Daniel L. Link Q & A with Eastern Iowa Review
Chila: I thoroughly enjoyed your short story, "Outside the Fire," for our SmartApocalypse Issue (#5). Tell us how that came about, what led you to paint us that picture. And how long did it take from inception to completion? (It was the co-winner, btw, of our Issue 5 Editor’s Choice Award.)
Daniel: As for "Outside the Fire," it's difficult to tell you the entire start to finish on that one. My usual process for short stories is to sit down and start typing and see what happens. With that one, however, I'd already had the character in mind, although I'd never started to write it. My goal was to explore someone alone and driven solely by survival, then give him something to care about. When I saw the SmartApocalypse challenge, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to explore it further.
Chila: Well, I'm glad you followed through! I see on your Facebook page (yes, I snooped), that you may want to write more stories about the apocalyptic theme, or maybe even a novel, am I correct? Talk about that a minute. What do you have in possible store for readers?
Daniel: The idea of writing an apocalyptic novel has always appealed to me. There's something about starting civilization from scratch, or from the ashes of what we've built, that fascinates most of us. I think it's our knowledge of how heavily we rely on the technology we've built, and that it's cost us something that drives us to explore the idea. In reality, we'd never like to give up all the comforts these advances have provided, but it's fun to think about from our keyboards with our Spotify playing in the background while the heater is keeping our toes warm. And from that, I've written two other apocalyptic shorts, and one day I will try tackling the bigger idea I have for a novel.
Chila: You can bet I'll be following your progress, Daniel. And I hope to see those stories in print soon. Next, who are your primary writing influences - can you name at least 4 or 5, please?
Daniel: My influences for the apocalyptic genre were Cormac McCarthy, of course, and J.H. Kunstler's World Made by Hand series. McCarthy captures so well the despair, the futility of a future in a broken world, and doesn't sugar-coat, which I respect. Kunstler does a great job of highlighting the things you forget would play into a post-apocalyptic world, and the psychological aspects of such a transition. I decided to go a different route and focus on the loneliness of the situation, and how focusing on survival comes at a cost, as does finding something you care about enough to put that survival at risk. As for my literary influences, they are many. Dostoevsky, Flaubert, Michael Chabon, Nick Hornby, and Richard Russo are a few that I find myself going back to time and again.
Chila: McCarthy's The Road is one of my all-time favorite books simply because it's so well written, and a reader can read it nearly without stopping, without feeling either bored or overwhelmed, marks of a very readable book to me. His language is smart & expansive, the flow of the words, consistent, not cheap or rushed or overly-wrought, which often indicates a writer who has tried too hard.
When not writing, what do you enjoy doing? Hobbies?
Daniel: When I'm not writing, I love to travel, and to eat good food and drink wine. I walk everywhere, but I consider that a part of my writing process, because many of my best ideas have come to me while I've been out wandering the streets.
Chila: What other interesting facts can you tell us about yourself that will help us know you a little better?
Daniel: When I was young, I knew that I wanted to write fiction. I allowed life to get in the way, and only returned to writing a few years ago. I only started submitting stories in 2017, and am making up for lost time.
Chila: That sounds very similar to my situation. Thank you, Daniel, and best of luck to you!
Chila: I thoroughly enjoyed your short story, "Outside the Fire," for our SmartApocalypse Issue (#5). Tell us how that came about, what led you to paint us that picture. And how long did it take from inception to completion? (It was the co-winner, btw, of our Issue 5 Editor’s Choice Award.)
Daniel: As for "Outside the Fire," it's difficult to tell you the entire start to finish on that one. My usual process for short stories is to sit down and start typing and see what happens. With that one, however, I'd already had the character in mind, although I'd never started to write it. My goal was to explore someone alone and driven solely by survival, then give him something to care about. When I saw the SmartApocalypse challenge, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to explore it further.
Chila: Well, I'm glad you followed through! I see on your Facebook page (yes, I snooped), that you may want to write more stories about the apocalyptic theme, or maybe even a novel, am I correct? Talk about that a minute. What do you have in possible store for readers?
Daniel: The idea of writing an apocalyptic novel has always appealed to me. There's something about starting civilization from scratch, or from the ashes of what we've built, that fascinates most of us. I think it's our knowledge of how heavily we rely on the technology we've built, and that it's cost us something that drives us to explore the idea. In reality, we'd never like to give up all the comforts these advances have provided, but it's fun to think about from our keyboards with our Spotify playing in the background while the heater is keeping our toes warm. And from that, I've written two other apocalyptic shorts, and one day I will try tackling the bigger idea I have for a novel.
Chila: You can bet I'll be following your progress, Daniel. And I hope to see those stories in print soon. Next, who are your primary writing influences - can you name at least 4 or 5, please?
Daniel: My influences for the apocalyptic genre were Cormac McCarthy, of course, and J.H. Kunstler's World Made by Hand series. McCarthy captures so well the despair, the futility of a future in a broken world, and doesn't sugar-coat, which I respect. Kunstler does a great job of highlighting the things you forget would play into a post-apocalyptic world, and the psychological aspects of such a transition. I decided to go a different route and focus on the loneliness of the situation, and how focusing on survival comes at a cost, as does finding something you care about enough to put that survival at risk. As for my literary influences, they are many. Dostoevsky, Flaubert, Michael Chabon, Nick Hornby, and Richard Russo are a few that I find myself going back to time and again.
Chila: McCarthy's The Road is one of my all-time favorite books simply because it's so well written, and a reader can read it nearly without stopping, without feeling either bored or overwhelmed, marks of a very readable book to me. His language is smart & expansive, the flow of the words, consistent, not cheap or rushed or overly-wrought, which often indicates a writer who has tried too hard.
When not writing, what do you enjoy doing? Hobbies?
Daniel: When I'm not writing, I love to travel, and to eat good food and drink wine. I walk everywhere, but I consider that a part of my writing process, because many of my best ideas have come to me while I've been out wandering the streets.
Chila: What other interesting facts can you tell us about yourself that will help us know you a little better?
Daniel: When I was young, I knew that I wanted to write fiction. I allowed life to get in the way, and only returned to writing a few years ago. I only started submitting stories in 2017, and am making up for lost time.
Chila: That sounds very similar to my situation. Thank you, Daniel, and best of luck to you!
Daniel L Link lives in Northern California where he writes short stories, novels, and flash fiction. He's an assistant editor of the Gold Man Review, and his work has been featured in the Penmen Review, the Copperfield Review, and RavensPerch. His work here appears in Issue 5.