Monday 2 February 2015

Short story in the Griffith Review

Things you see on the job, acrylic & digital, 2014

'Crocodiles Live On The 87th Floor', a short story (ie. two pages, as I often like to keep them) is included in the Griffith Review's latest edition, Looking West, with a focus on Western Australia, and how its culture has been shaped by isolation and mining booms, among other things. For me it's a place with a very abstracted relationship with nature, and this is partly what my story is about.

6 comments:

  1. Shaun - love the illustration - nice to see some photography in there. Thank you also for the link to the Griffin Review. Despite being on the other side of the world it is tempting to subscribe. There is something about keeping a story short. I find that by committing yourself to a very short length, you prevent yourself from drifting. no doubt having images helps to do this. I have this idea/question in my mind at the moment that I can't pin down but it goes something like... if a picture is worth 1000 words, then how many images is a word worth? Thank you for keeping the posts going. Sam

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ...another thousand, I guess. I agree about brevity guarding against drift - since all creativity is essentially drift! I love the discipline of trying not to exceed two or three pages when writing a story, which the practice of painting teaches you somewhat. You can't just add more canvas, the frame is very constraining, and the simpler the picture within those terms, often the better it is. I still always err on the side of excess, but I hope I'm improving!

      Delete
  2. Hi Shaun. I love your work and thought you might like to know that I am currently writing a paper on you for my HUS 328 Creative Development and Art for Young Children class at the University of Maine.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It' always quite strange to know that someone is writing about my work academically, since I did the same with other people's work as a student (BA Fine Arts & Literature). Hope your paper is less tedious than mine were! PS. I grew up reading a fair bit of Stephen King, so this informs my mental picture of Maine way too much :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Minus the vampires, possessed cars, and time portals, King isn't that far off. Things truly are a bit odd around here, if not altogether bizarre. Thanks for taking the time to read and respond! :)

      Delete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.