  Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into writing? I’ve always been obsessed with reading and writing, but it wasn’t until I turned 30 that I started thinking about trying to write for publication. I finished my first ever short story and it won me a place on a screenwriting course taught by an absolutely brilliant woman called Liz Clegg. From there I got into writing screenplays, teaching screenwriting, script consulting and then back to prose again. That same short story was made into a film, and also won first prize in a competition judged by Graham Joyce – so it opened a lot of doors for me. How would you describe your writing? (E.g., Horror, weird, poetic, etc) I really don’t like labels. I think we are too obsessed with naming things and trapping them in boxes. If pushed, I’d probably say weird or maybe slipstream, since all my stories are about negotiating contact and conflict between different dimensions of reality. In fact, a majority of my stories are science fiction, but because I tend to focus on the domestic, and on women’s lives, they often get mistaken for horror. I never set out to write horror but I don’t think it’s possible to write about reality without encountering horror imagery and themes. Who or what has been a major influence on your writing? As a child, there were some books I read so many times I can still recite bits of them by heart: the Alice books, and Douglas Adams’ Hitchhikers ‘trilogy’. I constantly see the influence of these books in my work. Philip K Dick is also a major influence, especially “The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch” which is a hallucinatory trip through different levels of reality. It’s profoundly disturbing. You are known for your amazing short stories, and your story “White Rabbit” won the British Fantasy Society award for best short story. So whose work do you admire, and which authors would you like to bookend one of your stories in an anthology? That’s a difficult question because there are a lot of people writing amazing short stories these days and I admire them all for different reasons! I’ve been teaching Priya Sharma’s “Egg” again this year and love its emotional directness, and how moving and meaningful it is to my students. Padrika Tarrant is, to my mind, a great and under-appreciated writer. Her short stories are absolutely wild. Lydia Davis is a writer I hugely admire, who takes mad risks with stories. Helen McClory is another. I like risk-takers. Even if the risks don’t pay off, it’s always interesting to see how far it’s possible to go. What is the best piece of advice you ever received with regards to your writing? Or what piece of advice about writing would you tell someone if they asked? Take risks. Break rules. And don’t be afraid of failure – that’s all there is. What aspects of writing do you find the most difficult? Nothing about writing is easy, but honestly, I think I like writing because it’s difficult. I like a challenge. Then again, I cannot tolerate exposition. I hate it! So anytime I have to explain something it’s really hard for me. I want to create knowledge by some form of osmosis, not by actually just telling you in a straightforward way. It’s a weird thing. On your website www.georginabruce.com you are currently running a feature where you ask authors to give us a peek into the places where they do their writing, so could you tell us a little bit about your inner sanctum? My inner sanctum is currently hidden underneath an enormous pile of laundry, so that probably tells you all you need to know about that! Tell us about a bit about your debut collection “This House of Wounds”. The stories in This House of Wounds span ten years of writing, so there’s a lot of variety in terms of style and subject matter, although I think you can see certain themes and concerns echoed throughout. The four previously unpublished stories in the collection are a bit of a departure in some ways from the rest of the book. They are definitely floating more freely away from genre conventions and taking more risks with what a story can be. I’m increasingly interested in structure, in making the telling as much a part of the story as the action or description, so these stories are testing out ways of doing that. I’m definitely nervous about how they’ll be received and whether people will get what I’m doing! Having so many stories collected in one place is quite exposing in many ways. It’s a bit like ripping open your chest and watching the feathers and petals fly out… My favourite story in your collection would have to be “Cat World”. The subject matter of human trafficking is a sensitive subject to cover in such a short piece, but you managed it wonderfully. Showing us the humanity and the horror in equal measures. A difficult tale, but an important one to tell. Is there any subject matter you wouldn’t write about? Thank you – I’m proud of that story. I’m not sure there’s any subject I wouldn’t tackle if I really wanted to write about it, but I do always try to be honest with myself about my intentions with writing. Nothing is necessarily off limits but I’m not interested in gratuitous violence or anything in a story which is only there to shock, titillate or frighten the reader. One thing I wouldn’t write now is a completely hopeless story. Maybe in the past I would have, but given our current political climate I feel it would be delinquent and reactionary to create anything that doesn’t have a little space for hope to creep in. And finally can you tell us about what you are working on next? I’m writing a novel. I’m using a pseudonym, so I can’t say much more than that, in case I blow my cover! Read our review of This House of Wounds here ABOUT GEORGINA BRUCE Georgina Bruce is a writer and teacher currently living in Edinburgh. Her short stories have been widely published in magazines and anthologies, and have been longlisted for the Bridport and Mslexia short story prizes. In 2017, her story White Rabbit won the British Fantasy Award for Short Fiction. This House of Wounds is her debut fiction collection. You can find Georgina (when she isn’t writing) at Twitter @monster_soup or at her website http://www.georginabruce.com This House of Wounds The devastating debut short story collection from British Fantasy Award-winning author Georgina Bruce. Haunting and visceral tales for the lost and the lonely. An emotional and riveting debut. Advance praise for Georgina Bruce's 'This House of Wounds.' "An astonishing, totally absorbing debut collection. Edgy, disturbing and delicious in equal parts. Georgina Bruce plays with myth and horror beautifully." -Kerry Hadley-Pryce, Author of Gamble, and The Black Country "The stories in This House of Wounds strike me as both an emotional and intellectual examination of pain, from how it spreads and is passed on to others to how it can easily turn us into different, crueller creatures. Each act formed in pain leads to another, then another, and this makes for twisted, beautiful reading. Georgina Bruce is a courageous and compelling writer." -Aliya Whiteley, Author of The Loosening Skin, and The Beauty   Comments are closed.
|
Archives
May 2023
|
RSS Feed
|
|