Do Some Damage: Hilary Davidson Always Tells

Capping an interview with Hilary Davidson, Steve Weddle asked:

You recently won a Derringer Award for your short fiction. What’s it like to be a winner? (asking for a friend)

[Hilary Davidson]: Winning the Derringer meant so much — in no small part because writing short fiction is my true love. Novels break my brain and cause me no end of angst. They're satisfying when they're done, but until that moment, late in the game, they're actually kind of hellish. Stories are different. Writing short stories is more like a game of "What if?" I have the opening scenario in mind when I start writing, and then I follow it wherever it goes. The genesis for "A Hopeless Case," the story that won the Derringer, is awful: when I was in high school in Toronto, I walked down to a subway platform just as a woman jumped in front of an incoming train. But writing about a person in that scenario makes me process it differently. Instead of being horrified by what happened, I'm creeping under the person's skin, trying to understand them. Even when the subject matter is dark, it humanizes it.

Congratulations again, Hilary.

Also check out Steve's debut novel-in-stories, Country Hardball.