Michael Hyde, London Independent Story Prize 2024 2nd Competition Flash Fiction Finalist 'Tess'

London Independent Story Prize 2024 2nd Competition Flash Fiction Finalist 'Tess' by Michael Hyde 

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

Most of my day is spent thinking about, creating or consuming stories in one form of another. I write, I read, I screen, I game. I teach courses in fiction writing, worldbuilding and the uncanny at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, so I’m fortunate to work with very creative students and colleagues. I leave campus exhausted but nourished. I also try to spend a lot of time outside. I run, I garden. These are very much about stories for me, too.

- How often do you write? Do you have a writing routine?

I write best in the morning, right after waking, so I try to dedicate my mornings to writing when I can.

- How does it feel to have your work recognised?

In the world we live in, so many things are vying for our attention, so to know that someone’s read and spent time with something I’ve written is really an honor of sorts, and if it reaches them in a meaningful way, even better.

- What's the best thing about writing a story?

The best for me is when something appears in a story that I hadn’t expected but provides a new energy or takes the story in an unanticipated direction. It’s almost as if I’m “reading” the story I’m writing, eager to find out what happens next.

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

I wrote the first iteration of “Tess” on a train to visit my parents in Pennsylvania. The train passes through farms and greenery, very much the landscape of my youth. This trip was one of my last visits with my mom before she passed, though I didn’t know it then. My love of reading and writing I owe to her. 

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

Observe and be curious. Carry a pen and notebook or have a notes app at the ready on your phone. Writing is hard work, but it should also be fun. 

- Lastly, do you recommend the writers submit to LISP?

Definitely. My experience with LISP has been fantastic, and I’m thrilled to have my little story find an audience.