Tom Pepperdine interviews Christopher Fielden about his day to day writing process. Chris discusses a very unique location he likes to write in, running his own writing competition, and why a van full of bees prompted a career change.

You can find all of Chris's information on his website here: www.christopherfielden.com

And you can find more information on our upcoming guests on the following links:

https://twitter.com/Therealwriting1

https://www.instagram.com/realwritingpro

https://www.facebook.com/therealwritingprocesspodcast

Hello and welcome to The Real Writing Process.

I'm your host, Tom Pepperdine.

And this episode, my guest is Christopher Fielden.

Chris is an award-winning and Amazon bestselling author of short stories.

He has had his work published in over 30 anthologies, as well as his own

collection called Alternative Afterlives.

He has also released a guidebook called How to Write a Short

Story, Get Published & Make Money.

And he is the organizer of the annual comedy short story

competition, To Hull And Back.

This interview was recorded in mid November.

And it's the first interview that I've recorded with my new clip on mics.

Unfortunately, Chris's mic drops out for about four seconds around

23 minutes into the interview.

I've tried to boost the signal for my mic, but it definitely gets quieter.

So my apologies for that.

Anyway, without further ado here is the intro jingle.

Hello, and this week, my guest is Chris Fielden.

Hello.

Hi Tom.

How are you?

I'm very well and very excited to actually have a face to face.

We are in the same room.

The same room.

Socially distanced, but same room.

And we'll say which room in the moment, but my first question as

always is what are we drinking?

We are drinking some rock and roll related water to cleanse the palate.

That's it.

I will make a disclaimer that this is our second attempt at this interview.

As the audio on the first was appalling.

Um, we're using new audio equipment for the very first time and fingers crossed,

it will be the second and final attempt.

Let's hope so.

It's nice and comfortable, we can say that much.

That's good.

Clip on mics, we're going up in the world.

And yeah, my second question is usually, is this your writing area?

But this week we're actually at my house and we're in my library.

So use your narrative voice, with a fresh pair of eyes.

Describe my library.

It's a room that I would like to write in.

It's small, it's cozy.

It has a guitar on the wall.

The curtains are drawn.

The light is romantic, shall we say?

Lots of candles and there's lots of bookshelves.

It's a, yeah, it's a really nice room.

Thank you.

And so where do you write, obviously not in this room.

Where do you like to write?

I sometimes write out of practicality in my dining room,

which is where I tend to work.

And if I get a choice, I have a mobile writing office, which is

otherwise known as a camper van.

And I head off in that to remote locations with a view, and write in that, cause

that's how to be creative, I think.

And is that where you do the majority of your writing?

That's where I'm most prolific.

I'd say it's about 50:50 though.

Cause sometimes for practical reasons, you've just got to write at home.

But I mean, the reason for going away in the van is to remove

distractions, rather than be away in it.

One of my favorite spots is up in the Cambrian mountains high up

above the Llyn Brianne reservoir.

And there's no internet.

There's no TV signal.

There's no phone signal.

So you don't get any notifications and therefore you can focus.

That's amazing.

How long have you been going up there or going away to it?

Probably about, on and off for about five or six years, I think that's

about how long I've had the van for.

And so are you just writing pen and paper, is it pure analog up there?

Or is it-

No, I take the computer cause I've got the van kitted

out like a proper camper.

It's got a leisure battery, so I can power a computer.

My writing, my handwriting is so dreadful that I would never

dream of trying to do that.

Okay, so it's on the laptop?

It's on the laptop.

Nice, okay.

And what's the longest period that you've had up there?

Probably about two weeks.

Cause you ha well, you run out of food.

You have to come out of the mountains sometimes, but yeah,

two week trip and then you can get a nice chunk of words on paper

How is it that you discovered this place or discovered that you

are more prolific writing away?

Can you remember the first time that you went away and what motivated you?

The first time I went up there was with my ex wife.

We used to holiday a lot in the van and we happened upon it by

accident when we were on our way over to the west coast of Wales.

And we were both very taken with the area.

And after that I thought, this would make a lovely place to write.

Cause there's loads of Forestry Commission car parks just up above the reservoir.

And yeah, I went back not long after to have a go on my own.

And it is a beautiful spot there because it's all Forestry Commission.

There's just logging trucks and sheep, and there's some tourists up

there, but it's not a tourist hotspot.

And so it's very peaceful.

Do you remember the first thing that you wrote up there?

Ooh, that's a good question.

No, I can't.

It would have been one of the stories out of alternative.

Afterlives, but I'm trying to think when...

I don't actually know Tom.

Okay, but Alternative Afterlives is your first solo

collection of short stories.

That's right.

Yeah.

Were the majority of those stories written there, or was it again 50:50?

50:50.

Some of those stories, probably the oldest one's about 10 years old.

And they're all stories that have either won or been placed in competitions

or been previously published.

Because I used that as a kind of qualifier for whether it was good or not.

Good enough to be in a solo collection.

And the other thing about that book is they're all themed around death.

