Fluid book cover: Karavan Press; Anna Hug, photo: provided
Short.Sharp.Stories is a platform showcasing top and emerging South African fiction writers. The theme of this year’s anthology is Fluid – freedom to be. Fluid, this year’s Short.Sharp.Stories anthology, seeks to engage fictional expression around identity, culture and society.
Joanne Hichens conducts interviews with the respective short story writers.
Below is a mini-interview between Joanne Hichens and Anna Hug, author of the short story “Fynbos” in the 2023 Short.Sharp.Stories anthology, Fluid.
Anna Hug is a fiction writer and literary editor. Her short stories have been published by New Contrast (2020) and Type/Cast literary journal (2016, 2019), and longlisted for Short.Sharp.Stories (2017). Last year, she was longlisted for the international Mslexia Fiction Competition 2022. Anna is currently working on a collection of short stories. She lives with her family in Kommetjie.
Anna writes of the inspiration for her story:
What originally seeded my story was a trip to a remote part of the Cederberg, and the tiny bottle of indigenous fynbos oil I brought back home. It sat on my desk, persistently infusing the air, and started me thinking about the vast power of the Groot Winterhoek distilled into fluid – and what would happen if someone came across it and tried a drop or two.
JH: Firstly, what draws you to writing short stories? Or, more specifically, for what reason do you love short stories?
AH: I like the discipline of writing short fiction. In a limited number of words, you must build a world as real as the world of a novel. The power of suggestion is key. What you leave out becomes as important as what you put in. I love that a great short story can be just a moment in time, a single turning point plucked from a long life. When short stories resonate, they stay with you.
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I love that a great short story can be just a moment in time, a single turning point plucked from a long life.
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JH: You are currently working on a collection of your own. Could you tell us a little more about this?
AH: I’m interested in characters that for some reason have been overlooked by others, by life. They live in the sidelines: a lonely widow addicted to social media, an elderly woman who’s losing her mind and her home, a friendless young girl obsessed with her neighbours. My main character in “Fynbos” is overlooked, too. As a nanny, Josie is indispensable to the couple she works for, looking after their baby. But she is not “seen” – as a young mother striving to do the best for her own child, as a young woman who has been let down early in life.
JH: Josie is indeed a formidable character. How did you come to place her in that landscape and in that situation?
AH: I based Josie on someone I knew. I wanted to put her in this ancient landscape, a place it was not her choice to visit, to amplify the dynamic of tension between her and Shaun. Josie is keenly attuned to her environment, uncomfortable with it at first. She is a natural observer, though, as a result of living on the edge of the couple’s life. So, while it is Shaun who discovers the rock art, only Josie picks up on the power of the landscape.
JH: Talking more of setting, your story has a visceral sense of place. Is place or setting important to you, and are certain places more evocative than others?
AH: Absolutely. Sometimes, a place – somewhere I’ve been or somewhere from my past – is what gives me an idea for a story. The characters might appear only once I’ve been exploring that setting for a while. I’m definitely influenced by stories in which place plays as big a role as the people. For example, I love how author Kaui Hart Hemmings uses her native Hawaii in her stories. She sets up a tension between this backdrop of “paradise” and the dysfunctional contemporary characters who live in it. I was captivated by the drama of the Winterhoek – the history it holds within its rock art, the sheer scale of it, the remoteness. It interested me to imagine someone new to these surroundings, who didn’t choose to be there, rather than a holidaying hiker or archaeologist.
JH: The writing, too, seems to echo the sense of place. It’s sparse, spare, yet conveys perfectly the quality of the Cederberg. Could you comment on this?
AH: I am drawn to sparse prose, and tend to favour that style of writing. The way I wrote this story was very much informed by the landscape, the sense of stillness. Josie and Shaun are cut off from the busy world below, and, added to that, the communication between them is stilted, uncomfortable. I wanted to reflect that.
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I am drawn to sparse prose, and tend to favour that style of writing. The way I wrote this story was very much informed by the landscape, the sense of stillness.
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JH: Getting back to the more general, do you have a favourite short story or a collection you turn to for inspiration?
AH: One of my favourites must be the classic “The lottery” by Shirley Jackson, written in 1948 and banned in many places, including South Africa. Its power has never dwindled. I have many collections I turn to for inspiration, among them House of thieves by Kaui Hart Hemmings and Reality, reality by Jackie Kay. More recently, I loved What it means when a man falls from the sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah and Let it fall where it will by Lester Walbrugh.
JH: As a writer chosen for inclusion in this latest Short.Sharp.Stories collection, could you share what value you see this competition adding to the South African literary scene?
AH: The Short.Sharp.Stories collections have always championed new voices in South African writing. But there’s a great balance. The competition also attracts more established writers and showcases their talent. Setting a theme gives everyone the same start point, but I think the gold in running a competition like this is seeing just how differently people come at it, how rich and wide the inspiration.
JH: What tip would you as a fiction editor offer to aspiring writers?
As a starting point, I’d say: “Read your work aloud.” It’s amazing how much your own ear can help highlight the glitches, the overwriting. I worked as a copywriter for many years, and my voice from those days says: “If in doubt, take it out.” It’s not a bad rule, but these days, as a literary editor, I engage on a deeper level.
Also read
Short.Sharp.Stories anthology Fluid: interview with Nedine Moonsamy, author of "The jump"
Short.Sharp.Stories anthology Fluid: interview with David Medalie, author of "Milly takes a husband"
Short.Sharp.Stories anthology Fluid: interview with Robyn Perros, author of "The window display"