NUNUM - A CANADIAN LITERARY JOURNAL DEDICATED TO FLASH FICTION
  • NUNUM
  • Nominations
  • Consultation
  • Manifesto
  • Blog
  • Masthead
  • Submissions
  • Anthologies

Meet NUNUM's Contributor: Wendy BooydeGraaff

3/25/2023

0 Comments

 

NUNUM

Blending Flash Fiction & Art

Interview with ​Wendy BooydeGraaff

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

When I was very little, I was obsessed with Marvin K. Mooney, Will You Please Go Now? I copied it and illustrated it and believed I had made my own book. I loved Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, Fudge. Then there was Sounder, The Saucy Jane Family, Anne of Green Gables. I spent much of my childhood reading.
Picture
What writer(s) or which book(s) influenced your decision to become a writer?
​
All of them? I can’t remember a specific book. For many years, I saw books as isolated from writers, meaning I didn’t think about who created them. It was always all about the story, the world created, the characters. Once I realized on a visceral level that books were created by actual people, then I knew I wanted to write, and I started writing immediately (and badly).
Picture
Picture
Is there a writing craft book that you would recommend to new writers?

Francine Prose’s Reading Like a Writer was the first craft book that really made sense to me. It homes in on the sentence level, which I loved, and shows you that the best way to write well is to read well.
​

Is there a writer who has influenced your current writing style?
Everything I’ve ever read contributes to how I write. Yiyun Li, Lydia Millet, Jesmyn Ward, Colson Whitehead, and Ada Limón are a few writers I keep going back to.

Why write flash fiction?

Flash comes naturally to me, that short burst, the intensity, the details in a scene, the mystery. And it’s the perfect length for short attention spans. Dive in deep but don’t stay long. Also, the lingering. Flash lingers. 
Picture
Picture
What advice would you give someone who is just starting to send their work out to journals?

Read widely. Subscribe to a few journals if you can. Remember to focus on the art of writing, and make your work the best you can. Rejections are inevitable and subjective. Good work will find a home. Or at least it makes you feel good that you’ve made something worth sending out.
Wendy BooydeGraaff’s short fiction and essays have been included in X-R-A-Y, Miracle Monocle, The Brooklyn Review, Five South, and elsewhere. She is the author of Salad Pie (Chicago Review Press/Ripple Grove Press), a children’s picture book. Born and raised in Ontario, Canada, she now lives in Michigan, United States.
Picture

NUNUM

Blending Flash Fiction & Art

Picture
Current Issue
Picture
Consultation
Picture
Nominations
Picture
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    NUNUM

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018

    Categories

    All
    Art
    Craft Essays
    Interviews
    MFA Dispatch
    Reviews

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • NUNUM
  • Nominations
  • Consultation
  • Manifesto
  • Blog
  • Masthead
  • Submissions
  • Anthologies