Thursday, October 25, 2007

Brendan Short, novelist, poet, short story writer

Name: Brendan Short

First clue you wanted to be a writer; summarize the situation: I’m not sure. There wasn’t really a big moment, more like a bunch of little moments that I pieced together in college. When I was in kindergarten or first grade, I wrote and illustrated a one-page story called “The Tuff Man.” When I was in fourth or fifth grade, I wrote my own “Choose Your Own Adventure” book. I wasn’t much of a reader, but I was always trying to do something creative – cartoons, animated films, songs with my sister. In college, a few teachers encouraged me, and I found myself putting my greatest effort into essays, stories, and other pieces of writing that gave me the freedom to be creative.

Earliest remembered writing and publishing experience: In terms of writing, it was “The Tuff Man,” which is still in my room at my parents’ house. I really should hunt it down. In terms of publishing, it was a short story in my college literary journal; I was proud to see my name and story in the journal, even if they called me “Brenda Short” in the table of contents, and I still remember a guy from one of my classes coming up to me in the dining hall and complimenting my work. As far as fame goes, it wasn’t much, but it was flattering nonetheless.

What part of your education helped you most on your path to writing? Oddly enough, I think it was math. In grade school and high school, I was always better at math than English (in part because of my aforementioned lack of interest in reading), and once I started enjoying and working at reading and writing and gave up on math, I realized that all writing relies on some sort of structure and logic, just like with equations and formulas. Even today, when I write a poem, story, novel, essay, or grant proposal, I try to think of the piece and its components as having structure, symmetry, and balance.

Who influenced you most along your way and how? My composition teacher freshman year in college was fairly disreputable in some ways (including sexual terminology in our weekly vocabulary lists, offering to extend a deadline for a dorm-mate of mine in exchange for a case of beer, etc.), but he took literature seriously, and he allowed us a lot of freedom with our writing assignments. His comments on my first few papers were encouraging, which meant a lot to me.

Most satisfying piece(s) you’ve ever written----its audience: My novel, even though the audience thus far has only been a handful of people. At almost every point along the way, writing a novel seemed impossible, but clearly it wasn’t.

Your publications or venues for writing: I write poems and stories, which I’ve been fortunate to publish in small literary magazines, but for the past six years or so, I’ve mostly worked on a novel, which I hope will one day have a bigger audience. I’ve also used my writing as a fundraiser for nonprofit organizations serving low-income people. It has been eye-opening to discover how good writing can bring in money for a company or organization. I’m not very talented to persuading people in speech, but in writing, I’m not too bad.

Nuggets of advice for young writers in middle school and high school: Don’t be afraid to fail, and don’t give up. I think there is a lot of pressure on students to do things correctly, to find the right answer quickly, but writing (especially creative writing) almost requires you to look and/or feel foolish in order to produce anything worthwhile. Many of my old poems and stories embarrass me now, but I needed to write them to gain confidence and become a better writer—plus I didn’t need to show them to anyone if I didn’t want to.