Graeme's The Rainy Day is the CSR feature for September. I asked Graeme a series of questions about his time on GA and his story, which, considering the story is from a past anthology was kinda tricky of me. I hope you'll enjoy learning more about Graeme and his writing. He is a busy man, but he will be "live" on the site at 6 PM his time zone, which is 10 PM Pacific and 1 AM Eastern. For our night owls, YAY, and for the rest, make sure you add your questions beforehand so he can answer them then.

You’ve been a member of GA for a long time. Is there one thing you’ve enjoyed most about the changes over the years?
Without a doubt, it’s been the people. New authors, readers, and forum members. Each with their own personality and charm. I don’t like it when good friends move on, but there’s always someone new to get to know. In particular, the range of stories available now from all the new authors is amazing. That’s been building up every since I joined GA and it’s one of the most exciting parts of the site.

You write a mix of short stories and novels. Do you have a preference?
Not really. The two serve different purposes. The short stories are for those little ideas that I want to explore. Simple things or special circumstances. The novels are more for exploring bigger ideas. My first novel was exploring the impact on a straight guy when one of his friends comes out of the closet. The second was exploring a different way to present a story, trying to take advantage of online functionality that’s not available in print. My most recent two novels have been exploring the issue of homosexuality and sports. My short stories, are a lot more varied because I can approach each one from a fresh point of view. I’m not tied to any particular genre or situation; I can do what I want. I sometimes consider expanding some of those short stories into novellas or even novels, but there always seems to be something else to do, instead.

What’s your favorite part of writing in general?
The creation of something unique. The thrill of seeing the idea or scene in my mind taking form in the words on a screen. That’s what I enjoy the most. I love the feedback I get, but I’m not writing to attract readers. I’m writing because I want to write. If it ever became a chore, I wouldn’t do it.

You have written several anthologies, but it’s been a while since you took part in one. Any particular reason for that?
Sadly, yes. A number of years ago there were a series of massive bushfires near Melbourne; an event now known as the Black Saturday Bushfires. They came close to my home and deeply affected the community in which I live. We know people who lost everything in those fires, including people who lost family members. I was supposed to work the following Monday, but I couldn’t make my mind focus. I rang my boss to let him know I was taking the day off. He was just relieved to hear from me. He knew I lived in one of the affected areas.

My clearest memory from that Monday was going through my closet and collecting all my old suits that no longer fitted me. I took them to the local church where they were collecting donations for people who weren’t allowed back into the bushfire areas to find out if they still had a home. Why was I donating my suits? Because those people needed them for the funerals of known victims: friends and families whose bodies had already been identified...
I didn’t realise it at the time, but that was the beginning of several years without writing. I tried many times to start, but I couldn’t come up with anything. My muse was gone.

It’s been slowly coming back, but I’ve found that I can only work on one thing at a time. I’m not able to write multiple stories at the same time. Since I’ve been writing about the Lilydale Leopards for the last two years, I haven’t been able to focus my mind onto any short stories, for the anthologies or otherwise. Since I’m currently between novels, at least as far as posting them is concerned, I’m going to try to write a couple of short stories. Whether one of those is for an anthology remains to be seen.

When you wrote The Rainy Day for the anthology “Worth Fighting For” did the theme prompt the story, or did you have to work it in?
Now you’re straining my memory. That was eight years ago! I believe that theme, in conjunction with the theme of the previous anthology, The Rainy Day, worked together to inspire the story. When combined, the old phrase about putting something aside for a rainy day just jumped out at me. Why would you put something aside? Because of something worth fighting for. After that, it was just a case of working out the circumstances.

As a parent, was this story hard for you to write?
Not really. While I know of so-called parents like Brat’s mother, and I know of people who are foster parents, I don’t have any personal contact with either situation. I’ve read enough, though, to be aware that it occurs way too often. Of course, in my opinion, once is way too often.

Your main character, Brat, is a dichotomy. He’s hostile and yet dedicated to his siblings. Did you set out to make him this way, or did it evolve as you wrote the story?
His apparent dichotomy stems from his motivation. I always try to give my characters motives for what they do, and in Brat’s case it was easy. He is protective and he has an Us-vs-Them attitude because of that protectiveness. ‛Us’ is his brother and sister. ‛Them’ is everyone else, including his mother. Because of his mother and her succession of boyfriends, Brat doesn’t trust other people. He’s had too many years of experience that told him that trusting people was a bad idea. Unfortunately, that mistrust extends to people who could be trusted, like Stephen. Brat’s not old enough to develop a strong sense of grey. To him, everything is black or white. People are either part of his family or they’re not. If they’re not, then they are a danger.

Brat’s sarcasm leads to a lot of one-liners. Do you have a favorite?
I think it would be when Brat snapped at school and yelled at Stephen about football boots:

I don’t have parents who’ll buy me whatever I fucking want. I don’t even have parents who’ll buy me what I fucking need!

It’s so easy for other people to not understand what it’s like to be poor. I’ll admit that I don’t really understand it, either, but I remember being told once about a counsellor who was trying to help a family who couldn’t make ends meet. The counsellor couldn’t tell them what they had to give up. All they could do was keep going through their expenses, pointing out the monthly phone bill, and silently hope that they would realise that, for them, a phone was a luxury. That’s where the comment in the story about not having a phone came from. For Brat, it was a luxury he couldn’t afford. Football boots were so far down the list it wasn’t funny, but Stephen didn’t understand.

This story has a compelling theme that really draws the reader in emotionally. Do you find themes like this work their way into your writing often?
I try to work with emotions a lot. To me, the situation the characters find themselves in is merely the setting that allows them to express how they feel. They do that in many different ways, but it’s the characters and what they feel that drives my stories, not the situation. That’s my goal. To put it another way, I try to write character-driven stories, not plot-driven. The type of character-driven story that appeals to me is where the characters have goals to strive for. It’s the striving towards that goal that makes the story. In this case, it’s Brat trying desperately to keep his family together.

With the special anthology where authors can return to past anthology themes, do any of them draw your interest for jumping back into the anthologies?
I’m sure there will be, but as I mentioned above, my muse is being temperamental at the moment. The anthology story that I had the most fun writing was the 2007 Fairy-Tale anthology, the same year as The Rainy Day. That’s the one I’d like to write another story for, but I don’t know if I’d be inspired as I was then.

If I’m going to go back to a past anthology, I’d probably look at the ones during that period when I wasn’t writing. But I would have to find the inspiration first, and the tough part. Sorry, no promises (which, if I’m allowed to say it, isn’t a bad anthology theme itself).

Thanks to Graeme for taking part in the CSR this month, and don't forget to leave your thoughts and questions for Graeme in the comments!