----------Interview by Renee Roberson
WOW: Hello again, Zarah, and welcome! “The Salt Line” is the sort of story one wants to read more than once, so they can fully take in all the metaphors and hidden meanings tucked away in the paragraphs. How did you get the idea for this story?
Zarah: I find inspiration in the most unlikely places. This time it came from a spam email from Quora. The subject line read something like “I heard my mother asking the neighbour for salt” and the post was a short parable about asking your neighbours for something small so they feel like they can ask you for something when they need it. I thought that was beautiful, and my mind immediately conjured “The Salt Line” in response. I was fascinated about the concept of asking your neighbour for something but needing something completely different. So much of how we communicate is actually about what is left unsaid, what lingers, or the difference between what people hope they are conveying and how it actually comes across. This was one of the fastest shorts I have ever written because the idea was so clear and it was so fun to write.
WOW: Inspiration really does exist all around us! Let's talk about perspective—reading the story from the daughter’s point of view—is one of the most powerful aspects of “The Salt Line.” How do you feel it would have changed had it been written from the mother’s perspective?
Zarah: Writing from the perspective of the daughter really allowed me to play with the presentation, severity, and impact of the mother’s mental health issues in a way that I am not sure I would have been able convey had I written the story from her perspective. Through the eyes of children we often see how all they want is a parent to love them and feel happy, regardless of how bad their home life might actually be.
From the adult perspective, all you have is the anxiety and the judgment consuming your brain and nervous system. There is no empathy for the self or compassion. The mother is aware that she needs help and things need to change, but in her consumption, she leaves her daughter alone (albeit only to go next door) when everything finally gets too much for her to bear. That is a challenging aspect to write about when it comes to mental health, but through the lens of a child, we see the compassion and empathy she is unwilling to give herself. Her daughter generously accommodates her mother’s illness despite the isolation of their life. Then we see the immediate positive of her mother taking action to regain her life: even though the daughter doesn’t understand her mother’s request for salt, she intuits that something has shifted and it is now safe for her to return to the role of child and go and play.
If we flip that, and have the mother aware that she is a burden to her child, we lose the complex nature of carer dynamics. Many children care for their parents as a necessity. It is unfair and heartbreaking, but these children love their parents and want what is best for them. I think it is tragically beautiful. As a parent/carer, I am a little obsessed with writing about the importance of community.
I think one perspective I could have conveyed from the mother is how self-awareness, self-love, wanting to change etc, is no replacement for community. Humans are social creatures and we cannot heal alone. But the mere thought of being vulnerable can be vomit-inducing! Fearing rejection means people often overlook the immediate channels that can help their situation feel less apocalyptic. Having the courage to take that step and say “I need help” is a wonderful thing, and I like to believe I could have done justice to the relief she would have felt after receiving her neighbour’s acceptance.
WOW: Having experienced success in a variety of writing competitions, but particularly WOW’s, which limits the word count to 750, what advice would you give writers trying to tell a complete story in such a short amount of time?
Zarah: We all know the advice to “kill your darlings”, right? Every sentence you write is a darling you can kill. It is excruciating hacking away at your story to get it to fit a restricted word count but practice makes perfect. Can you say it in less words and retain the impact? Regardless of how it makes you feel (dagger to the heart!), if the answer is yes, then you must do it. I start off with a master document of free form writing, then copy and paste into a new document and whittle it down. That way I can compare the two, and if there is a competition with a higher word count I want to enter, I then have room to expand. I usually end up with about 3 versions of one story! Oddly though, “The Salt Line” was pretty close to the word count when I had finished splurging, so it was more about refining the quality than cutting it down.
WOW: Are there any writers who have inspired your own work?
Zarah: When I was a child I used to read Jodi Picoult books that I pilfered from home. Same with Marian Keyes. I loved how Jodi creates such complex characters and ethical quandaries, and Marian is just amazing at writing relatable, funny and complex characters in more every day scenarios. My favourite adult book is by Kate Morton “The Forgotten Garden”. It has everything I love — drama, tragedy, secretive characters, mystery, and a hint of the magical. My favourite children’s books are the “His Dark Materials” trilogy by Phillip Pullman and “The Narnia Chronicles” by C.S. Lewis. I love the existential themes wrapped up in fantasy and adventure. Whenever I read any of these authors they inspire me to write as I am reading them, which means I often have to pause my reading to write.
WOW: Those are some great authors to recommend. Many writers have a love/hate relationship with the revision process. I know I do! How do you tackle it in your own work? Do you have any tips you could share with us?
Zarah: I am an odd one out here as I typically loathe the first draft process but I adore editing. My top tip for editing down a piece to fit a specific word count is divide your cull by page. For example, if you have a 700 word limit, but you have a story that’s 1000 words and 3 pages long, set yourself the target of cutting 100 words from each page. I repeat this process until I get down to the word count. It takes the pressure off because on some pages you’ll naturally cull more which will help you save in the areas you really can’t cut. You’ll know those areas because the story either won’t make sense without them, or you’ll feel like the sparkle has been lost. Also remember that when editing, every writing rule can be broken if you commit the sin well enough! The only other advice I have is to leave time between edits and don’t fall into the trap of eternal editing. As writers, we are (or should be!) always learning new techniques to make us better, but the catch is that your previous works will never keep pace with that. And that’s okay! You need to know when to stop editing and send it on to the next stage, otherwise nobody will ever see your work.
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