Meet NUNUM's Contributor: Autumn Bettinger

NUNUM

Blending Flash Fiction & Art

Interview with Autumn Bettinger

Autumn before we get into this, I have to say thank you for letting us share 'Sea Creature' with our readers. It was simply a wonderful story and absolutely the perfect way for NUNUM to roll in Volume 5. 

Now, do you remember the first book that you sat down and read by yourself?

The very first book I remember choosing was 'Catwings'.

Two funny anecdotes regarding this: First, I couldn't remember the author (unsurprising, since I found this book in the school library when I was in third grade) and so I just looked it up and it's Ursula K. Le Guin. URSULA K LE GUIN! I'm dying. She was one of the greatest literary influences of my life. I can't believe it. No wonder I loved that book. Second, when I read Catwings, I was so obsessed with it that later that same year when we were asked to come up with our very own stories, I plagiarized it completely. My teacher was so impressed with my writing abilities she displayed it in the classroom. I was never caught. I have no regrets. Or I didn't, until I realised Ursula K. Le Guin wrote that book, now I am riddled with shame.
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What was the last book you read that made you say damn that was a good book?

I just finished the 'Daevabad Trilogy' by S. A. Chakraborty

I just finished the Daevabad Trilogy by S. A. Chakraborty and they were fantastic. I stayed up way too late many nights finishing those books. I burst into tears when I read the last page of the final book. It has been a while since a book brought me to tears.

Who are your go-to writers when you need something to read on holiday?

I love a good Stephen King when I'm on vacation. They're quick reads that always deliver.
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What writer(s) or which book(s) influenced your decision to become a writer?

As mentioned before, Ursula K Le Guin was a huge influence

on me with the Earthsea series. I was also in love with 'Watership Down' by Richard Adams and read it every single year from age thirteen to nineteen. But if I had to pick a book that shaped my love of books and my hunger for storytelling, it was probably 'Ender's Game' by Orson Scott Card. That book absolutely ruled my childhood. And as I got older, Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide enthralled me just as much. I will always love that book. I think I could probably recite it verbatim at this point. At some point I'm getting a dragon army tattoo. I just haven't had the gumption to do it yet. But mark my words: It'll happen.

Which contemporary writer do you most admire?

N. K. Jemisin. That beautiful, intelligent, incredible unicorn of

a human being is just... everything. She is AMAZING. Ender's Game had been my favorite book since I was nine and my dad read it to me for the first time, until I was thirty-six and I read The Fifth Season. That book. THAT BOOK. MY GOD! I don't have words. I had goosebumps from beginning to end, and no book has done that to me since Ender's Game. Her world building is so insane, I don't even understand how a person can do what she did. That whole series was incredible. Every time I lend The Fifth Season to someone, I'm so jealous they're about to experience it for the first time.

Is there a writing craft book that you would recommend to new writers?

I have a writing craft book obsession.

I think most writers I know do. We just love books on the craft. We can't help ourselves. Is there any one of us who hasn't read 'On Writing' or 'Bird by Bird'? I doubt it. My recommendation however is 'Big Magic' by Elizabeth Gilbert, and if you can swing it, the audiobook version. Elizabeth reads it and I could just listen to that woman talk for hours. Her beautiful, poetic, innocent take on the creative process is so inspiring. It's like curling up with a weighted blanket. I listen to it often when I need to feel the warm fuzzies about creative living and pursuits.

Is there a writer who has influenced your current writing style?
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Honestly, it's probably more than a few. A little bit of Mary Oliver here, some Cortazar over there, a sprinkle of Palahniuk, maybe a dash of Anne McCaffrey. I had a lot of influencers on my reading and by extension my writing, so I think it comes out as a mish mash of style.

Why write flash fiction?

Well, I don't have a ton of time. Taking care of two little kids all day is incredibly demanding, and when I get them to bed I'm exhausted. I enjoy flash because I can start writing and have either a finished first draft or the bulk of one after one sitting. These bite-sized chunks are just an easier route for me, and I like the challenge, once I start editing, of seeing how much I can keep in and still keep it under a certain word count. I think it makes me a better writer when I'm forced to create with an economy of words since I tend to write a bit flowery. That being said, I'm also just not very good at long form. I am a pantser by nature, and I find that flash fits nicely into my world of sitting down, starting to type, and seeing what happens.

What advice would you give someone who is just starting to send their work out to journals?
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Send your stuff out to lots of places, and expect to get lots of rejections. Just because one journal doesn't bite, another one might. Editors are subjective and that's ok. Of course they are! That's the nature of our craft! Some people will love it, some people won't. It's alright, that's what we signed up for. I had a piece rejected from four different journals and the fifth one short listed it for an international flash fiction prize. That stuff happens all the time. Believe in yourself and your work and you will get published. I promise.

Anything else?

Yes. You are never too old to write. You are also not required to have an MFA to write something good. I may never write a novel or even a short story, I'm almost thirty-nine, and I certainly don't have an MFA. But I write because it's what I'm meant to do. I love it. I like to think maybe I'm even a little good at it. So please don't let trivial things like age and academia get in your way. Just write. Write a lot. Write whatever you want. Then send it out, see what happens, and start writing something else.

Autumn is a full-time mother of two in Portland, Oregon.

When not changing diapers or slinging snacks, she can be found writing flash fiction once the kids are asleep. Her work has appeared in The Journal of Compressed Literary Arts, The Good Life Review, and was a finalist for The Prose Online International Flash Prize.

You can keep up with Autumn via Instagram or on her website.
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