Today’s debut author has written something a little different: a flash fiction novella. Read on to find out more about Johanna Robinson and her debut, Homing.
Tell us a little about your book and how you came to write it.
My novella began as an unfinished first draft of a longer story, which I was writing around eighteen years ago. I’d lived in Norway a few years earlier as a student, which was when I first became interested in the Norwegian WWII resistance. I stopped writing for about ten years, and began again on a Comma Press short story course in 2016. About two years ago I also started to read and write flash fiction, very short stories of 250-1,000 words. Initially, I never intended to write a novella-in-flash; I just still had an itch to write about a Norwegian family in the resistance. Then, every time I started, I’d hear all these different family members. And the stories kept turning out short – usually fewer than 500 words. After doing this two or three times, I began to look more closely at the novella-in-flash form and read as many as I could alongside writing my own. It seems this story had just been waiting for this form!
What makes your book unique?
Well, compared to novels, there aren’t many novellas around, and even fewer novellas-in-flash, so that sets it apart to an extent. Homing draws the reader into the story by weaving the stories of each family member together, some briefly, some more in depth. My publisher calls it a ‘novel-in-scope’ novella, as it spans more than three decades in fewer than 18,000 words. Many of my readers have told me it made them cry, which I think is a great example of what a novella-in-flash can achieve. Although the characters and their own experiences are fictional, the story is set in a real village and is based on real and tragic wartimes events that are not widely known, even in many parts of Norway.
Which part of being published were you most excited about?
The publication of my book was a pretty quick process, as it was a result of coming runner-up in the Bath Novella-in-flash Award. I was most excited – and still am – about introducing people to the incredible history of this part of Norway and Shetland, as well as introducing people to the flash novella form. So many people who have read it are not short-fiction readers usually, but have really loved the book, and even read it twice! It’s exciting to be part of this burgeoning genre.
What has been the most challenging part of your journey to publication?
My journey has not really been a standard one, partly because of the genre and partly because it was as a result of a competition. As I mentioned above, because Homing was published by a small, independent publisher, it all happened pretty quickly, and because it was a competition, I didn’t go through the usual ‘submission and rejection’ stage, and I don’t have an agent. It took me a while to think about publication as being an ongoing process, not a one-off event, because many book sales will be based on word-of-mouth promotion. So, I suppose the hardest part is working out how to get it to a bigger readership.
Do you have a writing mentor, or someone who has influenced your work?
Up to now, I’ve been a very private writer. I’ve done courses – online and classroom – but other than that, I don’t tend have any ‘readers’ who I use for feedback (although hopefully that will change). No one read my novella until I had submitted it to the competition. So in that sense I didn’t have a mentor – but I’m sure my approach to my next project will be different. I have met so many people as a result of publication – including great flash fiction writers such as Meg Pokrass, Michael Loveday and Nancy Stohlman, as well as fellow flash writers – and I really hope to draw on the creative input of others over the coming year. I used many novellas-in-flash as guidebooks as I was writing too, including Bottled Goods by Sophie Van Llewyn, Three Sisters of Stone by Stephanie Hutton, How to Make a Window Snake by Charmaine Wilkerson (published with two other stories by Ingrid Jendrzejewski and Joanna Campbell), and Here Where We Live by Meg Pokrass – all brilliant and vastly different books by wonderfully talented writers.
If there was one book that you could have written, other than your own, what would it be and why?
There’s probably very many, but of the books I’ve read most recently, it’s the Pulitzer Prize-winner All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. His language is beautiful – he is an accomplished short story writer as well as novelist, and I think this shows very much in this book, with its lyrical description, tense storytelling and short chapters.
What advice would you give to other writers hoping to publish a novella, or a collection of flash fiction?
Write as though it may never be published! I genuinely never expected mine to be, and as a result I was quite experimental with some of my chapters. You can get away with this in flash – not for the sake of it, but if it adds something, if it makes the piece better; you can lean towards poetry, even if you don’t write poetry (I don’t). You can play. Playing around can lead you somewhere you might not otherwise have gone. Secondly, I think many readers appreciate a link between stories. A novella takes care of this in terms of characters and narrative, but in a flash collection, consider what holds the stories together – what will get a reader wanting to start the next story after one has just finished?
Is there a debut novel or collection you’re particularly looking forward to reading in 2019, or one you’ve read already?
Waiting on top of my to-be-read pile is Leonard and Hungry Paul by Rónán Hession, published by the independent Bluemoose Books. One of the best books I read last year was a Bluemoose one – The Gallows Pole – and there’s been such a quiet buzz about Ronan’s book, I’m looking forward to getting started. I’m also midway through a debut short story collection by Chloe Turner, with the brilliant title Witches Sail in Eggshells, published by Reflex Fiction.
About the author
Johanna Robinson is a proofreader and writer based near Liverpool. She began writing three years ago and has since had published a number of short stories and flash fiction pieces (defined as under 1,000 words). Her debut novella-in-flash Homing was published this year by Ad Hoc Fiction after it was awarded runner-up position in the Bath Novella-in-flash Award 2019.
You can follow Johanna on Twitter or visit her website. Find her book here.