SmokeLong Quarterly

A story–a suite of stories maybe because I think the sections could all probably stand on their own– is “Gho$t in the Machine.” One of the things I really admire about it is how casually Ke$ha’s friendship with the main character is slid in there. The story acts like Ke$ha’s attention is so attainable! So, why Ke$ha rather than some other pop star? And what do you think happens to a story when a known rather than invented celebrity slides into it?

Funny you should ask “Why Ke$ha?” because this is actually part of a larger project wherein Sam the character is friends with a variety of pop stars, who all happen to be people I follow on Twitter in real life. Part of being a celebrity now means making yourself appear accessible and authentic. Taylor Swift’s entire brand centers on making fans feel loved by and known to her. I don’t at all mean to imply this is purely negative–it’s incredibly powerful and moving to people, even if it is calculated. So in these fictions I imagine that all the celebrities who pretend at being my friend actually are. I haven’t really thought about why this particular story for Ke$ha, though–she may just be the best human foil for an app like Snapchat. I think the fun of using a known celebrity is playing with reader expectations: how does the character fit with our cultural understanding of her and when does she subvert/complicate it? Ke$ha and other pop stars work well as built-in archetypes, so my challenge when writing these stories is to take them beyond that and make them human, too.

What books are you currently reading?

I’m currently reading The Daughters by Adrienne Celt, Fat Man and Little Boy by Mike Meginnis, and Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi.

Let’s say you had to teach someone about telling a story using only a video game. Which video game would you choose? Why?

That’s tricky! I think probably the Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. It derives a lot of its tension from a fantastic ticking clock (the moon is falling!!) and its turning-back-time mechanic would be useful in discussing cause-and-effect in a sequence of events.

What do you think makes a flash story feel complete?

For me, it’s often the deployment of the last line. You can have a wonderfully written story but if it doesn’t hit the right note right at the end, it can fall flat, feel unsatisfying (much like a poem!). This may apply to stories of all length, really, but the fewer words you have the more weight that last line is going to carry.