Comments for Suzanne Conboy-Hill - finding fiction

Comment on ‘No Animals …’ – the story behind the story by Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Suzanne Conboy-Hill — Sat, 07 Dec 2013 09:14:02 +0000

I recall someone – I’d like to think it was Carl Sagan or Richard Feynman – said we can only imagine what we can imagine, and so our notion of alien life is limited by what we believe about the way life manifests itself. He (and it was definitely ‘he’!), went on to ask, ‘What if it isn’t?’ There’s a great deal more research about the diversity of life now but the commonality of its requirements is narrowing down to the presence of water. Maybe that’s reassuring to some, but I’m more interested in the left field possibilities and I’d like to think we’d be ready for them too. Or them for us, at least!

Comment on ‘No Animals …’ – the story behind the story by J.C. Towler

J.C. Towler — Sat, 07 Dec 2013 03:52:36 +0000

I enjoyed the story, Suzanne. I knew it would be tough sledding for some of the readership, but am glad we decided to publish it. The idea that our “first contact” is going to be with an alien intelligence that pretty much “gets us” out of the box is probably a pipe dream. Let’s hope it isn’t quite as extreme as was for poor Neela.

Comment on ‘No Animals …’ – the story behind the story by Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Suzanne Conboy-Hill — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 15:43:10 +0000

Thank you, Tracy, I struggle with that contract though because I don’t put nearly as much effort into reading other people’s work as I expect them to put into mine! That said, I enjoy the writing so that, for me, is an end in itself. I may not be satisfied with it if I hadn’t pulled a few obscure threads and hitched them to unlikely needles

Comment on ‘No Animals …’ – the story behind the story by Tracy Fells

Tracy Fells — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 15:31:43 +0000

Thanks for this Suzanne – an intelligent explanation. I found the story difficult, but persevered and got all the points you expanded above. Sometimes stories should be challenging and thoughtful – maybe we shouldn’t ‘get’ everything on first read. I think it was Patrick Gale who wrote that readers should have to do some work too.

Comment on Where’s my (published) stuff? by NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED… • by Suzanne Conboy-Hill | Every Day Fiction - The once a day flash fiction magazine.

Thu, 21 Nov 2013 09:32:50 +0000

[…] Dr. Suzanne Conboy-Hill has been all sorts of things at various times and expects to be a few more things before she finally stops bothering everyone. The nice people at Zouche, The Other Room, Ether Books, and Every Day Fiction, among others, have published stories, and the whole mongrel assortment can be accessed from here. […]

Comment on Mental Health and Fiction: striking the balance by Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Suzanne Conboy-Hill — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 10:19:13 +0000

It was good to have a shove in the right direction, albeit on the back of some (continuing) insensitivities. There’s valuable material for the January session there, I think.

Comment on Mental Health and Fiction: striking the balance by Tracy Fells

Tracy Fells — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 10:01:27 +0000

Well done for raising this issue, Suzanne. And thanks for the useful links.

Comment on Mental Health and Fiction: striking the balance by Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Suzanne Conboy-Hill — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 14:21:31 +0000

Like you, I’ve worked with people paralysed by mental health difficulties and it grieves me to see travesties like Thorpe Park. But I do think there’s a place for good mental health characterisation, especially if it isn’t the key thing about the person in question. Those fears and foibles can get out of control and escalate which is when I’d want a writer to look very carefully at how they portray them.

Then there are the stories that depend on a particular profile of – for instance – psychopathy or schizophrenia and if they get those wrong, they’ve lost me and probably many other people too.

I suppose what I’m saying is that respect for people in the first instance probably leads to respect for authenticity and that in itself should lead to rounded and not stereotypical characters that will satisfy readers who know nothing about mental health, alongside the ones who know it from the inside or as professionals.

And yes, if you’re not informed and you don’t take the trouble to become informed, you should really not go down that route.

Comment on Mental Health and Fiction: striking the balance by Annecdotist

Annecdotist — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 13:29:39 +0000

I didn’t know about this supposed entertainment and it’s truly horrible. I’ve worked with people who were frightened to be given a diagnosis because they thought it meant they were some kind of axe murderer – hard to deal with the stigma on top of their real sense of alienation from themselves.
Regarding writing characters with mental illness, I’d go a little further than you and say don’t bother unless you really know what you’re talking about. A character doesn’t need to have a label to have quirks that may make them act in an interesting way. After all, we all have our fears and foibles, surely there’s enough to write about from that?

Comment on Writing well and coathangers by Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Suzanne Conboy-Hill — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 09:07:05 +0000

Yep, I can stare for England too! Radio programmes become ‘material’, as does checking twitter, FB, all those open webpage tabs, my sock collection. So – ready for a swallow-dive …?