#285 Inside the Emotion of Fiction Short Story “Swamp Creatures” from the Short Story Collection SIN EATERS by Caleb Tankersley

Left: Caleb Tankersley in 2022. Copyright by Caleb Tankersley.

What is the date you began writing this piece of fiction and the date when you completely finished the piece of fiction? My short story collection is called Sin Eaters, and the stories stretch over a wide range of time. The earliest story in the collection was written quite a long time ago, in 2012. The most recent story was written in 2020. The collection essentially captures eight years of my writing life.

Caleb Tankersley in 2012. Copyright by Caleb Tankersley

Where did you do most of your writing for this fiction work?  And please describe in detail.  And can you please include a photo? Since the collection stretches across eight years, it’s safe to say I’ve written these stories in a wide variety of places. In graduate school I got a surprising amount of writing done in my library carrel, a little cell-like office with no windows (and thus no distractions). I remember writing one of these stories on a couch in Belgium overlooking a busy city street in Brussels. Other stories came together on the couch, at coffeeshops around the country, and in the little tidbits of my phone’s Notes app.

Caleb Tankersley’s writing space. Credit and Copyright by Caleb Tankersley

What were your writing habits while writing this work- did you drink something as you wrote, listen to music, write in pen and paper, directly on laptop; specific time of day? I sure wish I was a disciplined enough writer to have a regular habit. I am not. Sometimes I do listen to music (only instrumental), especially if I feel the music projects a particular mood or evokes a feeling I’m trying to reach for in the story. I don’t have any writing-related drinking habits, other than the more general need for coffee every morning. I do tend to write directly on my laptop, although a surprising amount of ideas are captured on my phone’s Notes app. If I’m out on a walk, on the train, or at dinner and an idea or line pops into my brain, I’ll pause everything else in life to write it down. Over time, those accumulated bits are a real writing treasure, and full stories have been stitched together from those bits.

Please include just one excerpt and include page numbers as reference.  This one excerpt can be as short or as long as you prefer. This excerpt is from “Swamp Creatures”, the beginning story. Thus this excerpt is from page 1:

       While we’re eating dinner or when we’re tired of fighting, my husband and I stare at the swamp behind our house. Gary sips beer as he watches the festering water with awe, like an important piece of architecture. “How far down does it go? Fifty feet? Do you think?” He asks and answers his own question before spearing a chunk of beef and swallowing it whole. I grill steaks every Thursday, cook them just right with little bits of juice and blood pooling on the plate. Gary never pauses to taste his food, always slops it in. Like it’s all the same.

       The swamp is impressive, a gargling pool stretching as far as we can see from our backyard, tall ghostly trees sticking out of it and obscuring the horizon. We’ve been renting the same house two years but never explore too far back, some sense of reverence holding us.

Why is this excerpt so emotional for you as a writer to write?  And can you describe your own emotional experience of writing this specific excerpt? That emotion is hard to describe since this excerpt went through so many edits. It was “written” many times on many different days. Personally, I think openings are the hardest part of stories to write. I agonize on them, and I’m usually displeased with my initial openings. If anything, I remember feeling a sense of relief when I finally edited the opening of “Swamp Creatures” to the point that I didn’t think it was terrible.

Were there any deletions from this excerpt that you can share with us? And can you please include a photo of your marked up rough drafts of this excerpt. I don’t have a photo of a rough draft since I’ve done most of my editing on a laptop. There were, though, plenty of deletions. In an earlier draft of the story, the protagonist (named Karen) watches the swamp and imagines a new husband emerging. She goes on to describe the new husband and compare him to Gary. While I enjoyed the weirdness of that earlier opening, it brought in some fabulist elements too early. I wanted the reader to sit with Karen and Gary for a bit longer before turning up the heat on their dynamic. So there was a structural concern in the changes.

Caleb Tankersley in 2019. Copyright by Caleb Tankersley

Caleb Tankersley’s debut short story collection Sin Eaters won the 2021 Permafrost Book Prize and is published from University of Alaska Press. He is also the author of the poetry chapbook Jesus Works the Night Shift. More of his stories, poems, essays, and reviews have appeared in a wide variety of magazines and publications.

Caleb teaches English courses in the Seattle area. Previously, he led the creative writing program Mississippi School of Arts. He holds a PhD from the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi. His teaching experience covers creative writing, literature, composition, and ESL.

Caleb is also the Managing Director for Split/Lip Press. He has been on staff at a number of presses and magazines, including two years as the Associate Editor for Mississippi Review.

In his free time Caleb bakes, attempts to be a runner, spends time with his partner Richie, writes when he can, and reads as much as possible. You can find Caleb on Twitter https://twitter.com/Caleb_of_1988

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/caleb.tankersley/

Website https://calebtankersley.com/

Most of the INSIDE THE EMOTION OF FICTION links can be found at the very end of the below feature:

http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2021/03/stephenson-holts-arranged-marriage-is.html

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