Another interview with a Waterloo Festival Writing Competition winner. I've been very pleased to be involved in judging the Waterloo Festival Writing Competition over the last three years. We're currently putting the three e-books we've produced of the winning entries into one paperback book to be launched on 5 December. In recognition of this, I'm publishing an occasional series of interviews with some of the winners. Today I welcome Mehreen Ahmed.
We chat about writing in particular and the winning story in particular. There is also an excerpt of
the story. What do you write? Why this in particular?
I
write literary fiction. As an English graduate, I grew up on a steady feed of
literary fiction to an extent that it has influenced me so much that it has
become a part of me.
What got you started on writing in the first place?
My
journals. I always wrote them as a child. I penned whatever little event was
happening at the time. Or create stories at times too, based on my
surroundings.
Do you have a particular routine?
Not
really. I write when I feel inspired. Anything can inspire me, be it a wet path,
or trembling of a leaf, raindrops or rainbow.
Do you have a dedicated working space?
Yes,
I usually write in bed on my laptop in my pyjamas sometimes, with a pot of tea
by my side.
When did you decide you could call yourself a writer? Do you do that in fact?
When
I began to get recognised by reader reviews, and prizes.
How supportive are your friends and family? Do they understand what you're doing?
I
hope so. I hope they understand what I am writing. My mother has been very
supportive although she did complain about the lack of punctuations in my
stream- of-consciousness fiction.
What are you most proud of in your writing?
I
love writing in stream-of-consciousness fiction. I love this style of writing. I
find it both challenging and artistic. A successful stream-of-consciousness
style of writing entails a fine balance between presenting chaos in the raw as
they appear in the head with a semblance of filter for the sake of art. That is
hard to achieve, I think.
How do you get on with editing and research?
I
don't edit much. I think too much editing distances the end product from the
wilderness in the writer's head. There should be some of that left, I think to
touch base with reality so to speak. The reality in the head. However, the
research must be top notch.
Do you have any goals for the future?
Yes,
I would like to write a few more books. And I would love to see my books used in
education.
Which writers have inspired you?
Virginia
Woolf, James Joyce, Pablo Neruda, Nazrul Islam, Tagore to name a few.
Tell me about your story in the collection.
Dolly is about a flower girl. She sells flowers on the streets. One day, she came across a car. As she came to the car, to sell her flowers, she got kidnapped. However, for her personal protection, the girl always carried a doll. She believed in this doll that it would save her from danger one day. And it did. The doll came through when she needed her most. She saved her from her kidnapper.What inspired you to write this?
Flower girls. Once I was sitting in a car when a lad came up to the car to sell garlands, I gave him money and asked him to keep the garlands and sell them elsewhere. He told me that I needed to keep them, because if I didn't then a super power would punish him. He dropped the garlands on my lap through the car window and he disappeared.How did you hear about the competition?
I heard about it via one of your emails.Have you had any other success in short-story writing?
I have been published by nearly 160 publishers internationally. I have also published a short story collection and two more short and flash fiction in the pipeline.I am still writing them and publishing.
No comments:
Post a Comment