And I noticed that a lot of my stories, without consciously thinking

about it, have death is a theme.

So when I went to put it to a publisher, it helps if you've got something

that ties all the stories together.

And I think that's what helped me sell it.

Yeah.

And now that you've recognized that as a common, although it was an initially

unconscious, theme, is that now something that you are consciously exploring

in the stories that you write now?

Yeah.

Yes.

Although I've gone the other way with it a bit and the ones I'm writing now

tend to be themed more about life.

But I thought that would make a nice contrast for the second book, which

is just, again, it wasn't on purpose.

It's just, that's the way it's gone.

Okay.

That's cool.

Yeah.

And with your stories, is there much planning to them?

Like when you get an idea for, you know, that you think you

want to turn into a story?

What is it about it?

Where are you go, this isn't just a flight of fancy, this is

actually something I want to write.

It's usually when I've got a character that I can

see, so I can visualize them.

When I write, I tend to see everything on a movie screen.

So if I can't visualize it like that, then it tends to not happen.

But it's the strong character and it's usually, they've got a story to tell.

And I know where, usually I know, where it's going to end and that

means I can drive towards it.

But that tends to be as far as planning goes.

I did one story that I planned properly, just to try it out.

And that's called the Ninja Zombie Knitting Circle and that it's got a

crime element to it and I had to plan it to make the reveal at the end,

as to who the criminal was, work.

And the thing I found about that was that it meant I could finish

the story, well the first draft of the story, in one sitting.

Which is very unusual for me, because I'm not that prolific.

And cause you write short stories.

You're known for your short stories.

On average, how long is a short story for you?

Cause you know, the definition of a short story is quite broad and it can be

sometimes tens of thousands and sometimes, you know, a few hundred if it's flash.

So where do you think you sit on average with yours?

My sweet spot is between 1,000 and 5,000 words.

And I'd say the vast majority around about the two and a half, 3000.

And that's because I edit a lot.

So make them tight.

And so you're coming up with a character and like you say, you've got an

ending in mind, and you're just writing to that ending and keeping it succinct.

Is there much, with the characterization, d- do you develop much of a

backstory for them, or is it just seeing this person in the moment?

I usually know what the backstory is, but it's very rare,

in my opinion, it's rare that you need to share the entire backstory

of a character with the reader, especially in a short piece of fiction.

It's a little bit different in novels because they spend

more time with the characters.

But I usually know the characters fairly well.

And what I'm finding with my writing at the moment, is because I'm doing sequels,

the next book I'm working on is called Sinister Sequels, in each short story is

a sequel to one in Alternative Afterlives.

So I already know the characters.

There's some new ones, but it's quite nice revisiting them and learning

more about them and seeing what other stories they've got to tell.

So yeah.

It's really fun experience.

Is it a sequel for every story that it was in the first book?

Yes.

That's the plan.

Yeah, but the sequels, they, it's not like the first story finishes

and then the second one starts.

It could involve one character from the previous story and a different

situation or it could be years later.

So it's, you know, it's fairly loose.

Okay.

Cause otherwise I think it'd be really hard to write.

It's hard enough to write anyway, to be honest.

It is quite challenging, but cause I want each story to stand

alone on its own, whether you've read the previous one or not.

Yeah, but does the fun outweigh the challenge and revisiting these?

Oh yeah, definitely.

Definitely.

And I quite like the challenge because it gives you a focus

and makes you finish the story.

Yeah.

And with your stories.

Would you describe them all in as being genre?

And if so, what type of genre do you fulfill?

Broadly, humorous fantasy with bits of horror.

So sometimes I slip into full on horror, but even then it's more

John Carpenter style horror.

Where it's you know, seventies, you can imagine the story being told

around a campfire kind of thing.

Like they opened the fog with.

But yeah, for the most part, it's going along the lines of Terry Pratchett and

Douglas Adams and that kind of trying to do something as good as they did.

And with the fantasy tropes.

Are you consciously trying to build worlds with a fantasy element to it, and

how does that world building develop?

I've got a mix of two, so I've got some fantastical stories

that are set in the real world.

With like witches or demons or whatever, and others that are

set all in one particular land.

If you read the stories, you wouldn't necessarily know it's all

settled in one world, if you like.

But I've got a map and I know where all these things are, so that if any

of them develop into longer pieces in the future, it will all tie together

because I know the history of it all.

Oh excellent.

So I delve into a bit of both really.

And so have you named your world?

The area in the world is called Gordesia.

The actual planet, if you like, hasn't been named yet.

So is Gordesia the kingdom?

So that's the main kingdom and the countries within it

are where the conflict happens.

Yeah.

Okay.

That's cool.

And you said you have done maps for certain stories.

Are some quite close, do they all fit together?

Yes, they could.

They, in theory, they could in future.

They're all in within Gordesia, the ones that I've done so far.

And it actually evolved out of a D&D campaign as I used to

play D&D when I was younger.

And so I had loads of different worlds from that.

But there was one that I was particularly taken with, where

we did this really epic campaign.

