What’s your creative process like?
My writing process is quite simple; I’m a people watcher. Wherever I go, I watch people and what they do, and they provide the material for the core of all of my flash fiction stories. One story, “A Mother’s Prayer,” was the result of my looking out of a 10th-floor window in a hospital as I waited for someone to have a medical test. On a corner of the street below, I saw women and a few children waiting as a small camp bus came to pick them up. That was the beginning, and then I went on from there.
What tips would you give someone taking their first steps in creative work?
If I were to give anyone advice about writing, I would tell them to use their eyes because stories are all around them; it’s not just me. Usually, I try to work it into a three-act format, and if possible, I like it to have a pleasant ending, but that doesn’t always happen. Sometimes, the endings almost seem to demand to be written.
Give us some background on the piece you contributed to this issue.
My most recent story, “Moment of Truth,” comes from my reading an article on free lunch programs for children in the United States. I recalled my elementary school, where we had to eat lunch in a room adjacent to the boiler. We had no gym, no library and no science classes. I knew what that kid’s feelings must have been waiting in that line, knowing he didn’t have the money to buy his lunch. For me, it was an easy story to write because it practically wrote itself.
What keeps you motivated to create? What inspires you?
I was a poor child living in an impoverished neighborhood where I was exposed to many aspects of criminality and even murder. When I was 12, my mother, my two sisters, and myself were witnesses at the murder trial of a toddler. The Mafia gave my father a job as a parking lot attendant, and the landlady from whom we rented a house also rented out the barn we had in our backyard to the bookies. So, life was quite interesting at an early age, and I came across many characters who have fed my stories.
P. A. Farrell is a psychologist and published author with McGraw-Hill, Springer Publishing, Cafe Lit, Ravens Perch, Humans of the World, and Scarlet Leaf Review, writes for Medium.com, and has published self-help books. She lives on the East Coast of the US.