Susan Midalia, Donna Mazza, Emily Paull and Bindy Pritchard talk turning points and the long and short of fiction writing on this week’s episode of Love to Read Local Radio with Fremantle Press
What happens when you conference call with four talented Western Australian writers who are equally committed to short fiction as to long? Loads! Hosted by Susan Midalia, this episode of Love to Read Local Radio will give you a wonderful insight into where the urge to write comes from – those turning points in life which compel writers to put words on the page.
Susan is joined by Emily Paull (Well-behaved Women), Bindy Pritchard (Fabulous Lives) and Donna Mazza (Fauna) to discuss the experience of writing short stories as opposed to that of writing full-length novels. To an outsider, both formats sound terrifying and time-consuming in their own highly specific ways. What you may not know about short stories is they sometimes take longer than novels to write and they are easier to get early feedback on, but that writers may ultimately find short story readers less forgiving than the readers of novels. Add to this a raft of great reading recommendations which range from Randolph Stow to Carol Millner and from Jon Doust to Craig Silvey, and we can guarantee you a taller than usual TBR pile.
Show notes:
This episode is produced by Fremantle Press for Love to Read Local. To listen to more episodes, subscribe to the Fremantle Press Podcast on iTunes, Google Play or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts.
About Love to Read Local by Writing WA
Love to Read Local is a statewide, online celebration of Western Australian stories, books and writers. While we remain at a social distance in the physical world, let’s get socially closer in the digital world. Visit the Love to Read Local website to connect with other readers, tell us which local books you love to read and perhaps inspire others to read those books too!
Writing by Donna Mazza
Fauna (Allen & Unwin)
The Albanian (Fremantle Press)
‘The Exhibit’ published in Westerly 60.1
‘The True Tail™’ published in Westerly 64.1
Donna on socials: @DonnaMazzaWriter on Facebook, @DonnaMazza14 on Twitter
Writing by Susan Midalia
Everyday Madness (coming soon, Fremantle Press 2021)
The Art of Persuasion (Fremantle Press)
The History of the Beanbag and Other Stories (UWA Publishing)
Feet to the Stars and Other Stories (UWA Publishing)
An Unknown Sky and Other Stories (UWA Publishing)
Susan online: susanmidalia.com
Susan on socials: @SusanMidalia on Twitter
Writing by Emily Paull
Well-behaved Women (Margaret River Press)
Emily online: emilypaull.com
Emily on socials: @EmilyPaullWriter on Facebook, @BatgirlElimy on Twitter, @incredibleramblingelimy on Instagram
Writing by Bindy Pritchard
Fabulous Lives (Margaret River Press)
Bindy on socials: @BindyPritchardWriter on Facebook
Other books, authors and resources mentioned on the podcast
Breath by Tim Winton
Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon
Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
Merry-Go-Round in the Sea by Randolph Stow
The Octopus and I by Erin Hortle
Poems about the House by Carol Millner
Randall Jarrell quote: ‘The novel is a prose narrative of some length that has something wrong with it.’ Introduction to the 1965 edition of The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead (Simon & Schuster)
Return Ticket by Jon Doust
The Salt Madonna by Catherine Noske
The Weight of a Human Heart by Ryan O’Neill
True West by David Whish-Wilson
Awards, events and competitions
Margaret River Press Short Story Competition
Australian Short Story Festival
Music: ‘Letter to a Daughter of St George’, from the Meat Lunch EP: Songs from Floaters. Written by Alan Fyfe. Performed by Trevor Bentley (guitar and vocals – @trevormb) and Chris Parkinson (harmonica). Produced by Blake Carnaby of Nuglife studios with impresario work by Benjamin P. Newton.
Producer: Claire Miller
Mastered and edited by: Aidan d’Adhemar
Sponsor: This show was made possible with a grant from the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund