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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
A prize-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

TELL ME MORE

Fighting fire with fire

27/5/2016

12 Comments

 
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Fourteen-year-old Lucia Stanton lives with her elderly aunt in a converted garage in the grounds of a large house. With her deceased father’s zippo lighter in her pocket, she rides the bus to visit the mother who doesn’t recognise her in a psychiatric hospital, after which she goes to a bar to get drunk. Intelligent and nonconformist, Lucia adheres to a strict moral code; unfortunately it differs widely from the one followed by teachers and the cool kids at school. She hasn’t considered setting fires until, in detention one evening, she hears some students refer to a secret Arson Club.

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When Lucia gets a copy of the arsonists’ pamphlet, she finds it “a bit long-winded. It was written by one of those anarchist types who want to prove that they could be university professors if they felt like it” (p108) and decides to write a better one of her own. Lucia is an endearing and witty teenage narrator, with good reason to be angry, who makes you want to rescue her from scrapheap before she graduates from a theoretical to a practical arsonist.

From the author of
A Cure for Suicide, How to Set A Fire is an engaging and compassionate tale of loss, inequality and disaffected youth. The publishers – Text who provided my advance copy – describe it as Jesse Ball’s most accessible novel. Although I’d have liked to find out more about what happened to her parents (although I have my own hypothesis), it’s certainly worth giving it a chance.

So, how to combine that with the latest
flash fiction challenge to write a 99-word story that changes with a smile? Well, Charli is having the shit piled on her just as Lucia is, but she’s determined not to let that define her. While Charli wouldn’t take it as far as Lucia does, this is my tribute to the spirit of defiance in them both.

You won’t define me

Don’t do anything you’re not proud of, said her aunt, but it was tough to live up to when teachers and landlords didn’t play fair. She tried to be good, but the world didn’t notice. Didn’t care.

Wanna join the Sonar club? Lucia frowned. Why would she want to hang around with those losers? It’s an anagram, stupid! they said.

She fingered the lighter in her pocket. Her talisman, all that remained of her dad. Now it made sense that she always kept it close. An image of flames etched on her retina, she smiled.


While a smile might help some of us, do check out my post
Smile please! for some reflections on what it’s like to be unable to smile, or go straight to my short story, “My Beautiful Smile”.

Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
12 Comments
Heather Burnside link
27/5/2016 07:59:01 pm

This sounds like an intriguing book, and I enjoyed your flash fiction.

Reply
Annecdotist
29/5/2016 01:58:20 pm

Thanks, Heather, glad I made it sound intriguing.

Reply
geoff le pard link
28/5/2016 03:00:52 pm

Interesting story and premise. Loved the flash. Hope it brings a smile to Charli.

Reply
Annecdotist
29/5/2016 02:00:32 pm

Thanks, Geoff, although perhaps I should have posted it with don’t try this at home warning?

Reply
Charli Mills link
28/5/2016 06:33:19 pm

Have to say, that's a catchy cover with the matches and an equally compelling story inside. I like the topic's influence on your flash and I have to chuckle at the potential "green" or environmentally-friendly way of potentially starting fires. Your links broaden the scope of the discussion of smiles, too. Smiles get deflected in Minnesota, it's a cultural phenomenon. I found it aggravating. The first thing I noticed when I got to Idaho is how others smile right back. It feels good!

Reply
Annecdotist
29/5/2016 02:06:18 pm

It’s a fab cover, isn’t it, although funnily enough it comes over more strongly in the image than on the book for me, even though there is a clever depiction of the abrasive side of the matchbox on the spine.
It is odd, isn’t it, how although we all have the capacity to smile there are cultural mores about how much they should be on show. When I’m out walking, I really expect people I’m passing to say hello and smile, and get quite annoyed if they don’t. It feels like ordinary good manners, but I guess if it isn’t part of your culture it won’t happen. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else has made of the prompt.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
29/5/2016 12:40:25 pm

I agree with Charli about the cover. And I agree with you - I'd love to rescue Lucia before she moves from the theoretical to the practical. Oh I hope someone can save her.
I love the way you have used the premise of this story, and combined it with Charli's, to create your flash. I'm sure Charli wouldn't be thinking along those lines at all. "Sonar" - a clever anagram. There's a certain volatility in that smile, though, I fear. Great take on the prompt.
Thanks for linking back to the post about the Moebius disease, which I'd read previously but enjoyed the reminder; and to your story "My beautiful smile". What a heartfelt story it is. You are so good at expressing the honesty and depth of the emotions, especially as felt by those who are hurting, who feel they don't belong. You've captured the frustration and loneliness well.

Reply
Annecdotist
29/5/2016 02:10:17 pm

Thanks for that feedback, Norah. Indeed, poor Lucia, she’s such a bright young thing but the world isn’t responding to her the way she wants/needs it to.
And I think I’ll bottle those last two sentences of your comment – a lovely endorsement of my writing. Honesty and emotional depth is a big part of what I strive for.

Reply
Sarah link
31/5/2016 03:12:52 am

Sounds intriguing and I do love a young narrator set in these types of stories. And I agree about the cover. Very nice! Great flash, too. Love this: "She tried to be good, but the world didn’t notice." Such truth to that, I'm afraid.

Reply
Annecdotist
3/6/2016 04:13:32 pm

Thanks, Sarah, but of course you and I will keep trying to do good regardless of whether the world notices.
I'm wondering if this novel would work as YA. It's got enough dark themes.

Reply
irene Waters link
2/6/2016 08:34:27 am

Love the cover of the book. That alone would entice me to read it and your review has done nothing to dispel the desire. Loved your flash but hope it hasn't given Charli ideas.

Reply
Annecdotist
3/6/2016 04:11:55 pm

Thanks, Irene, I doubt that Charli would resort to such lengths, but I imagine she’s been tempted.

Reply



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