It was like, this is a cool world.

I've got to set something here.

So I've tweaked it for using in fiction, but that's where it came from.

Okay.

And was it a conscious thing when you started writing fiction that

you wanted to set it in this world?

Or was it after a couple of stories you went, actually, these would all fit.

I think I took a couple of the names originally from this world, and

then it was like I've taken the name, so I might as well set them there.

Since then I just set them all there.

If they're not set on earth.

Okay.

That's cool.

And with D&D and I've, you know, a few authors that I've interviewed

have done D&D, do you find that has benefited your writing, like the

mechanics of D&D, into the structure of the way you write stories?

I think it's helped with the imagination and the characters, but

D&D is a game and it is not a story.

And there are big bits of D&D that would make a very boring story.

When you're all sitting around, chatting about what you're going to do

next, given the situation you're in.

So you can get some good ideas from D&D I think, but it's a different medium.

Yeah.

I think with creating characters and the class system that you have in D&D and

the political backstories of say like elves and dwarves and things like that.

Was your inspiration, you know, the books on D& D and how they present

fantasy or was it more, as you said, Pratchett and Douglas Adams and

fiction was more your inspiration for the type of fantasy you write?

That's a good question.

I think probably Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Ursula Le

Guin, and people like that.

Stephen King.

I could make a very long list of authors.

I think that's probably had more influence certainly on the way I

write stories, but when it comes to the monsters and where they dwell

and interactions with mythical races.

A lot of that is, whether it consciously or not, is taken from

D&D, or influenced by it anyway.

I've got one story where it's it's about trolls and humans and the

humans don't treat the trolls well.

And the trolls are a mix of Lord of the Rings, with some

D&D aspects to it as well.

So I think I take influence from all of it really.

Yeah.

It's just that I think as someone who enjoys fantasy, but hasn't

written fantasy, it's just where do these wonderful worlds come from.

But there are similarities in you know, dragons are often seen the same way,

dwarves are often seen in the same way.

There's certain like tropes that you associate with certain races.

And I think D&D is a good one stop for that because the books that you

get in D&D seem to lay out this is the history, this is what powers they have

or how they approach magic, or the political classes within this society.

And I think if someone wanted to write fantasy.

It seems to me from what you've said, and other people have

said, that's a good shorthand.

It's sort of a cheat sheet.

Yes, it is.

Yeah.

I think a lot of it's based on folklore and stuff like that.

So it's, it comes from history and stories that were told by people

around camp campfires a long time ago.

So it's actually quite a good place to do that, I think.

The monster manual is great, if you want to learn about the different monsters.

And then you can go on the internet and find out more about them.

Yeah.

When you take the stereotypes, I find with short stories, sometimes you

have to work with those tropes because you're asking someone to visualize

something in a very short word count.

And for example, I wrote a story about Death.

And Death's always described as wearing a cloak and being

a skeleton who has a sythe.

And I had a, it's a 1500 word story, and I tried writing versions of it

where Death was something different.

They were a child, or they were an old lady or they were a demon and it

just didn't work because it wasn't what people picture Death as being.

And really the story wasn't about that, it was about someone dying and

facing Death and being worried about what Death was going to do with them.

And it had to focus on that.

So I actually used all that stereotyped imagery and it worked within the context

of that story because it was so short.

So I think the tropes have their place.

In the past, you've written short stories for

competitions and for submission.

What challenges have you faced writing to competition that is

different from writing for yourself?

I think when you're writing for yourself and you understand

what you want from the story, you get a certain bit of freedom.

Because you're not doing it for someone else, necessarily.

I usually write with the reader in mind, but that could be a wide range of people.

Whereas when you're writing for a competition, you're really writing

for the person that's judging the competition or the panel.

And therefore you have to take on board what they're looking for.

So I, I enjoy writing for myself more because you've got more freedom

to go where you want with it.

That said, from doing competitions, I learned an awful lot about how to

write a good story and it does make you understand the art a bit better.

And I think, you know, there's lots of rules with writing, which

I prefer to look on as guidelines.

And rather than obeying them, you have to understand them so that you

can understand what you want to do with them to develop your own voice.

I think, if you're starting out, entering competitions is really good.

And if you can get a critique from the judge that's useful,

that really helps you.

When I started, I entered Writers' Forum a lot, because they give very reasonably

priced terse critiques that tells you why they either have, or haven't accepted it.

And I found that very beneficial, you know, as a fiver and they

tell you what's wrong with it.

And then you can go and fix it.

Or, you can say no, they've totally missed the point there.

This obviously isn't the right place for me to submit.

So I think entering competitions is, was a great learning curve for me.

And I often recommend it to other people.

Yeah.

And I guess It's the equivalent of a novelist having an editor.

But it's on a case by case basis that you're having that.

And so how many years were you writing for competitions before you felt you were

ready to publish your own collection?

Oh, long time.

It was about eight years, or I'd say eight, nine years.

And it took that long really to master it is probably the wrong word

to become competent enough to do it.

