Adam Marek

Short story writer

Daily word count target – the right way to do it?

Adam Marek 6 Comments

  I hate writing first drafts. The story either comes out too fast in a messy splatter, lacking substance, or every paragraph sits reluctantly in the bowels of my brain and needs coaxing out with a stick. Sure, there are occasional moments where a page will glide out that'll make me smile and think 'ahhhh! I can do this!' But those … [Read more...]

Inspiration at the Wellcome Collection

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There are two brilliant (and free!) exhibitions at the Wellcome Collection in London right now: Electricity: The Spark of Life and Making Nature: How We See Animals exhibition. I spent the afternoon there on Sunday, hoping for inspiration for future fiction projects, and had my Wonder-Button pressed repeatedly. Here are just three of the … [Read more...]

KJ Orr interview – Light Box

Adam Marek 2 Comments

KJ Orr's debut short story collection - Light Box - has recently come out, and it's brilliant, so I wanted to ask her about it. Here's the interview. AM: Why did you call the collection Light Box? KJO: It made sense for a number of reasons, and my hope is that there is pleasure in coming across some of those while reading, so I won’t point … [Read more...]

Interview with The Short Story

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I just did an interview with The Short Story website about inspiration, influences, teaching creative writing, the writing life, and the moment I knew I wanted to be a writer: http://www.theshortstory.co.uk/the-short-story-interview-adam-marek/   … [Read more...]

My favourite books of 2015

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These are my nine favourite books of 2015. They weren't all published this year, in fact only three of them were, but they're the books I most enjoyed reading. 1. Everything is Teeth, by Evie Wyld and Joe Sumner Evie Wyld's graphic novel is filled with shark-infested memories of a childhood in Australia and her fascination with the … [Read more...]

My night in a sleep lab

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Earlier this year, I got to spend a night in a sleep lab at Manchester University for a new story commission. It was for Spindles: Stories from the Science of Sleep - the latest in Comma Press's series of science-inspired fiction. When I first found out I'd get to have electrodes glued to my head and be part of an experiment, I was so excited, but … [Read more...]

The Penguin Book of the British Short Story

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I'm so thrilled that my story The 40-Litre Monkey has been included in The Penguin Book of the British Short Story. Editor Philip Hensher read over 6,000 short stories, going all the way back to Daniel Defoe, to make his selection for this incredibly handsome two-volume collection of British short stories. I can't quite believe that my story is … [Read more...]