Autumn Pop-Up Issue – Prompted Stories

Following the launch of each of our issues, we cajole one or more of the contributors into a mini interview with the Trash Cat.
Here they will reveal some writing wisdom and tell you what trash critter they identify with most. Important stuff like that.

Today, we have David K Mitchell. You can read his dark, dystopian flash fiction, Mulch HERE – inspired by the prompts: A Sleeper Train, A Corpse, and Seeds.

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Q: What piece of writing advice/ crafting rule would you trash?

A: “Write the story that only you could tell.” and all its variations. It’s restrictive and boring, and pressures people into this idea that they all need to be introspective artistes. Write whatever inspires you. Grow, learn, research, have fun. You want to write a story that is essentially your soul, exposed on the page? Cool. But it’s also equally cool to write escapist nonsense that has no deeper meaning and is filled with cheesy puns. 

Q: Which writers and magazines do you go to to find treasure to read?

A: It very much depends on my mood, I read an arc of a really good collection from J. V. Gachs recently – that Infested Publishing are putting out in October – that was dark and visceral and painful, and then followed it up by binging about four of the Dungeon Crawler Carl books, which are joyfully silly.

I go by recommendations a lot, so with magazines it’ll often be someone whose opinion I respect, posting about it that will get me looking. Translunar, Uncanny, Cosmic Horror Monthly, Strange Horizons. etc. There are loads of places putting out really good stuff at the moment. 

Q: What trash animal do you most identify with?

A: I’ll go with the honey badger, because the initial impressions are wholesome and sweet, but the closer you get, the more you realise that they’re unhinged and wildly unaware of their own physical capabilities and limitations.

Q: When your writing mojo is trashed, how do you recharge?

A: Sometimes I just accept that my mojo is trashed and give myself a break. There’s nothing worse than staring at an unmoving, blinking cursor and getting annoyed at yourself for not being “productive”. Doing something physical can help me break through, I’ll go for a run, punch a heavy bag for half an hour, play football. In general, I think a lack of mojo is a symptom, rather than a cause, so it’s all about working out what’s stopping me from writing and dealing with that – I probably just need some sleep. 

Q: If you could offer three tips to writing short treasures, what would they be?

A:
1. Trust your readers’ imaginations, leave big blank spaces. If you’ve done your job, they’ll fill them in.

2. Have honest friends that will tell you what’s good, and more honestly, what sucks.

3. Don’t keep staring at the word count – get your idea out and reshape it. If you’re worrying about the word count, you’re not focusing on the words.

Q: What is one thing, if spotted in a crowded charity shop/thrift store, you would just have to buy

A: The boring but true answer is probably books, physical books! But an alternative would be retro football kits… I often “accidentally” find myself adding another to my collection.

David K Mitchell is a SFFH writer from Cornwall, England. He enjoys playing with ‘what ifs’ and bizarre hypotheticals. His work can be found in anthologies from Speculation Publications and Infesting Publishing.