And what was the moment where you thought, okay, you

know, I've had enough feedback.

What was it about your writing at that point where you're like, okay, I now

want to get a collection together?

I think it's cause I had, for one, I had so many stories.

And for two, I got placed in a competition run by InkTears and

they ask you to submit a collection of stories for their consideration

when you come in the top six.

Okay.

And I, I basically put a collection together and

didn't think about it too much.

Yeah.

And they came back to me and said, this is too much of an eclectic mix.

There's nothing to tie it together.

We love some of them and we don't like the others and therefore we can't take it.

And they ended up taking about four stories for a showcase book instead.

And that really made me think about what a short story collection needed.

And that was a theme that tied everything together, so that there was a reason

for all these stories to be presented together in a book, beyond just all

being written by the same person.

They needed to have something that tied them all together.

And I suppose that's really what got me thinking about it.

So it came off the back of that experience through that competition.

And when I thought about it, once I put the book together and

thought that through, I sent it to a publisher and they took it on.

Oh, that's good.

So that was quite fast then.

It was.

Yeah.

So how long was it from dealing with that competition, that

showcase, to gathering it and then-

It was probably about a two year period.

Okay.

But it wasn't like I was spending that entire two years just doing that.

Yeah.

I got the knock back from Ink Tears, which was, while it

wasn't the end result I wanted, it was still a positive experience.

And I learned a lot from it and they still published some of my work, but then I went

to uh, a book launch in London, through someone who'd written for my website.

And they were like, "You've really helped me out.

Would you like to come to my book launch?

Cause I've got a publisher now."

And so I went to it and met the publisher there and that's actually how I got

the in for the short story collection.

Cause I met them and then went on to do some editing work with them.

Uh, So there was a little bit of who, you know, going on, but you know, they could

have still said no to the collection.

They just, it gave me someone to approach and say, "look, would

you be interested in this?"

What I want to do now is go into the day-to-day writing process of it.

So you said that when you write uh, 50% at home, 50% in the van,

What is a writing session for you?

Do you start first thing in the morning?

Do you get everything done out of the day and then write at night and handle,

do you write for, do you take lots of breaks or do you just like power

through until there's nothing left?

That I have no easy answer to that question because

I don't work to a set routine.

So because of the nature of all the different work I do, I tend to clear

the plate as best I can, of work, so that my head space is clear.

And then that could be the morning.

It could be the evening.

It could be the middle of the day.

It's usually when I've got a bit of peace and quiet, to be honest.

And I'm not that prolific.

I'm quite happy if I write 500 words I'm pleased with.

I'd much rather do a good 500 words than 4,000 that I can't use.

Yeah.

So I've always approached it in kind of short bite-size chunks.

And I write for as long as I feel creative and then I stop again.

Okay.

And do you always work on one story at a time until you feel

you've got it the best you can, or do you have a couple on the go?

I'd like to do one at a time, but no, I've always got

about three or four on the go.

And then you've got choices, if you get stuck with one.

And I find that sometimes if you go off and do a different story, It suddenly the

other one, a thought would come to you in the shower or something bizarre like that.

And then you're just like, oh, that's what I need to do with that.

How obvious.

But if you don't have that little break from it, then yeah, you might get stuck.

So I approach it like that.

The other thing I find really helpful is that I've got writing, which

is one person and quite lonely.

And I also create music and bands where it's a group of people working together.

And I find if you do a bit of music, that really inspires the writing

because when you've done that, you're ready to go and work on your own again.

So I've got the best of both worlds there.

When you work with other people, you don't always get your own way, which is

a good thing, but there's that kind of comradery when you're writing the songs.

Whereas with writing, you've got to get something finished and then take

it to your writing group for a critique or work with an editor or whatever

is, it's just a different experience.

I like the difference between the two.

I find they fuel each other.

Yeah.

I guess when you're in a music group like you are with Airbus, the pressure's not

on you to have the nugget of inspiration.

That's right.

But someone can start something and it can then inspire you.

And so you feed off each other and how long have you been in that band?

We started off our first rehearsal was in 1987.

Wow.

So it was a long time ago in the school music block because

we all went to school together.

So how many years is that?

20?

35?.

Something like that?

Yeah.

Yeah, will be 35 next year.

Next year.

Yeah.

And I guess with that, you know, each other's personalities very well

and the tastes of each other, because you've grown up and you've progressed

with each other, do you find that when you're coming up with your

section of the music you can almost predict what their reaction will be?

With Airbus, no.

No?

Cause it's very, I don't know, they're so...

It's very diverse Airbus.

There's lots of different musical tastes in there and you can never quite

tell what's going on with that band, which is why it's still going, I think.

It keeps it fresh in our minds.

I play in another band called Little Villains and that is

very much rock and metal.

Okay.

And so that's a little bit more like you can predict what that needs.

That's got very definite sound to it.

Whereas Airbus is influenced by such a wide range of music from

different people that there, there aren't really limits to it.

Oh, okay.

So I guess with uh, Little Villains that the sound's refined over the

years and Airbus sounds like it's more exploratory and it's more progressive.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Okay.

