Interview with Edward Voeller

Meet NUNUM's Contributor: Edward Voeller

5/14/2022

NUNUM

Blending Flash Fiction & Art

Interview with Edward Voeller

Edward Voeller lent us his gem of a story The Periodicals Room for our first issue of 2022 and wow ... just wow ... what a way to start the year.

By now you know exactly how this starts so all together now, what was the first book that you sat down and read all by yourself?

Treasure Island

Nice, if I remember right, that one has been someone else's right as well. What was the last book you read that made you say damn that was a good book?

Snow Country by Kawabata Yasunari. I generally eschew translations, but I make exceptions for the Japanese writers I like.

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

Any short story collection.

I am with you on that one, I don't know why but short-stories and holidays just seem to go together. What writer(s) or which book(s) influenced your decision to become a writer?

Hemingway (For Whom the Bell Tolls in particular).

I'm sure you aren't alone with that one. Which contemporary writer do you most admire?

George Saunders, especially his short stories.

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

Read novels and short stories for learning the craft. Then read them over again.

It's all craft, well said. Is there a writer who has influenced your current writing style?

It is difficult to single out one writer. Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, and several Japanese short story writers have influenced my writing.

Why write flash fiction?

I’m not a poet. Flash fiction is as close as I can come.

What advice would you give someone who is just starting to send their work out to journals?

Choose good journals to submit to (such as NUNUM). You won’t be satisfied if your work appears in an inferior publication.

Well thanks for that, what gives you the most concern when you are writing—language or style?

These qualities overlap, of course, but I focus on language. The style accepted by publications varies greatly. Best to sample publications for their style preferences.

How do you come up with ideas for stories?

Most of my stories are based on true, anonymous incidents I have witnessed or experienced. I consider original conclusions to the incidents. Then I rewrite and rewrite and rewrite until I discover an interesting story.

Edward Voeller has a background in journalism and college

English teaching, both of which he practiced abroad, with 15 years spent in Oman, Japan, and Thailand (Peace Corps). His writing includes fiction and nonfiction for children and young adults. Recent work appears in The Nonconformist, Good Age Minnesota (CNF), Progenitor (photos). He is currently revising a novel, changing the narrator from third to first person.