Smoking With Jen Gann by Meg Pokrass Epilogue by Joaquin Villaverde via Creative Commons license How did this story come to you? I'm not sure! I found the beginning of "A Flower Thing" in a file called "dumbdumbs." This delicious voice of this narrator is so completely unreliable!.... and you let us know that immediately. Tell us about how you use this narrative device to allow the reader to the discovery of what IS true, what is real... Even more than unreliable, I wanted the narrator to function like a teenager or a kid who will say anything to prompt a question. The other day a kid at my work kept saying, "If only I had...if only....no, never mind." I let him do that a little while before asking what he wanted. The incident reminded me of the narrator in this story, who doesn't want to go as far as talking about "a bad thing" but struggles with (maybe) wanting someone to ask about it. There is something powerful about animal characters in fiction. Will you talk about this? Do animals come into your work often? My mother took in a whole bunch of semi-feral cats while I was growing up, so I spent the majority of my life walking into a room and finding at least two cats, if not five or six. Perhaps because of this, animals and my ideas about them do seem to come into my work often. I wrote a story when I was 22 about a woman tortured by her ability to hear animal thoughts. It's a concept I'd like to revisit but every attempt so far has failed. I'm trying to think of stories or books that feature animals but failing again. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George is a good one. And Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell. Amy Hempel has some great animal stories. Your amazing first line is crucial to grounding the reader and preparing us for how to read the rest of this. I felt immediately engaged and concerned about this character. How important is it to let the reader know what is going on, and how early? During the initial writing of any story, I'm pretty ignorant about what's going on. I like revising a whole lot more than starting from scratch, actually, and I think it's then that I start figuring things out and having some idea of what to be explicit about and when. What is happening in your writing world these days? What are you working on now? These days, I'm writing in the morning before work. Sometimes I have to grade papers instead. I'm just starting a new long-something. It has animals in it too. Mostly buffaloes, and hopefully, some rats. I'm also trying to learn how to blog but really struggling. Thanks for interviewing me! This was fun. Read A Flower Thing. Issue Twenty-Eight (July 25, 2010): Young Waitresses by Steve Almond «» Frank by Matt Baker «» The Life and Times of Dmitri Kulikov by Tobias Amadon Bengelsdorf «» Scapegoat by Thomas Cooper «» What You Could Catch Me Bumping by Craig Davis «» Complicit by Gay Degani «» What You See When You Think of Home by John Mark DeMoss «» In the Attic by Murray Dunlap «» A Flower Thing by Jen Gann «» Seahorse Sex by Molly Giles «» Gertie by Kyle Hemmings «» Vertigo by Ann Hillesland «» Rock by Stephanie Johnson «» A Shot of Whatever by David LaBounty «» Palo Alto by Paul Lisicky «» The Lake House by Michelle McMahon «» Hell Is a Headline by Emily McPhillips «» How I Liked the Avocados by Wendy Oleson «» Regrets by Bridget Pelkie «» What Passes for Normal by Michelle Reale «» Avalanche by Joseph Scapellato «» Last Seen Leaving by Laura Ellen Scott «» Explicable by Sabrina Stoessinger «» A Fistful of Buttercups by Nancy Stebbins «» My Maggie by Eugenia F. Tsutsumi «» The Ghost by Russell Whitaker «» The Strain of Collusion by xTx «» Interviews: Steve Almond «» Matt Baker «» Tobias Amadon Bengelsdorf «» Thomas Cooper «» Craig Davis «» Gay Degani «» John Mark DeMoss «» Murray Dunlap «» Jen Gann «» Molly Giles «» Kyle Hemmings «» Ann Hillesland «» Stephanie Johnson «» David LaBounty «» Michelle McMahon «» Emily McPhillips «» Wendy Oleson «» Bridget Pelkie «» Michelle Reale «» Joseph Scapellato «» Laura Ellen Scott «» Nancy Stebbins «» Sabrina Stoessinger «» Eugenia F. Tsutsumi «» xTx «» Cover Art "Wall Street Must Be Tripping" by Marty D. Ison «» Letter From the Editor Interested in subscribing to SmokeLong's weekly newsletter? Click here. An email should be created. Send it as is, and you'll be subscribed. If the link does not work for you, send an email to imailsrv@smokelong.com with Subscribe slq-info in the body of the email (no subject is necessary). You'll receive updates detailing the release of new issues, new reading periods, contests, etc. We do not make our mail list available to anyone else.