Tell me about your debut short story collection, She’s Always Hungry, ‘a delectable smorgasbord of snack-sized weird’, 11 ‘surreal, troubling and frankly gross little worlds’
It’s a mix of genre work and more grounded stuff – funny stuff and serious stuff. Maybe indicative of where I’ll be going with my work in the future? I hope people like them.
What makes a good short story?
Efficiency, maybe? You have less time in a short story than a novel – everything should be in there for a reason, there shouldn’t be any flab or wasted space. I feel like I read (or at least, start reading) a lot of short stories that are quite forced – I don’t know how to explain this quality, but the short story doesn’t feel like something that the author would’ve naturally written – it feels like it was written for the sake of having written a short story, not because the author wanted to write that story and it happened to be that short.
The oldest stories date from 2018. Was it hard to make the collection cohere?
I didn’t really think about it, honestly – as the stories were collected over a number of years, I was quite surprised that they cohered relatively well. Fiction writing often reveals the author’s fixations to the audience as much as it does to the author herself; the collection’s cohesion is more a result of my own preoccupations than any intentionality on my part.
Unusually, the collection ends with a content guide. Is it necessary? And why not at the beginning?
We do alert the reader that there’s a content guide at the end they can turn to in the first few pages. I wanted a guide (primarily due to the content around disordered eating in some stories, which can be particularly sensitive) but I didn’t like the idea of having something extensive at the beginning, as it’s a bit spoilery. It’s like if a film started with a full reading of the BBFC report.
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I think content guides should be easily available for people who feel they need them, but I think the plot details would be frustrating and spoilery for those who don’t. It seemed like a fair compromise. If you know you’re sensitive to some topics, you can check the guide. If you’re not, you can just ignore it.
Do you order your shelves by the colour of the books’ spines?
Yes. I would personally prefer to have them alphabetised but my fiance thinks it looks nicer when it’s colour coded, so I’m blaming him.
What is the best writing advice you have heard?
When I was being mentored by Matt Wesolowski, he was feeding back on the original draft of Hollow Bones (a story in the collection) and I’d described the ground on this alien planet as feeling “weird” – and he said that I shouldn’t just say the ground is weird, I should describe it, specifically – say what makes it weird. Great advice. I always try to aim for specificity and clarity in my prose, and think about that often.
You are supreme ruler for a day. Which law do you pass or abolish?
I’d either ban fossil fuels or crunchy snacks in cinemas (including popcorn – sorry). On the one hand, fossil fuels present an immediate existential threat – on the other hand, I’ve had to sit and listen to people rustling and chewing during some wildly inappropriate films (You do not need a crispy little snack to watch Zone of Interest with – GROW UP!) – so it’s impossible to say which is worse.
Which current book, film and podcast would you recommend?
I’m currently reading The Time of the Hero by Mario Vargas Llosa, which is spectacular. For films, I’d recommend Poetry by Lee Chang-dong, which I don’t think enough people have seen. And for podcasts, I’d recommend Maintenance Phase, a podcast that debunks junk science in health and wellness trends.
The most remarkable place you have visited?
Probably Prague? Beautiful city, with a fascinating history.
The best and worst things about where you live?
I currently live in Crystal Palace. The best thing about it is probably that it’s very leafy, and there are a lot of nice independent businesses (cafes, restaurants, grocers, fishmongers) in the immediate area. The worst thing about it is probably that I saw a man spraying and rubbing whipped cream on his feet and legs outside of the Sainsbury’s today. I typed the first half of this answer in a cafe, packed up and started walking home and passed the cream man on the way. When you live in London you must come to terms with the fact that you’re constantly at risk of seeing something mad and upsetting in a way you’re just not when you live in a smaller city. Rail transport is also a bit hit and miss.
A book to make me laugh?
I had a great time with Hurdy Gurdy by Christopher Wilson last year.
A book that might move me to tears?
I think the last book that made me cry was The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin.
She’s Always Hungry is published by Faber & Faber on November 7th