That's cool.

And I think that's what keeps it fresh now, which is why we're still able

to do it even though we're all almost 50.

We're still doing it, whereas yeah, with the rock stuff, Little Villains

originally the original drummer was Philthy Animal Taylor out of Motorhead.

And I had to stand in those boots after that.

Oh my God.

That was a slightly nerve wracking, it was very different.

And I can tell you a little bit about that, if you'd like?

Cause obviously he uh, he died, unfortunately.

And uh, James, who is also in Airbus with me, which is why I got asked to do

it, was like "I've got all this stuff to put out which Phil recorded and

would you like to get involved with it?"

And I was like, "well I don't, you know, he plays with the double

kick drum and he's very quick."

Yeah.

And I play with a single kick drum and I'm not so quick.

It's a totally different style.

I play more like Phil Rudd, who's out of ACDC.

And James was like, "You can do your own thing with it.

I prefer you did your own thing with it.

So let's get together and try it out."

And it worked.

I don't play like Phil did.

Yeah,

But it's gone in its own direction.

Now it's a band in its own right.

And it's managed to continue without him.

So yeah.

Yeah, it is really good fun to be part of something like that.

Yeah, cause the so many years have passed.

It definitely feels like your role now.

It does now, yeah..

When we did the first tour where we were just playing his

stuff, that was nerve wracking.

Because it was like, what are people going to think?

Cause I don't play like him and I'm doing my own thing with it,

but it was really well received.

Thankfully.

Yeah.

Metal fans are passionate.

They are, especially when it comes to Motorhead.

Yes.

They're very passionate about that band because it's so iconic.

But yeah, that was a hell of an experience.

That's cool.

And yes, getting back to writing.

Yeah, sorry.

Off on a tangent.

That's fine.

Um, What is it that actually drew you to short stories as a format

that you felt like I don't want to write flash, I don't want to write

novels, you know, short story fits me.

Laziness.

No, it wasn't.

It was, I did a short story writing course.

Sorry, a comprehensive writing course.

And well that came off the back of, I, I used to work as a man with the van.

Van man driving superhero.

And I got hired one day to do a job where I'd go move a beehive.

And I assumed that the beehive would be empty.

And I got there and it had 5,000 bees in it.

And I, I said to the lady, I was like, I, I can't do this.

It's got 5,000 bees in it.

I thought it was empty.

And she said, "Come and have a cup of tea and a bit of cake."

And she plied with me with tea and cake, and somehow coerced me into

putting on a beekeeping suit and driving over these bees to Devon.

And they forklifted the beehive, it was strapped to a pallet and they

forklifted it into the back of the van, gassed them, and off I went.

And the gas was supposed to calm them down, but it just seemed

to infuriate them beyond belief.

And I got lost and I was trying to do a bit of map reading

in a swarm of bees literally.

I was like, I've got to get a new job.

I want to do something different.

And I'd been thinking about doing a correspondence writing course for a while.

And I went home and signed up for it.

And part of that course took you through writing novels.

Cause that's what most people want to do.

Everyone's got a book in them and that's where those courses come from.

And so it was kind, it wasn't geared towards that, but that

was the end of it because that's the end result most people want.

And so I had a synopsis, the tutor was quite positive about it.

So I've, I wrote a book off the back of it.

And that took about three years and it was a lot of, it was great

learning curve, but it was...

I think you're better off starting with shorter fiction to learn the ropes, rather

than trying to take on a novel when you don't really know how to write fiction.

And I got to the end of that and ended up self publishing it

after it got rejected everywhere.

And I thought short stories are much, much easier to finish.

So why don't I put less pressure on myself and instead of trying to write

another book, which I really didn't want to do after just finishing that one, why

don't I do something more manageable?

And actually I found that the short story format far better

suited my style of writing, because it's just the way my brain works.

I tend to work with succinct ideas rather than massive sprawling ones.

Yeah.

So it really, it comes down to it suits what I do.

Yeah.

And I guess with attention spans these days now, it's much easier to get feedback

from people on a short story than a novel.

Absolutely.

And you run your own short story competition and that's increased in

popularity over the last few years.

How did you start that and know how has that progressed for you?

Originally I had a, a website that I put up to showcase

my own writing and because no one knew who I was, no one found it.

No one read anything.

So I develop lists of short story competitions.

Cause I had a big spreadsheet that I used to plan all my submissions

and I thought if I share this, maybe people will find it useful online.

And that got my website quite a large readership.

And because I had all these lists of competitions, it just seemed like a

natural progression to run my own.

So I wanted to do something a bit different, so it would stand out.

And cause I like humor and there aren't that many outlets specifically for humor,

I thought I'll run a humorous competition.

Not aimed at fantasy, just aimed broadly at your humor.

And it started from there.

Cause I couldn't compete with all these other competitions that have been prizes.

I came up with a loony prize where the winner gets their head on the

book and they're depicted riding a flaming motorcycle on the book cover.

