Elizabeth Cooke is a London-based writer whose short fiction has been shortlisted for the Fish Publishing Prize, longlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, and featured in Litro Magazine. She trained as an actor before taking a practical detour into the corporate world, and now writes fiction in the margins of everyday life.
If you haven't done so already, check out Elizabeth's award-winning story "Margaretisms" and then return here for a chat with the author.
WOW: What inspired Margaretisms?
Elizabeth: The first line of Margaretisms - “The clouds are near and very moist” - came from a prompt exercise with a writing group. It struck me as such an odd, unsettling sentence. It brought to mind something close, damp, and a little claustrophobic, and so the drizzly British seaside setting was. It draws quite heavily on the kinds of places I visited as a child.
In terms of the characters, the three generations (the protagonist, her mother, and her daughter who lives abroad) was loosely inspired by Alice Munro’s The Moons of Jupiter. I love the way she captures "the sandwich generation" - that sense of being caught between caring for children and aging parents. It made me reflect on my own family, and on what that responsibility might look like in my own life one day - something I've been thinking about even more lately, as my father's been unwell. What amazes me most about Munro is how she conveys entire family dynamics - all the love and resentment and grief and hope - with such precision and restraint. She's a master of showing rather than telling, and if I could summon a drop of what she does then I'd be incredibly proud indeed.
WOW: I bet a lot of our readers will be requesting their own copies of The Moon's of Jupiter after that recommendation. Flash is such a concise form of writing. How did you decide what details to include and what details to leave out? I noticed the only name we get is Margaret’s.
Elizabeth: That’s a great observation! And honestly, something I hadn't consciously considered while writing.
I recently came across a description of fiction as a kind of secret garden. In a novel, the writer builds the entire garden for the reader. But in short fiction - particularly flash - the writer creates the keyhole. The reader only glimpses part of the world, and the rest is implicit.
So when it came to Margaretisms, I wasn’t trying to create the protagonist’s whole world. Instead, I was thinking about shaping a very specific viewpoint - a single afternoon, a particular feeling - and every detail served that viewpoint.
It actually feels fitting that Margaret is the only named character. Even if it was unintentional, it reflects how central she has become to the narrator’s life. The absence of other names kind of mirrors that narrowing of focus - how caregiving can reshape someone's entire sense of self and attention.
WOW: That one answer gives us so much to unpack and consider. How did this story evolve through revision?
Elizabeth: The opening paragraphs for Margeritisms came out of a writing group exercise, then sat untouched in a notebook for months. I work like this quite often - I'll write something, or the start of something, then leave it alone for ages until I've got some distance from it. When I came back to those lines, I didn’t fully remember what I’d originally intended, which was actually helpful. It allowed me to approach the piece more instinctively and build something new from it.
I can be quite an impatient (and emotional!) editor, and I sometimes struggle to see my own work clearly when I’m too close to it. So giving it time creates some clarity and revision can feel more like I'm evolving a piece rather than refining it.
I wouldn’t be surprised if I revisit Margaretisms in the future and it shifts into something else yet again.
WOW: That's so helpful, to think of revision as evolution. What else are you writing?
Elizabeth: Lots of short stories and flash fiction! I love the room for experimentation with these forms. I’d love to write something longer someday, but I’m still working up the courage.
WOW: Growing into a new form definitely takes courage and often time. What question do you wish I had asked? How would you respond to it?
Elizabeth: Ooh, that’s a great question. I think it would be: How has your relationship with this piece changed over time?
When I first wrote Margaretisms, it felt more like a thought exercise - but since then, my father has been ill, and what once felt observational now feels much more immediate and real. I’m younger than my protagonist, and I don’t have children - let alone grownup children - but my understanding of what it means to watch your parents age has deepened, or at least become more complex. And alongside that, I’ve gained a greater appreciation for what my parents’ went through in caring for their own parents.
It’s made the story feel strangely prescient, in a way.
I also feel a new kind of responsibility toward the character. There are nuances I can see now - emotional textures I didn’t anticipate during my dad's illness - and part of me wonders if I’ve done her a slight disservice by not capturing those. But I suppose that’s part of writing: you can only write from the understanding you have at that moment. And sometimes, returning to a piece later reveals just how much that understanding has grown.
WOW: Elizabeth, thank you for taking the time from your busy schedule to help us grow as writers. You've definitely given us a lot to consider. Healing thoughts to your father and good luck on your future writing projects.
0 comments:
Post a Comment