SmokeLong Quarterly

In 2024 SmokeLong hosted our second SmokeLong Workshop Prize competition. Our workshop participants reported almost 300 publications to us before November 1, 2024. In 2025, we’ll be featuring one writer each week from The SmokeLong Workshop Prize long list. It’s an excellent series of interviews, each grappling with questions about workshopping, giving and receiving feedback, and the publication process. If you are a previous or current SmokeLong workshop participant and you have ultimately published something you began in a SmokeLong workshop, remember to enter The SmokeLong Workshop Prize competition. This free-to-enter competition is on our Submittable page.

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An Interview with Sudha Balagopal — “We Have Little Time Left” published by Atlas + Alice

What do you remember about the workshop where you wrote this story? What was the prompt or writing task that led to the story?

I remember the inspiring prompts and the superb examples that were offered to get us going in this workshop. I loved that there were optional tasks listed in case we weren’t inspired by the week’s assignment. I also recall the enthusiastic engagement from my group.

My story “We Have Little Time Left” was born from Shasta Grant’s prompt which asked us to focus on bodies. I wrote this story as a response to the alternate task where she instructed us to put two characters together in close quarters and to include observations about the body. Also, we had to use those bodily details to bring tension to the story. And thus my story was born, where an older woman sits at her infirm husband’s bedside, observes all the changes in his body and reflects on their life together.

Peer-review feedback is always full of surprises. In general, what kind of feedback do you find helpful? What kind of feedback do you find less helpful?

I love peer-review feedback. Particularly for this story, responses proved to be meaningful. In their feedback, my groupmates inserted comments like, “What is the nature of his illness?” One of them asked me to be more specific in a couple of paragraphs and to move certain sentences around. Most importantly, another writer questioned my main character’s state of mind. All of this aided me in understanding where my story could be improved.

I find feedback less helpful when there’s nothing concrete or constructive offered. While it’s great to hear a reader loved my story, I do want to know where the flaws lie.

To how many places did you send this story? Can you tell us a little about its journey to publication?

I sent this story to four places. I received one rejection and withdrew my submission from two venues after I received the acceptance from Atlas + Alice. I must mention, most of the time, I submit a story to many, many more journals before I receive an acceptance. This story’s journey to publication was unusual.

What is your advice to someone considering taking part in a peer-review workshop?

I have found that a peer-review workshop is the best way for me to not just produce work but to have many pairs of eyes look at my story. The comments from the group help me see things I don’t notice in my own work―areas that need clarification, missing details, logic holes. There is always a gap between the story I see in my head and how it translates to the page/screen. This is where a peer’s questions and comments prove to be of utmost importance.

Read “We Have Little Time Left” by Sudha Balagopal in Atlas + Alice.

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Sudha Balagopal is an Indian-American writer whose work appears in SmokeLong, swamp pink and Vast Chasm among other journals. Most recently, her novella-in-flash, Nose Ornaments, was published by Ad Hoc Fiction, UK. She has had stories included in Best Microfiction, Best Small Fictions and the Wigleaf Top50.