Tuesday Focus: Freele's FEEDING STRAYS Delivers on Its Promise, Story after Wonderful Story
The seven year-old asks me, “Could you please lay down your baby, so I can dissect him? I say, No, he’s been dissected twice today. He’s tired of it..
— “the seven year-old”
“The priest can no longer look into his maid’s eyes.”
— “priests and balloons”
“She names her new dog Molecule after the neighbor, a biotech engineer, names his dog Molecule.”
— “breathing oysters”
“Because her husband doesn’t come home until 3 a.m., she shoots him with pepper spray.”
— “double undie night”
“We tell her not to date a man in a banana suit.”
— “every girl has an ex named steve”
The (amazing) Terri Brown-Davidson taught me so much about beginnings, especially in the poetry class I took from her. Beginnings, she said, have the following qualities:- They begin, typically, in media res.
- A sense of mystery, but not of obscurity: enough “there” there to enable us to see what’s happening, but we know more is to be divulged about character, circumstance, situation.
- A high level of conflict (as “close to the conclusion” as possible).
- They’re dynamic, not static, with characters in motion, the situation in motion, the language of the circumstances charged.
- They’re so vivid that they immerse us with almost a sense of shock in “the reality of the poetic dream.”
So bursts Freele’s stories into birth and our consciousness, out of the middle of things, with a shout, already in conflict, already in confrontation with our expectations and the ho-hum of the everyday. They arrive fully-formed, and what I mean by “fully-formed” is that sense that the story is already there, that there will not be the drawn-out wait for things to happen. Every single story works this way, and every single story delivers upon the promise of that beginning, not only to engage our interests and emotions, but to be something other than merely “odd.” Again, I think that might need further explanation.
In some stories, surely not Stefanie’s, the entire story revolves around the “oddness”—and the encounter with the unfamiliar (for writer, reader, & POV character) disappoints because it never leads to anything that matters to me. Stefanie’s stories matter. I love that about them. And it is what I think you will love about them, too.
posted on 10 Nov 2009, 5:13 AM
I'm sold. Can't wait to get a copy.
posted on 10 Nov 2009, 9:36 AM
This is one of my absolute favorite collections. Every story hums, throbs and resonates. I asked her how she did this--she said "I don't know!" :)
posted on 10 Nov 2009, 12:26 PM
Stefanie Freele has a gift for capturing the reader and reeling them in on the first line. Authors, take note, we can all learn from this skill.
posted on 10 Nov 2009, 4:00 PM
I've known Stephanie for a couple of years now. Her writing never ceases to amaze. She's one of the most inventive writers I've encountered.
posted on 10 Nov 2009, 6:42 PM
I could not agree more. I just started reading Feeding strays and had to force ,myself not to devour them in one gulp. They dispel the idea that a collection of flash fiction is somehow insubstantial, fleeting. These entertain, shock, resonate, linger. Wonderful. My new favourite collection!
posted on 11 Nov 2009, 1:27 AM
I did love all that about Stefanie's collection too. I also took classes with Terri Brown Davidson. She IS fantastic. Excellence all round.
posted on 12 Nov 2009, 1:38 PM
Every time I pick up Feeding Strays, I find a twist, a glimpse I missed the first time reading through. Her style sets a Very High Standard and needs to be named, something apart from 'flash fiction' which shows how short writing can be so meaty / or even, veggie. You never walk away hungry. These stories read aloud become performance pieces that flicker on and on behind closed lids while you sleep, while being kissed, while opening for the dentist's drill. These stories save you.