#379 Inside the Emotion of Fiction: short story “Love at Six” from the short story collection FOREST FOR THE TREES & OTHER STORIES by Mathieu Cailler, published Hidden Peak Press on December 9, 2023
#379 Inside the Emotion of Fiction: short story “Love at Six” from the short story collection FOREST FOR THE TREES & OTHER STORIES by Mathieu Cailler, published Hidden Peak Press on December 9, 2023
https://hiddenpeakpress.com/forest-for-the-trees-mathieu-cailler-short-stories/
What is the date you began writing this piece of fiction and the date when you completely finished the piece of fiction? Since Forest for the Trees & Other Stories is a short story collection, the pieces were written at different times throughout the last seven or so years. I’m not sure if art is ever finished, but I felt the collection was a good place at the beginning of 2023. Of the fifteen stories, fourteen had been published in various publications, like The Saturday Evening Post and the Coachella Review, so I felt it was ready.
https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/author/m-cailler/
https://thecoachellareview.com/archive/fiction/quickenings/
Where did you do most of your writing for this fiction work? And please describe in detail. And can you please include a photo? I wrote most of these stories first by hand and then type them on my computer at my desk or at my local library.
What were your writing habits while writing this work- did you drink something as you wrote, listen to music, write in pen and paper, directly on laptop; specific time of day? That’s an excellent question. I like to wear noise-canceling headphones while I work with nothing playing. I love deep, thick silence. I always write in the morning, usually on an empty stomach, with just a cup of coffee. I don’t shower beforehand, so I’m usually still bed-headed and wearing pajamas, but I like it that way—so I’m close to dreaming. Then, after the work is done, I take a shower, eat, and join society. But the writing time, is as close to my subconscious as I can get.
Please include just one excerpt and include page numbers as reference. This one excerpt can be as short or as long as you prefer. Here’s a short selection from “Love at Six,” a shorter story from the collection, originally published in The Saturday Evening Post.
Six-year-old Zachary had been in his room all evening.
Mary Ann kept tiptoeing over to her grandson’s quarters in the guest room and pressing her ear to the door. She thought she could hear him crying. “Sweetie,” she said, taking a step back. “Are you okay?” She returned her right ear to the door. Zachary didn’t answer. “Can I come in?” she asked.
Mary Ann loved her grandson, but she couldn’t stand when things got tricky like this. She only got to see him every other month when his mother would drive him up from Vermont, so she felt a little out of sorts when the seas got rough. It was especially hard to do without Tobias around. Her husband had always been better at solving problems.
“Zachary, can I come in?” she called again. “Do you want dinner? Do you want me to read you a bedtime story?” There was no answer. “Didn’t you have a good time today? I thought we had such a good time.”
Finally, she turned the handle and opened the door to the guest room. Zachary had been scared to sleep on the room’s high bed, so she’d piled a bunch of blankets on the floor in front of the fireplace. He was twisted on his side, crying. Next to him was a stuffed animal, an old Rottweiler that was missing his nose. She’d only seen Zachary cry once before when he’d fallen from a tree in her daughter’s backyard, but these tears, she thought, had nothing to do with physical discomfort.
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Why is this excerpt so emotional for you as a writer to write? And can you describe your own emotional experience of writing this specific excerpt? This selection is rather autobiographical and was emotional in the sense that I was writing from the point of view of my grandmother who helped raise me and who passed in 2010, but it was joyous, too, because I got to spend time with her in a meaningful way once again.
Were there any deletions from this excerpt that you can share with us? And can you please include a photo of your marked up rough drafts of this excerpt. Sadly, they have all been either burned or shredded. With seven published books and writing longhand and then typing, I would live in piles of paper, if I didn’t let go. When a book is published, I enjoy the process of letting go and making room for more. Thank you for the interview and for your time.
