I wrote this short story as a part of an online workshop.

The result? ‘Dinner for Two’ came out as a fragmented narrative, just like ‘Bottled Goods.’ To what effect, this is for you, the reader, to judge. These are realities that George never admitted to himself, let alone to someone else. They encompass the absolute truth about his marriage, and the role he played in his wife’s downfall. They’re George’s memories, as he puts them down on paper for his sons.

There’s a complete tiny narrative arc to each of them, just as each is dominated by a single mood. They’re written as mini-chapters in their own right - almost flash fictions in their structure. So I decided to break the scenes from the past away from the narrative flow, to prevent them from overpowering the scenes in the present. I wanted to weave the two timelines in an inconspicuous way, while, at the same time, offering a clear delineation between them. Still, writing the story in a traditional way, as a continuous stream of voice where the past is interwoven seamlessly with the present, seemed awkward to me after the novella-in-flash adventure. I was very excited to spend time with a character like that, channeling his voice. He’s also suspicious of everyone around him, and rather unreliable as a narrator. George Baker is a highly intelligent retiree, with an acute sense of irony and self-irony. I included flashes as lists, instructions, stories told in reverse chronological order, postcards, and even a story written as a table.Īfter the novella-in-flash stint, writing a linear narrative was a challenge.įinding my narrator’s voice was easy. As I wrote it, I often wondered about the various ways a writer can tell a story, and what makes a story a story. It had been so fun to write ‘Bottled Goods’: each chapter as a distinctive flash fiction. Every now and then, I tried to step back from the planning board, trying to see where they were ‘holes’ in the plot, where a new flash was required. I worked fast, completing a new piece every two or three days. I had been immersed for three months in my novella, cutting and adding flash fictions as I adjusted the story arc. Fiction in fits and starts defined me back then and I had just completed my novella-in-flash ‘Bottled Goods’ - the longest fragmented narrative I’ve ever written. I had a six-month-old baby, and I only had time to write when she was napping.

Sophie Van Llewyn discusses her short story, ‘ Dinner for Two’, taken from Issue Ten of The Lonely Crowd.Īt the time when I began writing ‘Dinner for Two,’ in the winter of 2017, I was, primarily, a flash fiction writer. Writing ‘Dinner for Two’ / Sophie van Llewyn

Sophie van llewyn