Douglas Thompson
When did you begin writing?
Primary school. As soon as I could write basically, I was drawn to creative writing. I began sending poems to Chapman Magazine from about age 12 onwards and was encouraged by the very kind rejections that Joy Hendry sent me, unaware how young I was. My first breakthrough was when I wrote a short story for the Glasgow Herald/Grolsch Question Of Style competition and won it. I was 22. I’ve retained a fondness for Dutch lager ever since. Pity I can’t say the same for The Herald.
Tell us about your Call of the Isles story.
It’s an extract from an as-yet unpublished novel about the impact of the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum on ordinary people’s lives. Think Unbearable Lightness of Being, set in the strangest nation / non-nation in the world, where people are racist against themselves.
Do you prefer writing short stories or longer pieces of fiction?
Novels are hard work to write, no doubt about it. The short story remains the ultimate test for any writer however: how to say what you need to say concisely and not waste the reader’s time. There is a freedom to the short story, an opportunity to punch above your weight by leaving much unsaid. A bit like the way song lyrics can enchant people even though, perhaps because, they are cryptic and leave so much space for the reader / listener to invite themselves in and make it their home. Less is more in a weird sort of way, which explains why novels are so hard to make work. So I’d have to say I prefer short stories.
What is your favourite novel or short story that has an island setting?
Has to be the novels Pincher Martin by William Golding, or Children Of The Black House by Calum Ferguson.
What do you dislike about being a writer?
The constant sense of personal failure, even though I like so few of the books by others that sell well. The contradiction in there ought to comfort me, but it doesn’t.
What’s your favourite under-appreciated novel or short story?
The list would be too long, and too hard to pick a winner from. In short stories let’s go for Do Stay, Giraffe by Wofgang Borchert, No Place For You My Love by Eudora Welty, and The Bound Man by Ilse Aichinger. In novels: Blood Hunt by Neil M Gunn, Hebdomeros by Georgio de Chirico, and The Unlimited Dream Company by JG Ballard.
What are you currently reading?
Kafka’s short stories. Surprised what a thing he seems to have about animals. He probably means us of course.
What are you currently working on?
Not much. Maybe a semi-memoir called Knave Naive, aka confessions of a Glasgow property developer.
What is the best piece of writing advice you have come across?
Love all your characters unreservedly as if you are God (Eudora Welty), or:
Start as near the end as you can (JG Ballard).
Where can readers connect with you and your writing?
https://douglasthompson.wordpress.com
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You can read September, 2014 in Call of the Isles.