The creative writing and editing powerhouses behind Small Beer Press, five Year’s Best Horror and Fantasy anthologies with Ellen Datlow, and young Miss Ursula Annabel Link Grant (among other creative endeavours), Kelly Link and Gavin Grant, mind-meld on some questions … which they may or may not have described as “damn bear impossible questions” … who’s answered which question? Who can tell? Does it really matter? And so, random questions for beginners:
1. A story is finished when …
… I die. Until then, they’re all fair game. There’s nothing like seeing a story in print to show up mistakes, missed opportunities, etc. Do I go back and fix them? No. Do I think about it? Much too much.
2. My worst idea for a story was …
… probably my most recent. Or most of them. I know I should be specific, but I didn’t write them (or gave up on them) for a reason.
3. A character is irresistible when …
… they want something. Whether it’s a person, an escape, a million dollars, a job, an apple.
4. There’s a knife fight in a bar between Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte: discuss.
Shan’t.
5. Donuts or danishes?
Chocolate cake!
