Sharika Nair, London Independent Story Prize 2024 2nd Competition Flash Fiction Winner 'Submission Guidelines'

London Independent Story Prize 2024 2nd Competition Flash Fiction Winner 'Submission Guidelines' by Sharika Nair

LISP 2024 Anthology will be available in print.

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

I live in the South Indian city of Bangalore, also known as Bengaluru. I initially worked for ad agencies and later in the content writing domain. I did a three-year stint with a digital media platform, YourStory, where I wrote articles on start-ups and entrepreneurs. I also contributed to the women’s section of this magazine, interviewing women achievers and writing on gender issues. After this, I decided to take a sabbatical. This was around six years ago. My children (I have a daughter and a son) were quite young, and I felt I needed to spend more time with them. I also decided the time was ripe to get back to fiction after a long gap; the last time I wrote short fiction and poetry was when I was in college.

This writing journey of the past few years has been very special, and has been a lot more satisfying than I imagined.

- When and how did you get into writing?

I had a lovely English teacher in my sixth grade, who encouraged our class to write poems, which I immensely enjoyed. I used to read out my (not-that-good) poems to my sister, which she hated! I ventured into fiction on my own after that.

I was a voracious reader since kindergarten, reading everything from comics, Enid Blyton, Indian folk tales, abridged versions of classics (Tom Sawyer, Count of Monte Cristo, Treasure Island, Little Women, The Time Machine and more) before moving on to Conan Doyle and P G Wodehouse in my teens. Soon I was reading novels by Indian writers in English, like Arundhati Roy, Salman Rushdie and Vikram Seth.

Writing was a natural extension from reading for me. I won a few prizes in writing competitions in school and college, and I used to help out friends with their English assignments.

While I continued writing throughout my career, it was non-fiction - a very different genre, and it was not easy ‘recapturing’ my muse when I returned to fiction. Slowly, over the last few years, I found my mojo and now I write regularly and have been able to refine my writing voice, even if I say so myself. More importantly, I am able to look at my work with a critical eye and edit ruthlessly when needed.

- How does it feel to have your work recognised?

It feels amazing, because writing is such a solitary work. When I worked for a magazine, I was a part of a team; so we had team meetings, discussions on story pitches, the editor chipping in with their thoughts on a piece etc. The difference while writing fiction is stark. Initially, it was just my mom reading my stories and telling me they are well-written. I would think – of course, you will say that... you are my mother!

So getting published and winning competitions make a big difference. I won third prize in Deccan Herald’s short story competition way back in 2018, which was quite reassuring. I have had several of my short stories published in magazines and print anthologies, and some of editors have been nice enough to write to me, sharing what they liked about my piece. I also appreciate the many rejections I have received along with constructive feedback on what was not working and suggestions on how the piece could be rewritten, which has been super helpful. I self-published a children’s chapter book titled ‘Tara and the Quest for the Cursed Prince’ in 2021. My biggest achievement has been winning the prestigious Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize in the fiction category in 2023. Even when my story was shortlisted, I did not expect to win, and winning was a great feeling, and a huge boost to my confidence.

-  How did you develop the idea for your LISP-selected story? Is there a story behind your story? And, how long have you been working on it?

I had written unusual (for me) stories just before I wrote ‘Submission Guidelines’. One was a fantasy/ sci-fi style story, very different from what I usually write and the other was a longer piece with a nonlinear narrative, both demanding in different ways. I wanted to write something fun after that, but humour is so subjective and tough to write.

The idea came to me when I was submitting some of my flash fiction pieces to competitions/ magazines. I was going through the guidelines and converting each submission from word document to pdf, or the text from Times New Roman to Arial to adhere to the rules. I want to make it clear that I know how much work goes into running a short or flash fiction competition, or how time consuming it is for the editorial staff of magazines to read through the dozens, maybe hundreds of submissions they receive, and select a few for publication. So, my story is not meant to be disrespectful to these hardworking folks, many of whom are volunteers, and is just a friendly ribbing of the many exacting rules that writers are expected to follow. I was chuckling to myself as I wrote it, and I hope both sides – writers and editorial teams – enjoy reading it.

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

When I write a story, if there is no looming deadline, I like to jot down the outline, mull over it for several days, even weeks. Then when I develop the story, I find it usually doesn’t need much editing or rewriting. I also like to revisit the piece, after a week or two, look at it with a fresh set of eyes before submitting it. Of course, every writer has their own approach regarding their writing, and there are no hard and fast rules to it.

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

Absolutely! After winning, I have realised there is a warm and active community behind LISP and I am thrilled that the winners and shortlistees receive so much love and recognition from the team.