And then I strap it to my motor bike and ride it up to Hull and back,

which is where the name of the comp.

Well actually, the name of the competition, which is To Hull And

Back, came from a very poor play on words of to hell and back.

So it's just a cliche really, terrible idea.

And when the competition, when I was trying to think of something

original, I was like I'll ride it to Hull and back again.

And that will be what makes it original.

I was like, no one's going to enter this.

And then people did, I got about a hundred entries first time.

And I was like, oh my God, I'm gonna have to do this.

And strap the, like, book to the bike.

And I offered the winner the chance to go up to Hull with me on the back

of the motorbike, but they didn't want to, understandably, but they

met me in Hull and made the video.

I've had one person to it.

Now it's been running for eight, nine years or whatever it is.

But yeah, I find it's one of those things where you stick

with it and it's grown over time.

So it's gone from, just around about a hundred entries the first year and

it gets between five and 600 now.

So it's a lot of work, but it's very rewarding.

And you get a sort of submissions from?

All over the world.

Yeah.

And what s eems to be the most random place that you've had submissions from?

Trinidad and Tobago.

Okay.

Random's the wrong word?

Isn't it?

Most exotic.

It was just I didn't know what the answer is going to be.

So I was like, you know, space station?

I don't know.

But yeah, I think it's uh, a fantastic thing to see how you've progressed from

writing for submissions and fingers crossed to having a book launch and

then having your own competition.

We know each other because of open mic nights.

And so I do want to ask about how you view the difference of a story that's

written to be read and a story that's written to be performed because you

have performed and had actors come and perform your writing as well.

How has that formed your writing, and is that something that you

want to do more in the future?

I'd like to do more.

I think they're two, they are two different things.

Some stories work better written down on the page and others work

better when they're spoken out loud,.

But there's, there are some that work in both mediums very well.

And that's what I try and aim for, so that I can do both.

Okay.

And it's it's always interesting when someone else reads your

story, cause they do it differently to how you would, it was almost

like you learn something from it.

But what I like about reading to an audience, especially if it's a new

story, is you can tell where the points are where are you losing them.

If they lose their attention, when we start fiddling with their phones

and stuff, that's where you need to pay some attention to the story.

So it's actually really good for, it's almost like getting a live

critique when you perform it.

Yeah.

Instant.

Yeah.

And were you already writing short stories when you decided to

read them in front of an audience?

And did you notice a shift in your writing when that happened?

Yeah, I think so.

The first story I ever read out live was, it was in Bristol.

I can't even remember the name of the event, but it was held in King Street.

Okay.

In the upstairs room at...

That would have been Small Stories.

That's it!

Small stories.

Thank you.

As in Small Bar.

Yes.

Small Bar.

Small Stories.

There you go, it was there.

And I read Death Of A Superhero and by then I I'd had quite a lot

of stories published and it was just another avenue, really, to

explore, but I really enjoyed it.

And it was nice getting the feedback from the audience.

So yeah, that kind of got me hooked.

Yeah, it is quite addictive.

It is something that, you can see it in, in the audience as

well as the people reading.

Definitely a mutual benefit.

Yeah.

Going back to what you said about it's like a live critique.

When it comes to critique, cause you did briefly mention submitting to your

writing group, and do you see, your writing group as your beta readers?

Yeah.

And how long have you been in writing groups and how has that

beta reading affected your writing?

It's vastly improved it, I'd say.

I've probably been in groups for probably about eight years

now, something like that.

And I originally joined because I worked with Christie who had a writing group

and I invited myself along to them and I found the feedback really useful.

Because it's just, it was a small group.

Well, it is a small group, it's got about six, seven people in it.

And you get a variety of reading tastes and therefore different

feedback from each person.

And when you've got two or three people saying the same thing, you

know you've got a problem with the story and then you can go and fix it.

So I found it really helped my publication success rate.

Because sometimes when you you've been writing a story for a long time,

you get too close to it and you can't really see what's wrong with it.

And it's really helpful to have other pairs of eyes on it, so

that you can then go back and edit it and finish it off properly.

So I've come to rely on it really, now.

Uh, would you say having multiple people read it and then seeing if there's

a trend is like the best form of feedback?

Yeah.

I find that when it's...

the stories that like it's second or third draft stage, then yes.

And then you can go back and refine it and do what you want with it,

but keep what they've said in mind.

And, have you worked with professional editors at all?

And what's your experience there?

What do you think makes a good editor?

People that will listen to what you want, but aren't afraid

to tell you when something's wrong.

So, uh, I've been very fortunate, I think.

All the editors I've worked with have been really good.

I worked with one recently for Comma Press, cause I'm having a story

published by them in the Book Of Bristol, which is all stories set in Bristol.

And Heather who did the editing was brilliant.

We did about six or seven rounds.

And so the story was fairly strong when I submitted it to them originally.

And they came back and said, "we really like it, but can you just

sort out this structural problem?

And one of the characters was not in there enough to warrant being in there."

And they asked me to bring her in more rather than take her out.

