Han Smith, London Independent Story Prize 2024 2nd Competition Short Story Winner 'Syzygy'

London Independent Story Prize 2024 2nd Competition Short Story Winner 'Syzygy' by Han Smith

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- Can you please tell us about you and your daily life?

I’m a writer, translator and literacy teacher, and those are the three components that make up most of my daily life at the moment. I teach adult literacy (‘Functional Skills’) at a community education centre, and around that I do the writing, editing and reading, plus I’m currently trying to find a publisher for a book I’ve translated (part of) from German.

 - How often do you write? Do you have a writing routine? And what inspires you to write?

My routine is not strictly structured and fits in with other commitments, but when it’s possible I try to write ‘new’ things in the mornings and use other times for editing and planning. In terms of inspirations, sometimes it is just certain twists of words, but often the reason I write is to find a shape for something I have been thinking about and can’t leave behind. This was some of the motivation for my debut novel, which was published in June: it is partly about what happens when certain parts of national history are glorified and others are distorted or silenced, and how/if individuals with their own personal constraints can react to this. It was something I had been trying to think through for a long time and create a form for, and researching and writing the book was part of this. Overall I think my writing is usually something between this attempt to understand more and make space in language, and a small platform for causes that I feel need attention.

Portraits, John Murray Originals

- When and how did you get into writing?

Like many people, I think, I was ‘always writing’, and it was a kind of home as my family moved around quite a bit, but I didn’t ever consider it as a real job for the future. Then the future did happen, and after a while doing various other things, I realised a few years ago that if I wanted to make sure writing could be something sustainable in my life, I needed to find opportunities to make that happen. I started entering competitions and submitting to journals, and in 2019 I was selected for the London Writers Award programme run by the brilliant London-based organisation Spread The Word. That really opened up a lot to me in terms of sharing work, meeting other writers in a similar position, feeling gradually more confident and ultimately meeting my agent. There was certainly plenty of rejection and doubt on the way, though… Anyway, even if it’s still definitely not a financially secure path, I’m hugely grateful: I don’t know what my life would be without writing, really. 

- What's the best and most challenging thing about writing a short story? 

Hmm. I think both the best and most challenging thing is working out, and on, the voice. It’s not so difficult to have an ‘idea’, but the writing only really works once you find and develop the voice – by that I mainly mean perspective, tone, the precision of the language, mood, and also how much to give and how much to hold back.

-  How did you develop the idea for your LISP-selected story? Is there a story behind your story?

There is a story behind the story. I spent a year working on a tiny tidal island in the Wattenmeer off the coast of Germany, and it was quite strange. Frozen birds, frozen sea, plastic debris, worm-digging, aloneness, and the island really does bloat out and shrink with the tides. I wrote different versions of this setting and story, and Syzygy is one of them. I’m actually now working on a novel also related to this mudscape, but also featuring forbidden language deprivation experiments…

- Can you please give us a few tips about writing a short story?

I’m not always too sure about giving advice when things work so differently for different people, but something I find useful to remind myself of in general is that writing is something amazing. You’re caring about the sentence-level meanings, the structure or sections, and the whole-piece effect all at once, and that is extremely hard but fantastic too. Maybe it helps to recall that.

- Lastly, do you recommend writers submit to LISP?

Of course!