Interview with 2025 Second prize winner - Jay McKenzie
Meet the Winners!
Where did you get the idea?
I was playing around with format and my main goal was to see if I could use something really pedestrian in format - a list - and tell a complete story with emotional pull. Since becoming a mother, I think a lot about my relationship with my beautiful mother and my beautiful daughter and I'm a little sandwich filling between them. I wanted to see if I could write something powerful about those relationships in a rigid structure.
Do you have any writing heroes or favourite authors?
In novels, my writing hero is Rachel Joyce, who just has the most beautifully drawn characters. She makes me laugh and cry in equal measure, and that is a pretty impressive talent. I also love Barbara Kingsolver's prose, which is always stunning. I have a secret passion for twisty page turners that make you gasp so I will demolish books by Sophie Hannah, BA Paris, Cara Hunter, Claire Douglas, Lisa Jewell, Louise Candlish and Lucy Foley in very short periods of time! I try to read short stories every day too, and my flash fiction heroes are Emily Rinkema, Katherine Aldride-Morris, Sara Hills, Vincent Anioke, Kathy Fish, Kathy Hoyle and Ani King.
What is your writing process? Pen and paper or straight to screen? Do you have a routine?
I have a three year old and a full time job, so any writing I do has to be in the morning before everyone wakes. I set my alarm for 5am, but I'm usually up between 4 and 4:30. I write until either 6:30 or my daughter wakes up, then I get ready for work. I go straight to screen, generally, but I have scatterings of notebooks all over work and home with half sentences, paragraphs about whatever has popped into my head. There are also things written all over my work ipad, so sometimes I'm wracking my brain to remember where I've written stuff. Google Drive has saved me on more than one occasion!
Do you have any advice for other short story writers?
The best advice I have ever got about short story writing is that, when writing a short story, you should be a perfect party guest: arrive late, leave early. I try to have that in mind when I'm writing. Have I arrived too early? Have I overstayed my welcome?
Do you have any other stories published elsewhere that our readers can check out?
I have a website and there is a link to published works on one of the pages. It is at www.jaymckenzieauthor.com There are links to pieces online, as well as to some anthologies where a story or two might be lurking!
Have you taken any courses in creative writing, and if so are there any that you'd recommend?
I haven't done any actual taught courses since university (a loooong time ago!) but I subscribe to The Forever Workshop which has a number of self-paced mini courses within it. I did Jo Gatford's Flash Fiction one last year, and actually, this story emerged from one of my experiments in that! There was a lesson on format, and this eventually emerged! I definitely recommend Jo Gatford's workshops. I did an online character workshop last week. Jo is an immensely talented prize-winning short and flash fiction writer, as well as being an editor. I've also participated in a few online workshops with Christopher Allen from Smokelong Quarterly and with Tommy Dean from Fractured Lit, both of whom are generous and insightful.
Thank you, Jay. You can read Jay's story here.
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