Interview with ​Morna McLeod

Meet NUNUM's Contributor: Morna McLeod

6/15/2025

NUNUM

Blending Flash Fiction & Art

Interview with Morna McLeod

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

Winnie the Pooh.

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

Margaret Atwood and Alice Munro. I’m old enough that they were still considered way out there when I was young.

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

Not really. Just keep reading.

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

Miriam Toews, for the sneaky way she uses humour in the middle of tragedy. More recently, Ross Gay for the same reason.

Why write flash fiction?

The flash! The focus is on one small moment or thing, and every word counts.

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

Be prepared for the long haul.

Why write fiction at all?

To find out what’s going to happen that I never expected. To live a double life with my imaginary friends.

What’s one thing you’ve figured out about writing?

You have to use all the resources you’ve planted for yourself. If a character happens to squint in line 1, in the final line, his short-sightedness can explain everything.

Do you believe in writer’s block?

No. I call it stalling. Unless you’re pregnant or in some other state of disruption to your brain cells. Then it’s called life.

Morna McLeod has published short fiction in The New Quarterly, Room, and This Magazine, and holds a degree in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. She lives, writes and walks a lot in Vancouver, on the unceded territory of the Squamish, Musqueam and Tseil-Waututh Nations.