This week I was a guest on The Tiny Bookcase Podcast. I’m going to tell you a little about that experience here today. You really should give it a listen. I hope it comes across as entertaining to listen to as it was to record.
What else would you expect to find on a bookcase (regardless of size) but stories? And The Tiny Bookcase is all about stories. The premise is simple. The two hosts, Ben and Nico, and the guest all write a story on the same prompt, 800-1500 words, and then, on the podcast, read and comment on them. This is followed by an interview/general discussion about influences, writing processes and other great questions.
The Writing Process
I had a choice of prompts, and I chose ‘The giant’ because how can you not? But then I had to write a story about a giant. I started to brainstorm. The first idea was about a couple of kids who saw a giant, went home, told their dad, and he set out to prove that there was no giant, only to decide in the end that he didn’t want to ruin their belief in fantastical things. It’s not a terrible idea, but it doesn’t actually have a giant in it, which is sure to lead to disappointment. The next idea that started to formulate was a steampunk heist story – a group of bank robbers hire a giant as a safecracker. I liked the idea that the giant’s stereotypical brute strength would not be what he was required for, but a more delicate skill. Figuring out how to tell such a story, the narrative point of view and finding the beating heart of the story proved a problem in the time I had, so back to the drawing board. I started looking for cheats. Could I use ‘giant’ as an adjective, and write about something else big instead? But no, I didn’t want to break that unspoken promise of a giant. There are elements of my first idea in the story I ended up writing, coupled with some local folklore. I’m not going to tell you anymore about it. You’ll have to listen to it.
The Interview
After the sharing of the stories and the discussion of them, I was interviewed. We spoke about books, and above are some of those that came up for discussion. Some of them are there because they’re current reads, others are there for other parts of the interview. Im not going to give too much away here, because I really want you to listen for yourself. There’s one question towards the end of the interview that had me in stitches. I’m just going to share a video below and hope intrigue brings you seeking answers.
So if you want to check out the podcast, either yell at a device as indicated above or try this link to buzzsprout or this one to spotify.