So I had to extend the story a little bit, but actually it worked a lot better

when I took that feedback on and did it.

And then they accepted the story and that's when we went into the more

line-by-line editorial and that is so beneficial when it comes to grammar.

Because it doesn't matter how good you are, there are certain aspects of grammar

that people I, I get snow blind to it.

You can't see it.

One of my faults is dangling participles at the beginning of sentences

and it just goes over my head.

But when they point them out and say, "Why don't you try rephrasing it like this?

So it's active instead of passive."

and suddenly you're like that's way better.

Why didn't I just do that in the first place?

So I find it really valuable.

And when you get to that final bit with the editor.

He is so important for that, the professionalism of that final draft.

Yeah, yeah.

This is a anthology collection that you've sort of, uh, been involved with.

Have you ever paid for an editor privately or do you see there's value

in someone who, if they're trying to get submissions to go to an editor?

Yes, but it, it depends what your end goal is.

So when I did Alternative Afterlives, yes, I had an editor to work on it

before I gave it to the publisher.

Cause I wanted to make their life as easy as possible.

And I wanted to work with an editor that I trusted.

Rather than being thrown in with whoever they decided they wanted me to.

And luckily, they thought it was a good enough standard where they asked for a

couple of tweaks, but it was minor stuff.

So yes, when you're doing a book, I think it's imperative.

Otherwise it's not going to be professional enough.

When you're just submitting to a competition.

Editing is quite an expensive thing to purchase.

It's a service where you got to pay a professional for their time.

So if you're just going in for a competition, I don't know.

I don't tend to work with an editor for that.

Usually the competition, if they accept it, will work with you on

it to edit it for the anthology.

Yeah.

I was going to say that, you know, when you mentioned before, some

of them will for a small fee offer a critique and that's within the,

that's a form of editing itself.

It is.

Yeah.

So sometimes you it's so terse that they don't really offer any editorial

advice on grammar or anything.

It's more to do with structure, but other times, yeah.

They'll point out, you do this a lot or you make this mistake quite a lot.

You need to sort that out.

Yeah.

And as a writer who, who found a great readership through

putting up a website, I'm interested in sort of your views on social

media, as a short story writer.

As some sort of a direction to your work.

And how beneficial do you find social media as promotion?

Social media is beneficial, but it's very hard to qualify

your return on investment.

Let's talk business.

It's really hard to say I did this and that resulted in this much money.

You can't do that.

It's like, how much shit can you throw at the wall, basically, and what sticks.

It's that old analogy.

But there are a lot of writers, particularly on Twitter, so it's good to

get involved with the community there, just cause you get to know people.

And on Facebook, it tends to be more around groups.

There's a lot of writing groups on Facebook that can be useful.

I've done a fair bit of advertising on Facebook for my competition and books,

but I've had mixed results with that.

You get a fair bit of abuse.

I had unfounded accusations of being a scam and when I'd go back to

the people saying it's not a scam, here's the write-up I did last year.

You can see how I allocated all the prize money and everything and the

profit and all that kind of stuff.

They wouldn't have it, wouldn't read it.

Basically, wouldn't read the writeup.

So I've found that a bit of a mixed bag when it's paid advertising.

And I don't really get Instagram.

Yeah, you're not going to put in a small square your entire short story.

People do, that's the thing.

That's a lot of writers on Instagram, but I think some people are quite

skilled at it and others aren't.

I fall into the not skilled category when it comes to that.

I was wondering how you are you feeling now that you've got your own

collection out with a second coming.

And you've submitted a lot to have things professionally published.

What's your view of actually having a website with your short stories on.

So there's no revenue from it, but people can find you and judge your work and

maybe become a fan and then follow you.

Is that something that you think is good or do you think, talking

business you know, in the current age, That's not a good idea?

I think it's, you've got to get the balance, right?

You don't give away everything for free.

Because that's essentially what you're doing if you put something online.

And then it is previously published and a lot of editors won't consider

something that's previously published.

But at the same time, you do want people to be able to get a flavor of what you do.

So what I tend to do is put part of the story up.

And then link to the book that it appears in, so they can read

the rest of it if they want to.

And that makes sense financially, because if you get someone that likes

it they'll go and look at your book.

Yes, it's getting the balance, right.

I do make money from my website and that's done in different ways.

So largely through Google AdSense and affiliate platforms.

So you can make money from it in a kind of invisible way.

Although more people are becoming aware of how that works now.

So it's visible, but there are other ways of monetizing the writing beyond

just getting paid for it to be published.

Nowadays.

Yeah, with monetizing things, I was going to ask you, because

your traditionally published with your Alternative Afterlives, but

you have self-published in the past.

What do you think the pros and cons of self publishing, say through the Kindle

store on Amazon, and also people have quite a conflicted view of Amazon, but

they're the biggest showcase in town.

When it comes to short stories, do you feel that's a worthy

avenue to put things up?

It depends.

Yes, it is.

If you're prepared to take on board that the clues in the name, if you

self-publish, you are the publisher.

