a slew of stories
I’ve decided to post a few different stories at once, and I may as well post the back story for each of them here. In chronological order, because some are a little on the old side… (and it is pure coincidence that they all start with the letter ‘S’, by the way)
Singing The Frangipani Blues
This story was written for a creative writing internal assessment when I was in Year 12 - that’s 11th grade for you North American types - and therefore I was either 15 or just 16 when I wrote it. It’s based on true incidents, although with creative flair added as well. I thought I was so fucking cool with my lyrical introductions for each passage. It’s short and sweet and not my best ever work but it does resonate with me because it is fairly true to life. Names, of course are altered.
I also was in love with my title, and my English teacher, the FABULOUS Mrs Ali (who, incidentally, is pretty much the highest authority in terms of high school creative writing) was a fan of it too - to the extent that after the single teacher lookover we were allowed, which was meant to only provide us with technical feedback, she pulled me aside and said ‘I’m not supposed to say this but I love your title.
Summertime At Tarras
‘Tarras’ is my most successful piece to date, I feel. In 2007 it won second place in the high school division of a nationwide short story competition and subsequently was published in the Sunday Star Times, a nationally circulated newspaper in NZ. I’m pretty proud of that - it was a big deal, the prime minister was at the awards ceremony and my favourite NZ author, Emily Perkins, was the MC.
This story is odd. The setting is very much taken from real life, and the character of Julia is ‘me’, in effect, and ‘Clare’ is my younger cousin. But the story itself is entirely fiction. Just so you know, and don’t start getting concerned. I do draw from my experiences and surroundings a lot, but they aren’t the be all and end all of my creative work.
