Interview: Sandra Arnold talks about Below Ground

Sandra Arnold is the author of eight books: Below Ground, Where the Wind Blows, The Bones of the Story, The Ash the Well and the Bluebell , Soul Etchings, Sing no Sad Songs, A Distraction of Opposites and Tomorrow’s Empire.

Her work has been broadcast on national radio, published and anthologised in New Zealand and internationally and has won or been short-listed for several awards. She held the Seresin Landfall Otago University Press Writers Residency in 2014 and the Robert Lord Cottage Writers Residency in 2020. With poet, David Howard, she co-founded the literary magazine, Takahe and was its fiction editor from 1989 to 1995. She has a MLitt (High Distinction, and a PhD in Creative Writing (Central Queensland University, Australia). She lives in rural Canterbury with her husband, a dog, an alpaca and two hens.  Sandra Arnold talks to NZ Booklovers about Below Ground. 

Tell us more about what flash fiction is.

Flash fiction is a flexible form from between 100 and 1,000 words, containing the characteristics of the prose poem and the short story. The major difference between a prose poem and flash fiction is that flash needs a narrative arc with a beginning, a middle and end, though not necessarily in that order. It is a way of capturing a moment, a series of moments, or a whole lifetime in very few words. Most of the story is alluded to rather than made explicit, but there should be enough for the reader to understand what has happened before the story begins and what might happen when it ends. The internet and social media have created opportunities for flash to become accessible, but although its current popularity is new, the form is not. It can be found in oral traditions, parables, the myths in the Iliad and Odyssey, Aesop’s fables, the fables of the Middle East and in fairytales. In 2008 Ashley Chantler founded what has become one of the world’s leading magazines, Flash: The International Short-Short Story Magazine. In the years since, numerous international magazines publishing flash have appeared, ranging from the literary to the popular. New Zealand began celebrating National Flash Fiction Day in 2012, publishing the winners of its international competition in Flash Frontier, founded in 2011 by Michelle Elvy.

What inspired you to write Flash fiction?

I started writing flash fiction in 2016 after a conversation with poet, James Norcliffe.  At the time I was in the middle of writing my third novel The Ash the Well and the Bluebell and I  said I was sceptical that a flash fiction story could be conveyed well enough in so few words. Jim recommended I read Flash Frontier to see if I changed my mind. The journal’s 250 word gems captivated me enough to want to investigate the genre further. My first flash fiction collection, Soul Etchings was published in 2019, in the same year as my novel, The Ash the Well and the Bluebell. This was followed by a novella in-flash, The Bones of the Story, published in 2023.

Tell us a little about Below Ground.

Below Ground is a collection of 77 flash fiction stories that explore the themes of social dislocation, bullying and disconnection through childhood, adulthood and old age, as well as the ways in which healing and connection may be found. I began writing the stories during a writing residency at the Robert Lord Writers Cottage in Dunedin in 2020, during which time two of the stories were nominated for Best Microfiction and the Pushcart Prize.

What was your routine or process when writing this book?

Whenever I’m engaged in a new writing project I write for most of the day and edit in the evenings. People often ask where the ideas come from. I love observing people and believe that ideas come from this, in overheard conversations, expressions of people’s faces and the different ways in which people interact. All of these, mixed with imagination and a lot of editing produce stand-alone stories.

What did you enjoy the most about writing this book?

I love starting with an idea to explore and see where the stories twist and turn. Sometimes they take me to some surprising places. In Below Ground, some of the stories are quite dark and others are humorous.

What did you do to celebrate finishing this book?

I went for walks and read a lot of books in different genres.

What is the favourite book you have read so far this year and why?

My favourite is Pet by Catherine Chidgey. It is a dark, chilling psychological thriller about a manipulative teacher. Chidgey is a brilliant writer who implies rather than makes explicit, in much the same way as the best flash fiction.

What’s next on the agenda for you?

There’s no end of new stories to be written and I’ve started a new collection.