1.) Your story, “Killian and the Black Blade,” has a 19th century, Robert Louis Stevenson vibe to it. Is he an influence on your writing? If not, who is?
The Killian Archibald stories, of which there are several and of which I hope to write more, have two main influences.
The first is the long tradition in the United States and Europe of children’s short story collections, meant for young adults. The most prominent of these to influence the Killian stories are the Wayside School books by Louis Sachar. Saint Catherine of Siena’s School for Girls is crafted very much in the spirit of the titular Wayside School: a building of strange happenings and odd events.
The second major influence is the slice of life stories featuring groups of female friends that are very popular in Japanese anime and manga. In particular, the anime Azumanga Daioh, with its laid back, realistic stories of the misadventures of a group of high school girls.
Finally, my general love of fantasy, science fiction, and magical realism creeps into this story in all sorts of ways.
2.) What’s most important to a short story: characters, setting, or plot?
This is a difficult question because it will be different for different writers. Jorge Luis Borges was not typically in the habit of creating memorable characters. His stories are powerful because of the ideas they explore, the imagination they show off, the way they weave fiction and nonfiction together. James Joyce, on the other hand, is all about characters in Dubliners; we continue to read it because Joyce makes us connect deeply with the characters in each story.
Setting is the least important part of a good short story. One must sketch one’s characters and lay out their affairs with the space one is allotted, which does not always leave time to dwell on the landscape where the story takes place. Edgar Allen Poe, in his masterful story “The Masque of the Red Death,” manages to beautifully sketch out the castle that is the story’s setting without sacrificing the thrust of its plot and the horror therein.
Characters are the key to good fiction’s power. If I had to rank my own valuation of these three elements, in my own stories, it would go Characters > Plot > Setting. But they are all important.
3.) Have you done any fencing yourself?
Yes! Years ago when I was an undergrad at Baylor University I dabbled in the fencing club there. I have also had some minor experience training with the Japanese long sword. But competitive fencing is something I’m not keen on doing. I generally don’t like to participate in sports and games of chance, where the outcome is in doubt and factors not in my control have an influence on the final result. That’s the nice thing about being a writer and telling stories: nothing happens in them that isn’t completely up to you. Most of the time anyway.
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NOW read C. A.’s recent feature story with us, about fencing: “Killian and the Black Blade!”
