Interview with Michael Murphy

Meet NUNUM's Contributor: Michael Murphy

11/16/2025

NUNUM

Blending Flash Fiction & Art

Interview with Michael Murphy

What was the first book you remember picking and reading by yourself?

Dr. Suess’s Sneetches and Other Stories when I was 6 or 7. As a child, it became a field guide for deciphering human nature, and remains one of the most influential books on my shelf. My first bit of semiserious, self-selected reading came later, at about 11, when I sought out and read The Hobbit.

What writer(s) or which book(s) influenced your decision to become a writer?

I’ve written most of my life and under various hats, but when I made the decision to commit to fiction, I was reading a good deal of Will Self. His The Quantity Theory of Insanity collection validated my taste for absurdist, satirical short form. Although he and I are very different writers, his boundary pushing opened a door for me - showed the world of contemporary literature was more than dysfunctional families in New England wrestling with their dysfunction.

This said, writers like Lorrie Moore, Henry Miller, Samuel Beckett, William Trevor, Kafka, Didion, Murakami, Joyce, and Amis had been setting the stage for my decision for many years prior to my first reading of Self.

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

Although I find workshopping with talented peers and editors the best route for honing craft, I think George Saunders’ A Swim in a Pond in the Rain will benefit any aspiring writer. You become a better writer by becoming a better reader and Saunders does an excellent job demonstrating why masters like Chekhov are masters.

Is there a writer who has influenced your current writing style?

A difficult question. I can’t say I can draw any direct influence. Everything I read, from song lyrics to instruction manuals, influences my style to some degree – a style I find ever-evolving, and which often changes story to story. This may be a bit of myopia on my part, however. A poet I workshopped with in London likened my work to a surrealist Carver, and a novelist-friend said it rings of James Salter. Who knows? I don’t. As far as stylistic appreciation, I’m currently quite fond of Patricia Lockwood and Eley Williams.

Why write flash fiction?

I enjoy a simultaneous sense of control and freedom when writing flash. For me, its limitations are far from – rather, an effective vehicle for distillation of thought and form. I was an aspiring poet when I was young and continue to work ‘up’ as a writer of short fiction – methodically, line by line, and with rhythm and lyricism front of mind. Flash suits this approach. My short stories are a labor of love, but with flash I also love the labor.

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

Start with journals you’ve read and admire. Submit consistently and continually. Research other publications and submission opportunities via platforms like Duotrope, Submittable, and Poets & Writers. Follow Chill Subs. Spend time adding all intriguing submission deadlines to a calendar.

Read editor interviews to get a better sense of what publications seek out. Always be revising. You will be surprised at what small changes can do to enhance a piece in the eyes of readers and editors. Finally, be prepared – publication rates still hover around 1% – your relationship with rejection will change and you will be better for it.

Do you have a writing routine?

Not everyone has the freedom to choose a routine, and everyone differs in terms of daily peak-mind, but, for me, mornings are when I’m closest to my subconscious, most alert, and least distracted. I tend to (or attempt to) wake up, pour a cup of coffee, turn off my devices and WI-FI, and write for no more than 3 hours as anything beyond results in diminishing returns.

Perhaps more importantly, I take a long walk just after – this is where my best “writing” happens. Ideas from my walk are jotted down when I return home and serve as a starting point for the next day. Afternoons are then free to dedicate to the good, bad, and ugly of life administration.

Michael Murphy was a finalist for the 2024 Oxford Flash Fiction Prize, and his work has featured in the Notre Dame Review, Squawk Back, Sunspot, and Magpie, among others. While living in London, Michael wrote an award-winning satirical column for the Hampstead Village Voice. YYou can keep with him at oddlogic.com or @mpmurphy on Instagram.