Short Sharp Interview: Victoria Watson

PDB: You've had three rather cushty short stories published in the last few months, when did you write them?

VW: I started writing ‘I Should Have Seen it Coming’ and ‘KeepingQuiet’ in Spring this year. I developed them over the summer and they were released in October. I wrote ‘Inside’ in October and it was released shortly after. It’s funny because I often let a story stew in my mind for a while before putting it down.

PDB: Which short story writers float your boat?

VW: Darren Sant, another Trestle writer, has done a lot for my writing this year and reading his stories has been a big thrill for me. I adore his ‘Tales from the Longcroft Estate’. I’ve always loved Roald Dahl’s ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ so I guess that’s where it all started.

PDB: How much of your writing is based on personal experience?

VW: I think, as a writer, there will always be some things that you use. ‘I Should Have Seen it Coming’ came about after I’d been to a psychic night in a pub so the setting was inspired by something I’d seen in real life. Characters have traits I’ve noticed in people, a lot of my characters are amalgamations of people I’ve met and their characteristics as well as pure invention on my part.

PDB: Which is the most important, the story or the storyteller?

VW: I consider myself a conduit for a story. Although the ideas are coming from me, I still think the story is most important although, without the storyteller, there’d be no story.

PDB: Do you have any interest in writing for television or films?

VW: I’d love to write for TV or film, theatre or radio. I studied a Masters in Creative Writing so I have had a little bit of experience in writing for different mediums although I worry about the stylistics. I don’t tend to worry about the ideas.

PDB: What's on the cards next?

VW: I have two stories that are currently in my head and I have started writing them but they’re in the early stages at the moment. I’m 20,000 words into a novel and I would like to concentrate on writing that in 2012.

Thanks for the chat Paul, and also the opportunity you gave me to appear in ‘Brit Grit Too’.

Find out more about Vic Watson at Elementary Watson.