A Short Interview w/ Remy Fink
"Bonus material" for Fink's short story, "Hermit," published on Tuesday, 3/26.
Short Story, Long features long short stories, each paired with original art, published every other week. In between stories, we feature some kind of “bonus material” for each — an interview with the author, outtakes or trivia about the story, etc. The stories are always going to be available for all, for free, with the “bonus material” saved for subscribers only. Paid subscriptions help pay writers and artists.
Read “Hermit” now if you haven’t already!
Aaron Burch: I'm kinda always curious where stories came from and what the seeds of idea were. Can you tell me a little about the genesis for this story?
Despite how fictional this piece might seem, the inspiration actually came from a true story. I did in fact have my ninth birthday party at Guptill’s roller skating rink, and a friend of mine really did give me her hermit crabs as a present (and their names were Fabio and Shiloh). I think at the time I was just so excited about getting hermit crabs that I didn’t question why she gave me her personal pets, but as the years went by, I found myself thinking about it from time to time and wondering why she didn’t keep them for herself. I don’t know what she’s up to these days, or if she would even remember the hermit crabs, so this story might be the closest we get to finding out the truth.
It's funny, the last couple interviews have gone similarly!
Russ Brakefield: “The news station in my hometown actually did have a weatherball, and I've always wanted to write something about it. And as in the story, I did spend a lot of time kicking around under the weatherball in my teenage years. Many of these images are lifted from my life.”
Adam Petty: “The genesis of this story is almost embarrassingly literal. There was, off the midway of the county fair in my hometown, a trailer that screened Christian message films for curious and/or bored teenagers. It was even called the Good News Caboose—that detail was so perfect, I had to lift it wholesale. I visited it several times with my friends from church youth group.”
I think that’s part of the joy of the story in fact. Somewhat similar to Petty’s even — it starts feeling pretty straightforward and like, whether it is or not, like it could be pretty autobiographical… until it takes this turn. I wonder if you can talk some about when that happened? If you know or remember when or how that happened, what it felt like to follow that impulse, maybe something about continuing to follow that impulse that surprised you?
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