Today I’m excited to feature the lovely, Fiona Robertson on Kelly’s Writerly Q&A. Fiona is a doctor and author of an award-winning debut book! If You’re Happy has the brightest cover and is full of emotion. It won the 2020 QLA Glendower Award, was published last month, and I absolutely loved it!

This collection of short stories is so inspiring, you’ll probably want to try and write your own. Check it out and see what happens. I think I might have sparked an idea!

Read my five-star review here.

Hi Fiona, thanks for taking the time to answer some writerly questions. First of all, congratulations on the release of your first book – a short story collection. Can you tell me about If You’re Happy? 

Hi Kelly, and thanks so much for having me on your wonderful blog!

The book is a collection of stories about people who are often at a crisis point, yet feel very alone. They’re struggling with personal demons as well as external challenges – in some cases including wild weather and natural disasters. Above all they’re searching for some kind of happiness.

Yes, I definitely felt that happiness is the central theme. What prompted you to write these stories and compile them into a collection? 

I wrote the stories because I love expressing myself through exploring fears and fascinations. I’m especially drawn to writing flawed characters, as I think it helps me understand myself and others. 

Short stories are the form I’ve chosen so far because they seem less daunting than anything longer! I compiled the best of them into a collection because I dreamed of having a book-length work published – something to leave behind in the world. 

I can relate to the beauty of short stories being easier to finish but they are not easier to write. Every word holds so much weight in each of your stories. I love how much you made me think. How long did it take you to write all 24 stories, and were there some that didn’t make the cut? 

The stories were mostly written in the five years preceding acceptance for publication. I also wrote four of them after finding out the collection would be published, in case some pieces were dropped. In the end, none were cut.

Well that’s a novel length amount of time and it shows. Let’s talk about querying and publishing, how did you get your yes? 

I got my yes thanks to the Queensland Literary Awards. I entered the Glendower Award for an Emerging Queensland Writer in 2020, and winning that prize meant monetary support (thanks to sponsor Jenny Summerson) plus publication with UQP. I can’t express how grateful I am to everyone involved in getting If You’re Happy into bookstores and homes around Australia.

For any unpublished Queensland writers who’ve worked hard on their manuscript and are ready to take a chance, I’d highly recommend submitting. This year’s entries are open and will close on April 29.

What an amazing story! Writing contests can be life changing. As a multi-award winning writer, what tips do you have to share regarding short stories and nailing the ending?

Nailing the ending – that’s a tough one! I suppose I’d say:

1. Don’t end too early or too late. Read a piece carefully after finishing, and see what happens if the final paragraph is removed. If that doesn’t feel right, try removing just the final sentence. Often as writers we overstate our message. Conversely, make sure the ending isn’t too truncated or abrupt. Make sure there’s a natural resonance to where the story rests.

2. Consider other possibilities besides the first ending that comes to mind. Sometimes what we initially think of might be cliched, or too obvious to the reader in advance. It’s worth playing around with other options (I often brainstorm alternatives by writing down everything I can think of, including ridiculous ideas, then choosing one that grabs me).

3. Sometimes circling back to the beginning, or to a theme within the piece, provides the answer as to how to end a story.

You really do have a way of making the reader think. You give enough character details without telling, allowing the reader to consider what happens after your stories end. I love it!

What does your typical day of writing look like? 

I write on the days I don’t work, and I mostly write in the morning. I’m incredibly slow, and I always read over the story before adding to it, editing as I go. So sometimes it takes me an hour or more before I’m actually writing new words!

This is so relatable. I take so long to reread and edit before I actually write. What kinds of books do you like to read? 

I read mostly realist fiction, ranging from crime to commercial to literary fiction. Lately I’ve been reading poetry as well, as I feel it expands my brain.

These are the types of books I love too! Realist fiction is amazing! Do you have any advice for aspiring authors? 

Oh, I could probably go on for ages about this – there are so many things I wish I’d known, so many pieces of wisdom I’ve gleaned from other writers. But for the sake of not boring anyone, I’ll just drop in this quote from Ira Glass which has always given me hope: 

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work.”

Determination is not to be underestimated. Great quote! It’s important to know you have talent/good taste, you just need time to develop. Because we met on social media, can you tell me how social media has helped you as a writer?

Social media has helped by widening my writing community. I have a number of friends I know solely through interactions on Twitter or Instagram, many of whom I’ve never met in person but consider to be real friends. Having conversations with these talented writers, and reading their work or other writing they recommend, teaches me so much. Their friendship and support encourage me to keep going. And since If You’re Happy came out, many of these lovely people have read the book, shared their thoughts about it, and offered me opportunities such as being on their podcasts or blogs (thank you again Kelly!). 

Yay for social media. It can be really great, especially for writers. So, what can we expect from you next?

Well that’s a question I can’t answer yet. I have ideas for both short fiction and perhaps something longer. I don’t know if I can pull off a longer-form work. But I do love a challenge, so I might just give it a go!

This sounds fantastic! I’m sure you’re up for the challenge, and I can’t wait to see what you write about. I’m sure you’ll have loads of ideas and the decision to pick one group of characters and one story to explore will be difficult but wonderful.

Thank you for generously gifting me a copy of your book and donating your time to chat. It’s been such an experience reading your exceptional words and hearing your thoughts on writing. You are such a star!

Kelly