Published 4 July 201126 March 2012 · Writing / Main Posts Paul Mitchell on fiction Clare Strahan Melbourne-based writer Paul Mitchell has published two books of poetry, Minorphysics and Awake Despite the Hour. His short fiction collection Dodging the Bull was published by Wakefield Press in 2007. Journalist, fiction writer and poet, Paul’s work has appeared in Black Ink’s Best Australian Stories & Poems, Scribe’s New Australian Stories, HEAT, Meanjin, Overland, the Age, the Big Issue, Crikey and more. Collaborating with musician Bill Buttler, Paul has also produced a spoken-word CD As if nothing is happening. And it is. Paul chats with Overland about his short story, ‘The Long Way’; about iconic rock ’n’ roll, emergency fire-fighting stalwarts the CFA and FJ Holdens; about the power of music and the dangers of obsession; about what inspires him as a writer, the percolation between inspiration and the act of creation; his experience with the long form and his love of the short story, and what he’s up to now. [O]ften I go into character through what people say, that seems to be the major way I go in – it’s through a line … a throwaway line that someone offers … and that’s where it sort of starts to build, from there. I go into character from there and then the story emerges from the character. Or it’s through things I see that for some reason just sit with me for a long time and then from there a piece of writing will come … Overland is pleased to be able to share with you a short reading of the story by the author: To read more, get details of his latest adventures and to buy his books, visit Paul at his blog. Clare Strahan Clare Strahan is a two-time novelist with Allen & Unwin publishers, long-ago contributing editor to Overland, and teaches in the RMIT Professional Writing & Editing Associate Degree. More by Clare Strahan › Overland is a not-for-profit magazine with a proud history of supporting writers, and publishing ideas and voices often excluded from other places. If you like this piece, or support Overland’s work in general, please subscribe or donate. Related articles & Essays 11 December 202411 December 2024 · Writing The trouble Ken Bolton’s poems make for me, specifically, at the moment Linda Marie Walker These poems doom me to my chair and table and computer. I knew it was all downhill from here, at this age, but it’s been confirmed. My mind remains town-size, hemmed in by pine plantations and kanite walls and flat swampy land and hills called “mountains”. 4 October 202418 October 2024 · Main Posts Announcing the Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers 2024 longlist Editorial Team Sponsored by Trinity College at the University of Melbourne and supporters, the Nakata Brophy Prize for Young Indigenous Writers, established in 2014 and now in its ninth year, recognises the talent of young Indigenous writers across Australia.
