From Belfast, Wendy Erskine has been called the greatest short story writer of her generation, by David Keenan no less. She has just published her second collection of short stories entitled Dance Move, and I was really lucky to be able to chat to her last month around the time of publication. 

Wendy has kindly put together a short playlist to go along with these episodes (see show notes). We started our conversation by talking about the first track in her playlist, but we then veered off in various directions. We do circle back to it in part two of this conversation, which will be available next week. 

This week we discuss Wendy’s writing methodology, how music inspires her work, her ideal word count, the complexity inherent in her depiction of characters and how to end a short story. Along the way our conversation takes in Chekhov, Throbbing Gristle, Jacques Brel, George Eliot and Raymond Carver, among many others. 

Please note: while we try to avoid spoilers, if you haven't read Wendy's work before please be aware we do discuss many stories, and Dance Move in particular, at length.

Show Links:

Wendy Erksine playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4fpH3KP5eIjafUxMRSKSvH?si=4kKrPqGpTBegPFfbk9inpg&nd=1

Dance Move: https://stingingfly.org/product/dance-move/

Chekhov's Gun: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chekhov%27s_gun

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