GALLEY BEGGAR PRESS SHORT STORY PRIZE 2022/23
An interview with GBP Short Story Prize author Mahreen Sohail
Congratulations on your GBP Short Story Prize longlisting, Mahreen. Everyone loved your story – and it would be terrific if, to get the ball rolling, you could tell our readers a bit more about it: What ‘Sisters’ is about, how the idea came to you, and the process of writing it.
I don’t have a sister, but my mother is very close to her sisters so I’ve grown up observing that closeness and thinking about whether I would want that for myself. I’m also very interested in how nuclear families change and morph over years and all my stories explore that in some way. I went through a few drafts figuring out what Sisters was about – initially the focus was an interracial relationship. Eventually though, the piece ended up being about these two young women who must figure out how much of their close bond they want to/can maintain as they move through adolescence and into adulthood.
I wanted to ask you a bit more about form: ‘Sisters’ is written in a very unusual way, as a series of one-paragraph ‘chapters’, almost – and as snapshots into one family’s life over a large swathe of time (years, decades). How did you land on this particular style?
It was a much more conventional form in early drafts, but somehow the story and the language kept falling flat. Eventually I just looked at all the scenes I really loved and cut away all the excess and made those scenes mini-chapters. I had to add and rearrange some scenes, and in initial drafts there were a lot of flashbacks, but eventually I think I settled on this chronology and style and it did seem to make the story come alive in some way. I also liked that the style gave me freedom to move through time very quickly, as you point out.
The relationship between the sisters is incredibly vivid, and you’re very good at portraying different aspects of that familial bond: the friction, the intimacy, the ambivalence and pleasure… Can you expand on this – and how long did it take to get right?
Initially, the story focused on this woman reporting back to her sister about dating a white American man. It took me a while to realise that while that was funny, it didn’t hold any real emotional weight – what was increasingly interesting was the sibling’s relationship with each other. I wrote through a few drafts to develop that relationship and its nuances, and then tried to figure out how much time to give the peripheral characters – the parents, the child, Sadia’s husband. It took me about six drafts and eventual feedback from readers I trust to feel like I had it right.
Tell us some more about your wider writing life. How long have you been writing for? Are you working on something at the moment? Do you have a routine (and, if you do, is it hard to maintain)?
I’ve been writing since my mid-teens. I just finished a short story collection and a novel last year so I’m sort of between projects now and very miserable. I’m working on short stories but it’s the sort of work you do to eventually get to the more meaningful work.
I try to write in the evenings after work. My routine changes every few months, depending on what’s happening in my life, but these days, it is very simple: I put a timer on for twenty minutes and make myself sit there and write until it goes off.
Other writers and artists, too. Any favorites, and any particular inspirations?
I just read the Haunting of Hajji Hotak by Jamil Jan Kochai and it reminded me how expansive a story collection can be. I also liked American Fever by Dure Aziz Amna which explored the Pakistani immigrant experience from an angle I haven’t read before. I always love Anne Carson and Eileen Myles when I feel like I need inspiration. I just read Home by Marilynne Robinson which was amazing. Last year I read the Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz. I think I’m subconsciously trying to train myself for longer projects. When I was younger, I thought Jhumpha Lahira was a slow read. But I’ve been revisiting her lately and want to kick my younger self. I loved Lowlands and Whereabouts which I also recently read.
What are you reading at the moment?
When I’m not writing well, I like to read craft books about writing. I’m not sure if you watched the new rom-com on Netflix with Ashton Kutcher and Reese Witherspoon. Don’t laugh, but the writer Matt Bell tweeted about how Ashton Kutcher is reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott and while I missed that detail in the movie, I thought oh I should read that, so I am reading it. It’s very good.
Do you have any writing advice for other short story writers out there?
I don’t think I’m very qualified to give advice but I will say that the only thing that works for me when I’m writing a short story is actually sitting down to write and then giving the piece some time to breathe (a week, a month: the longer the better) before coming back to it and revising. And staying off Twitter.
Last question: you’re hosting a fantasy literary dinner party. Who do you invite, what’s on the menu, where is it taking place? … (Who, of your guests, is most likely to make a fuss?)
I think I would invite some of my writer friends who don’t live in the same area as me and whose work I deeply admire (Yewande Omotoso, Elaine Kim, Amna Chaudhry, Lana Lin, Laura Schmitt). These women don’t know each other but I’ve often thought this group would really get along. I would also ask Jane Smiley; I’ve been to her talks and she’s very funny. I also love her writing. I think she would have no qualms contributing to the literary gossip.
It would be hosted at my place in the summer. There’s a folding table in the basement that I would put out in the garden and we would chat from brunch through to sunset. We’d have chicken and waffles, with sides of avocado, sour cream, maple syrup, and breakfast sausages and an endless supply of tea, coffee, orange juice, etc.