A Short Interview w/ Shane Kowalski

"Bonus material" for Shane Kowalski's short story, "I Hope You Are Happy," published on Tuesday, 10/17.

A quick reminder on submissions: They’re open now, for a few more days! Until the end of the month!
—Aaron

The plan for Short Story, Long is to feature long short stories, each paired with original art. A new story will publish every week, on Tuesdays, and then, in between stories, we are going to 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 “TI Hope You Are Happy,” now if you haven’t already!

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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?

Shane Kowalski: This story, or a version of it, was started in 2012. I can't quite remember but I believe I came across one of those online advice columns about a man asking how best to tell his daughter’s husband that he didn’t like the way he walked his dog. It seemed absurd at the time. I decided to start with that initial incident but wanted to push the story in a stranger, more curdled direction. And then it sort of became one of those stories you keep on your computer that you can’t quite figure out but keep going back to year after year. Or if you’re having trouble with another story you’re writing, you go to this story to primp and coif it and that somehow unlocks the problem in the other story you’re currently working on. Eventually “I Hope You Are Happy” became the story I was working on, and the voice of the narrator slowly came into clearer focus.  

You're now AT LEAST the fourth person who has mentioned that their story took... years! So I'm gonna run back the next same question:

I find the paths of stories so interesting, especially when they linger and live with us for so long and when we're patient enough to keep at them. Is that normal at all for you, or is this something of an outlier? Can you tell me a little more about that process? Was there a moment where you felt like you'd finally "figured it out" or when it unlocked itself?