Five Questions with 2012 NANO Prize Winner Patrick Swaney
Kirby Johnson: Congratulations on the 2012 NANO Prize! What prompted you to enter
the contest?
Patrick Swaney: Thanks! I love what you guys do at Nano Fiction. I think you publish some really great work. And, honestly, I’ve been submitting to this contest for the past couple years, so I’m really honored to have my piece selected.
KJ: Your story, “Hand over Hand,” is a haunting and beautifully written piece. What was your inspiration for writing this story?
PS: Again, thanks for the kind words. I had the image of the man and the rope [pre-order a copy today to see the story!] floating around for a long time, probably over a year. It was one of those ideas that I kept coming back to but that remained unfinished. There was a story I wanted to tell about this man pulling a rope in from the horizon, but I wasn’t sure what that story was yet. I kept trying to voice the story through the first person; until I realized that maybe it wasn’t the speaker or narrator’s story to tell but someone else’s. It was this shift in perspective or this layering of perspectives that helped the piece evolve and find its final form, kind of a story within a story.
KJ: What attracts you most to the prose/flash fiction form? What do you think makes a successful piece of flash?
PS: I think the flash fiction form emphasizes the importance of the moment, and I like the idea of trying to capture the momentary, of finding a way to represent the immediacy of the temporary and bring it into focus. There is also so much room and possibility within small moments and within the short form. I think it’s this tension that I’m drawn to; the form simultaneously compels and permits. Maybe a successful piece of flash is one that harnesses this tension, that is able to capture a world completely but also hint at an unseen, unspoken world around the edges, that leaves a reader satisfied but still curious.
KJ: Who are a few of your favorite flash writers?
PS: Can I call “Steady Hands at Seattle General” by Denis Johnson flash fiction? It’s pretty short and one of my favorites. “Yours” by Mary Robison is another short-short story that I find myself returning to. Some other writers that come to mind are Mary Ruefle, Lydia Davis, Etgar Keret, Daniil Kharms, James Tate, and Russell Edson (if I can slip a couple poets in there).
KJ: What can we expect next from Patrick Swaney?
PS: I’ve been venturing more into nonfiction, but I’ve only just started exploring the genre as a writer. I’m excited to check out the Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Nonfiction that just came out. Perhaps some flash nonfiction is in my future.