With the closing date for the HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition in a couple of weeks’ time, we spoke to Alice Fowler, the winner of the 2020 contest. Like several other competition winners, she now has a publication deal; her short story collection, The Truth Has Arms And Legs, is out in July.
We started by asking her about where the idea for her winning story, set in Surrey in the 1920s — but no rural idyll — came from.
The Race, your winning entry for the 2020 HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition, is the first story in your new collection. What attracted you to this subject and period?
I’m strongly drawn to recent history – the stories you stumble on in old letters in an attic, or hear whispered from the bricks in an Edwardian suburban street.
My winning story, The Race, was inspired by a local news feature about gypsies (as they were called then), who camped in woodland in the Surrey Hills in the 1920s. The uneasy relationship between the gypsies, the landowner and nearby villagers was evident.
That got my imagination firing and helped me find the ‘voice’ for my story. I wrote from the point of view of a young gypsy girl and set the story within the beginning, middle and end of a race.
I walk a lot in nearby woods, so had a strong feel for the setting too.
How do you find inspiration?
I’ve heard writers likened to magpies, and that’s certainly the case for me. I am always gathering ideas, often subconsciously. The title story of my collection, The Truth Has Arms And Legs, was inspired by a BBC programme called Holocaust Diaries.
Hearing survivors – by then, very old – talk of their experiences was very moving and helped me imagine the story of a young girl, who survived because she played the cello. That story was longlisted for the HWA DD Short Story Competition in 2019, and gave me encouragement to try again.
I also draw inspiration from places that I visit, chance remarks and moments of courage or weakness that lodge with me, that I then use as the springboard to a story.
How do you approach your research for historical fiction? Do you have to research your fiction set in the modern period?
I approach short story research with a light hand. My stories come from a place of pleasure, and I like to keep that carefree feel, rather than becoming weighted down with too much factual research.
I find old letters and newspapers are great for this kind of ‘painless’ research, as they enable you to absorb facts, vocabulary and ‘voice’, all at the same time. Of course I then check historical facts as well.
For my contemporary stories, I research details if I need to, but write mainly from imagination.
What was your route to publication?
I’m delighted to answer this, because the HWA DD Short Story Competition played such a huge part in getting published! Winning the competition in 2020 was a huge boost to my confidence.
It encouraged me to enter more competitions, where again I sometimes had successes. That helped me take my short story writing seriously, and prioritise writing over all the other demands on my time.
By last summer, I felt I had written enough stories to count as a ‘collection’. I spotted an open window at Fly On The Wall Press, an indie press in Manchester run by Isabelle Kenyon. To my delight, my submission was accepted. It’s been wonderful working with Isabelle to bring the collection to life.
Any particular pleasures or surprises you’ve encountered along the way?
The biggest surprise — and pleasure — has been the support I’ve received from established writers. One of my tasks in recent weeks has been to seek endorsements for my book. That writers I admire hugely, including Wendy Erskine, Vanessa Onwuemezi and Sally Bayley, should take the time to read my collection and respond to it so generously, has felt extraordinary.
As an emerging writer, you quite often feel knocked back. In this case, I’ve felt hands reach down to help me up the ladder, in the most supportive way possible. That’s been a wonderful (and humbling) experience that I will never forget.
What are your future writing plans?
I’m working on a historical novel, The Awakening of Lily Ash, that will soon be ready to submit to agents. It’s the story of a taboo-breaking love affair in provincial Victorian England. It’s had some great feedback and I just need to get it over the finishing line.
As a winner of the HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Competition, do you have any advice for writers of historical short stories?
I’ve heard Carol Ann Duffy say that, as a poet, you should come at things askance. That certainly applies to historical short stories. Explore a forgotten footnote in history. Write from the viewpoint of people whose voices were not acknowledged or recorded.
I’d also say, consider time frame. I wrote The Race within a short time by instinct, but I’ve learnt since that it’s a recognised short story technique. It gives the framework of a story. Then you can work with the freedom of a painter, dabbing bits of colour as you go.
The Truth Has Arms And Legs by Alice Fowler is published on 14 July, 2023. You can pre-order it from Fly On The Wall Press, or from Amazon or Waterstones.
Twitter: @alicefwrites, Instagram: @alicefwrites
Read Alice’s winning short story, The Race.
Other winners of the HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Prize:
2022: Collapse by Chrissy Sturt
2021: His Mother’s Quilt by Naomi Kelsey
2019: The Daisy Fisher by Kate Jewell
2018: Nineteen Above Discovery by Jennifer Falkner
2017: A Poppy Against the Sky by Annie Whitehead
You can buy the six best stories from the 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019 competitions as ebooks or print-on-demand paperbacks.
Enter the competition
The HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Prize for 2023 is open for entries until 1 July.
Can you transport a reader into the past? Can you tell a story which will grip the reader while immersing them in another time? Do you want the voices and the stories of the past to find a new audience in the modern world? Enter the HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Prize for 2023.
This year, the centenary of Dorothy Dunnett’s birth, we particularly welcome stories set the 11th, 15th and 16th centuries, the periods in which she set her own stories.
Stories must be set at least 35 years in the past.
The entry fee is £5. The word limit’s 3,500. Closing date: 1 July, 2023.
The shortlist, highly commended and winning stories will be announced on the HWA website in October, 2023.
The first prize is £500 and publication in Historia and Whispering Gallery, the Dorothy Dunnett Society magazine. In addition you’ll have a mentoring session from an author and an agent. The two Highly Commended authors will also be offered mentoring sessions; these can be in person or on Zoom.
For full details, including how to enter and terms and conditions, go to the announcement on the HWA website.
Images:
- Alice Fowler ©Jon Hawkins Surrey Hills
- Digging potatoes 1920s: curtis roberts via Flickr
