Fiction Day Anthology editors<\/a> and Microfiction Competition judges<\/a>! Submissions for the Anthology<\/a> and Microfiction Competition<\/a> are open from 1 December 2021 to 15 February 2022.<\/p>\n

This week, Diane Simmons<\/strong> chats with Christopher Allen<\/strong>, one of this year’s judges for the 2022 NFFD Microfiction Competition<\/a>, about movement, editing and crafting a collection of flash….<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/p>\n

Diane:<\/strong> You have at times described yourself as a nomad. Do you think moving from place to place affects what you write about or how you write it?<\/p>\n

Christopher:<\/strong> Indirectly maybe? Characters and situations I\u2019ve encountered around the world do show up in my writing, but only rarely. The tree in \u2018Fred\u2019s Massive Sorrow\u2019 was inspired by a tree growing on the top of a building in the middle of Vienna. A man working on the Mekong in Cambodia inspired \u2018Kerosene Man\u2019. A river in South Tyrol is the river in \u2018Providence\u2019. I just happened to be in Siena during The Feast of Santa Caterina, the memory of which forms the setting for my story \u2018Santa Caterina\u2019\u2014but these are exceptions in my writing. I\u2019m usually very much an \u2018in-the-mind\u2019 writer.<\/p>\n

Always being on the road, though, does affect the way I write. I write on trains and planes or sometimes not at all. I scribble lines on scraps of paper and stuff them in my backpack. I think about stories for months before I write anything. I don\u2019t have a desk or even a bookshelf, but I have memories of both. Writing for me is always a struggle to shut out the commotion around me.<\/p>\n

Diane:<\/strong> In your role of editor at SmokeLong Quarterly<\/em>, you must read a huge number of flash fictions. Is there any advice you can give entrants to your competitions on writing a successful flash or anything you would particularly like to see?<\/p>\n

Christopher:<\/strong> I think around 5000 submissions a year since 2008? As a team, the SmokeLong editors read around 3000 submissions each quarter. Honest work that shines through every narrative layer, from word to concept, has a good chance of doing well in a SmokeLong<\/em> competition. Something innovative with heart will stand out.<\/p>\n

Diane:<\/strong> Can you recall a flash fiction that made you cry?<\/p>\n

Christopher:<\/strong> When I received my copy of SmokeLong Quarterly: The Best of the First 10 Years<\/em> anthology in 2014, I took it to the Greek restaurant around the corner from my house in Munich. I remember sitting there alone and choking back tears at more than a dozen of the stories. I don\u2019t remember the specific stories that made me cry, but there were lots. \u2018A Soldier\u2019 by Siamak Vossoughi made me cry the first time I read it. \u2018Rascal\u2019 by Brendan Stephens makes me cry every time I read it in my Elements of Flash workshop. And lots of my own stories. I get so choked up when reading \u2018What if All the Oceans\u2019 that I\u2019ve decided not to try to read it in public again, especially if I\u2019ve had wine.<\/p>\n

Diane:<\/strong> Your collection Other Household Toxins<\/em> was published in 2018. Did you enjoy the process of putting together a collection? Do you have any tips that you\u2019d like to share?<\/p>\n

Christopher:<\/strong> Oh yes. The process was satisfying. I love the jigsaw nature of creating a collection. Other Household Toxins<\/em> went through several permutations. At first the publisher wanted it to be a craft book, but I decided it was a couple of decades and a few collections too soon to make a craft book using exclusively my own work.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not great with advice. Everyone has their own take on what works and what doesn\u2019t. Don\u2019t worry too much. Include only the stories you love. I\u2019ve written and published quite a few stories I don\u2019t love, and they will never be in a collection. A couple of years ago I made a commitment to myself to stop sending out stories just to send out stories.<\/p>\n

Diane:<\/strong> Writing and editing must keep you very busy. What do you like to do in your spare time?<\/p>\n

Christopher:<\/strong> Editing is a full-time job. SmokeLong<\/em> is a full-time job. We have a team of talented editors who work so hard. I am continually impressed and humbled by how much work they put into the feedback they give.<\/p>\n

Spare time. Oh god. I try to do as much sport as I can. I hike and cross-country ski. In months that are not cold, I try to cycle as much as possible. My dream holiday is just getting on my bike and cycling from village to village until I\u2019m far far away.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Christopher Allen<\/strong> is the author of the flash fiction collection Other Household Toxins<\/em> and the editor-in-chief of SmokeLong Quarterly. His work has appeared in Indiana Review<\/em>, Split Lip<\/em>, Booth<\/em>, The Best Small Fictions<\/em> and many other fine places. An instructor for more than 30 years, he teaches the flash narrative in workshops around the world, mostly online these days. He is a nomad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the second in our series of interviews with this year’s National Flash Fiction Day Anthology editors and Microfiction Competition judges! Submissions for the Anthology and Microfiction Competition are open from 1 December 2021 to 15 February 2022. This week, Diane Simmons chats with Christopher Allen, one of this year’s judges for the 2022 … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[54],"class_list":["post-1493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-interview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalflashfictionday.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalflashfictionday.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalflashfictionday.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalflashfictionday.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalflashfictionday.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalflashfictionday.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1493\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalflashfictionday.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalflashfictionday.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalflashfictionday.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}