The Metropolis

In-depth interview: Flash fiction publisher Holly Clarke explains how a 60-word story can still mean something

Mike Pollitt | Monday 26 November, 2012 13:46

Holly Clarke edits the London Lit Project. She publishes flash fiction (60 words) and flash epic (250 words) by Londoners who have written a story, a snapshot, an impression or vignette which they think is worth reading.

I asked Holly lots of questions about the site, about flash fiction, and what the stories she publishes Say About Us All.

Snipe: Can you tell us about why the London Literary Project exists, what it does and what you would like it to become?

Holly: London Literary Project was born from a desire to create a website that would form a respected platform for London writers and those inspired by the city to showcase flash fiction and poetry. In a visual age, it had to look good too, hence the emphasis on evocative photography. The growing move to e-readers and the success of online literary magazines such as Five Dials shows that people are open to consuming literature digitally, as long as it is well packaged. London Literary Project will run various challenges, the first of which, the London Clock, will create a literary day in the life of the city. Submissions are open to all and so we have unpublished writers rubbing virtual shoulders with acclaimed prize-winning and published authors. Once the clock has evolved there will be a journal or book containing a collection of our favourites. Where London Literary Project will end up remains an exciting mystery so watch this space! London is home to a fantastically talented and creative writing community, and future projects will be shaped by the work of this community.

Snipe: The London Clock is structured around time and place. Each piece is set in a specific London location at a specific time of day. Can you talk about why you decided to structure the challenge like that?

Holly: One person’s 9am in London may be very different to another’s. One is running to a meeting down Fleet Street and the other may be jogging along the South Bank, or ordering a coffee in the West End. It would prove impossible to distil the essence of London in one piece of writing, because the city is such a chameleon. The London Clock was structured so as to capture numerous snapshots of London, to allow readers to gain an insight into the city’s many faces, and the faces of the city’s many people from different perspectives. How better to put together a literary day in the life of our city than by requesting little contributions from those who have lived and breathed it and know its streets?

Snipe: Flash fiction has a lot going for it – it’s democratic, it’s quick, it reads nicely on an iPhone. But (perhaps unfairly), there’s a sense that it is something written by aspiring writers for other aspiring writers to read. Do you think it’s time for flash fiction to break through to a mainstream audience? Does it matter if it doesn’t?

Holly: I think it already is breaking through to mainstream audiences. Salt Publishing (Publisher to one of this year’s shortlisted Man Booker Prize entries ‘The Lighthouse’) is running a flash fiction competition this year that will end with publication of a flash fiction collection, and there are a number of other high profile competitions and projects out there. Whilst flash fiction will never replace the standard novel format, and nor should it, this genre has exciting things to offer readers who are time poor and increasingly open to reading on smart phones whilst squashed in the corner of the bus at rush hour.

Snipe: You publish very snappy 60 word stories, longer 250 word “flash epics”, and also poems and various other experimental forms. Do you think there’s a limit to the depth of meaning 60 words of prose can bear? Can something that short be truly transformative? Or am I looking for something that doesn’t need to be there?

Holly: The joy of the short format is that there can be no preamble. The writer must propel you into position immediately and weave their magic quickly. That’s why the genre fits so well with the London Clock because life in this city is often made up of snatches, glimpses, and rushed encounters. Some of our pieces are thought-provoking, some humorous, and all are vehicles for the reader to fill in their own experiences or emotions. This type of interaction between reader and writer is powerful.

Snipe: What makes a successful piece of flash fiction?

Holly: Two things: Number one – discipline. With a limited word count every sentence must drive the story forward. Wasted words are a real crime. Number two – A sense of fun. Flash fiction is an experimental genre and it’s there to be played with!

Snipe: Using London as a shared starting point for all the pieces allows the reader to make connections between different stories. Do you think that read together, the pieces are more than the sum of their parts? Is that the best way to read flash fiction, as fragments of a whole?

Holly: The aim of the London Clock is to read the pieces together in order to create an image of the city as a whole and so yes, the stories do become more than the sum of their parts. Creating an image of a multi-dimensional urban environment lends itself to taking snapshots from numerous perspectives and then piecing these together. What about flash fiction more generally? Yes, the pieces are limited in length, but this does not impede writing that contains true depth of emotion. Certainly, the Beatles’ success wasn’t hampered by the 3 minute restriction of a seven-inch single! A good flash fiction story does not require other pieces to support it. It stands alone as a bare, brief moment – there is power in brevity, and that is exciting for both readers and writers to discover.

Snipe: Having so many different voices together in one place allows an interesting snapshot into what matters to these writers, what feelings and ideas and trends are active out there right now. Have you noticed any themes uniting the different pieces you’ve received? What does London in 2012 look like through these writers’ eyes?

Holly: The outstanding theme has been a focus on detail. Descriptions are often minute, with the reader able to follow the author’s roving eye across the scene as though they are standing there together. Maybe this is how we all seek to make sense of this vast, vibrant and complex city; by focussing on specific locations at a human level. This reflection of true experience is, I think, what has made the London Clock resonate with our readers. Whether you live or lived in London, or were once a visitor, you are placed back in the middle of the action, often in places that are famous or familiar. Relationships too are a common feature as writers make sense of life in this city by referencing relationships experienced within it. Personal intimacies and private observations are fine things for any piece of work to possess, big or small. The London Clock is giving London a human face and with each new piece another door is opened into the real lives of people grappling with this vast, frantic, wonderful city.

Follow the project on Twitter @LDNLitProject. Read the stories, or submit your own, at the London Lit Project website

More in-depth interviews:

Helen Babbs of The New Nature on creating a new generation of urban nature writers
Photographer Mike Tsang on the blessing and the curse of growing up a Chinese Londoner
Iain Sinclair and Andrew Kötting on their Olympic pedalo film Swandown
Kate Flowers of CoOperaCo on her mutualised operatic finishing school
Stratford filmmaker Winstan Whitter on what got lost in the gentrification of Dalston

---