And therefore you have to market what you've published.

If you just bung a book on Amazon, you won't sell anything.

Because you're not going to market it.

So I've done quite well on those platforms, but I spend money

on advertising and I actively promote the books that I publish.

So my how-to book, which is about how to write short stories, I spent

quite a lot of money on ads on Amazon.

And I find those convert because you can target them on product specific pages.

So if you're interested in Stephen King's On Writing, the book comes up

and people may genuinely be interested in it, because it's another book

on a different form of writing.

Interestingly, I find that a book about the craft and grammar is the one that I

do best on when I advertise against it.

I can't remember the name of it now.

Anyway, it wasn't what, cause it's largely about grammar, I wasn't expecting

it to convert well, but it converts very well when I advertise against

search terms to do with that book.

So I overall I'm quite positive about Amazon and the KDP platform, because

I think they do an awful lot for authors and they actually allow you

to make money out of your writing.

If you compare that to Spotify, for music.

Yeah.

They're far more unfair with what they pay the artist.

Cause they're basically giving everything away largely for free.

Whereas at least with Amazon people pay to read book.

And you can price it low and not make very much money on it if you want to.

So I think it's a really good platform, personally.

And tend to be supportive of it, even though I understand why people don't

like it, because it's such a massive business and they're scared of it.

And with traditional publishing, obviously they're doing a lot of the

promotion for you, but how have you found, actually arranging a face-to-face

book launches and things like that.

Cause you've got, well you've got some virtual ones coming up.

Yeah.

I love book launches.

I quite enjoy them.

I prefer them when they're the anthologies that I put together with

lots of different authors in it.

Cause then you involve more people.

I'm less comfortable when it's just me.

So I wouldn't say I enjoyed that because the focus was all on me.

Whereas the ones I've got coming up I've, I'm just about to

publish next Saturday, actually.

The 81 Words anthology, which has got a thousand authors in it and

Victorina Press are doing that one.

And that's really nice to be involved with.

Cause all these authors are so excited about the fact that they're

in this unofficial world record breaking book that's got this

many contributing authors in it.

Yeah.

So that's keeping me very busy at the moment, but we're doing

an online launch for that.

And while I prefer face-to-face launches, because you get a much

better atmosphere, you know, Zoom's got its place, but it's devoid of

atmosphere because it's just a screen.

When you're dealing with people from all over the world like that, it

gives them the opportunity to attend.

So it has got that advantage to it.

If I held it here in Bristol, only a tiny proportion of

them would be able to turn up.

So, you know, I think it's a mix.

I like to do a mix of things.

And final two questions.

It's always my belief that you learn something with every story that you write.

And obviously as a short story writer, you're writing a lot of stories but

you said earlier as well, how it was through writing stories that you improved.

I'm just wondering, is that something that you've written recently where you

had like a very conscious moment of, oh, I need to do this on my next story.

And have you learned something recently?

Yeah, the thing I learned the most about is editing.

And actually the longer I've written, the more important the editing afterwards.

Cause every time you work with a different editor or learned a new aspect of

grammar, it makes you a better writer.

And so that's the thing that I don't think I'll ever stop

learning in respect to that.

But I think working recently with Heather on this story and what she did with the

importance of every character within it.

I'd overlooked one of the characters and not given them what they needed.

It's made me think very carefully about one, whether I need to carry these,

all these characters in this story.

And for two, if I do, they better have a damn good reason for being in there.

Yeah.

That's really good advice.

And as you said, you've written your own book on how to write

short stories and get published.

Is there one piece of advice that you are consciously aware, like you said,

with editing and grammar being important, is there one thing that, if you were

to want one piece of advice on your desk as a reminder what would that be?

Well, there's so many choices.

I think maybe nothing is ever finished.

Um, while you've got to draw a line under something at some point.

You can always improve it.

And I like to, I think when you've written something that's strong.

Put it away for a while.

Come back to it a little bit later and just make sure it's

as strong as you thought it was.

And never stop learning.

That's the most important thing.

I don't ever want to stop learning and I think if you think you know everything.

You're in a very dangerous place.

No that's great.

That's a perfect place to end the interview and I'd just to thank

you, Chris, for joining me today.

Thank you, Tom.

And that was the real writing process of Christopher Fielden.

And if you'd like to find out more about Chris, please do check out

his website, christopherfielden.com.

Again, I'm fortunate enough to have a guest with a very clear website

with all of the links to his books and social media on his homepage.

So just go there.

There is one special mention chris would like me to make though.

His latest anthology, the descriptively titled, 81 Words Flash Fiction Anthology.

Has just been published by Victorina Press.

It contains a thousand stories by a thousand writers

that are all 81 words long.

The stories, not the writers.

I'm not sure how that would be physically possible.

Anyway.

I'll provide the link to it in the show notes.

But if you don't want to read them, Google exists.

Anyway, that's it for this episode.

As a special treat this week's outro music is by Chris's band, Airbus.

This is the single called I from the album called You.

And this is a man called Tom Pepperdine saying goodbye.