Tomorrow is the deadline for our Short Fiction and Poetry contests, so we thought it’d be a good time to share some wisdom from this year’s fiction judge Jessica Grant.
PRISM: In your short story collection “Making Light of Tragedy”, the stories vary a lot in length. How do you know when a story is finished?
JG: I think if you can put a story aside for a few days, then come back to it, read it as if you didn’t write it, and find it satisfying, then it is finished.
PRISM: Can you think of an example of a story where you were really stuck and what got you unstuck?
JG: Yes, there are times when the writing is no longer fun, and then you get stuck. Or you get stuck, and the writing stops being fun. I’m not sure which comes first. In any case, if I’m not enjoying what I’m writing, then a reader will probably not enjoy reading it, so I stop and take the story in a different direction. Or I scrap it entirely and start something new. I try to write what is fun for me to write, and I keep my fingers crossed it will be fun for a reader, too.
PRISM: Best piece of writing advice?
JG: Be fearless. Remember the story is yours and you can do whatever you want. Have fun. Be honest. Write quickly and edit later.
Cara, Jordan, andrea and Erin are stoked to announce that PRISM 50.2 WINTER 2012 is now available for your reading and perusing pleasure. We’ve got daring new fiction from Wendell Mayo, Marianne Villanueva, Amy Gustine, Katie Addleman, and Corinne Stikeman! And phenomenal new poetry from Carolyn Smart, Billeh Nickerson, Leah Rae, matt robinson, Emily Carr, Allison LaSorda, and Adam Dickinson! We’ve even got a fantastic new cover photo from the very talented Ulric Collette!
