In his currently non-existent free time, he enjoys picking out books to be read at a later date. His work has been anthologized in Best Small Fictions, Best Microfiction, and Best of the Web, and has been gathered in two books: American Gymnopédies, a collection of microfictions, and Is That You, John Wayne?-a collection of stories and flash fictions which was taken up for promotion on Barnes& in conjunction with the Discover New Writers program. Garson’s own stories and flash fictions have appeared in journals like Electric Literature, The Kenyon Review, American Short Fiction, and Threepenny Review. People can’t ignore flash fiction anymore (see, for example, The New Yorker, which has started publishing it).”
Now, it’s like nearly every young writer tries their hand at very short fiction, and this infusion-of diverse talents and perspectives and voices-has done wonders for the form. In an interview published in the current edition of the Best Microfiction annual, Garson considers developments since the year Wigleaf was launched: “There weren’t as many journals publishing flash in ’08, and there weren’t as many people writing it. As Editor, he has enjoyed working with debut and emerging writers as well as more established writers, like New York Times bestselling authors Rumaan Alam and Roxane Gay.Įditing Wigl eaf also means serving as an unofficial ambassador for flash fiction (defined variously as stories under 1000 or 750 words). He’s the founding editor of Wigleaf-an international journal of very short fiction and a four-time Pushcart-Prize awardee. These days he teaches and coordinates the undergraduate creative writing program at the University of Missouri. My favorite meal is a Caesar salad and a medium-rare, juicy ribeye.A writer, editor, and educator, Scott Garson grew up in Iowa and spent a number of summers on Lake Okoboji.
Whatever it ends up being will be a surprise to me. But then I get there to that mountaintop, and all I can think about is what I want to conquer next.ĭo you believe in an afterlife, and if so, what does that look like to you? It’s really kind of sad, because I want to sit in that moment, especially given how hard I work. Unfortunately, the pride and joy of accomplishment lasts for less and less time. How long does the pride and joy of accomplishing something last for you?
I don’t cry much in my day-to-day life, but a movie with some kind of poignant thing happening? I basically need an entire box of Kleenex when that happens. M&Ms have also been a balm to my broken heart. I tend to run away from heartbreak in a very dramatic fashion, like moving thousands of miles away or making a complete career change. I would have written like 20 more books with the energy I spent feeling so terrible about myself. It’s unproductive but hard to pull yourself out of. My biggest regret is that I have spent so much of my time and energy mired in self-loathing. That became something of a habit, and I would then write stories about the people I imagined living in that village. I’ve shared this before, but my first creative memory is of drawing a little village on a napkin. What is the first memory you have of being creative? I get so much pleasure from losing myself in a book. My favorite thing is spending time with my wife, Debbie Millman, who is asking me this question, so that’s kind of awkward. What is the thing you like doing most in the world? She also has a newsletter called The Audacity, on Substack, to which you should subscribe. Up next: Roxane Gay, a writer of works both short and long. This facet of the project is a request of each invited respondent to answer 10 identical questions, and submit a decidedly nonprofessional photograph. Debbie Millman has started a new project at PRINT titled “What Matters.” This is an ongoing effort to understand the interior life of artists, designers and creative thinkers.