Such A Lovely Afternoon

Yukon writer Patti Flather talks to AW’s Lucy Black about her debut story collection.

Lucy Black: Congratulations on having written such an incredible collection of short stories.  I know that our readers will be very interested to learn more about your creative process.  How much of your personal life story has been woven into these pieces?

Patti Flather: This collection is a work of fiction and it’s all emotionally true. The stories are blend of my imagination, observations of people and our world, images, snippets, anecdotes, and yes, life experiences.

My own memory is unreliable and often bubbles up as sensations. My creative process begins with nebulous puzzle-pieces. At first elusive fragments build and respond to each other when the story has promise. They’re a hodgepodge – a memory flash, a promising theme, a haunting question, even a full scene.

I draw on my life and insights in my quest to find emotional truths that resonate with our collective humanity. At times wisps are woven into my fiction. Lines are smudged. It’s impossible to pinpoint what’s true and what that actually means. A moment could have happened this way. It might have. It probably didn’t. 

As I write, everything changes. The story takes over. Characters evolve, transform, say and do surprising things. The ending often flips. The story becomes its own wild beast.

These things are true. I was a girl who desperately wanted to play soccer like Tracy in Penis Envy. I played British Bulldog on summer holidays in B.C.’s Okanagan like Debbie in Tramp and spent a fair bit of time in the Gulf Islands, but never settled there like Wendy in Piss and Vinegar. I lived in Hong Kong as a young woman. I now live in the Yukon. I have lost a parent suddenly like the sisters in Such A Lovely Afternoon.

LB: Your use of setting is very visual and appears to be a key component in each of the stories.  Please share with us how you work to establish and construct your use of setting as a context for the tale that unfolds.

PF: For me, setting is essential to bring readers into an evocative, fully realized world. To immerse ourselves, to believe in where we are, in order to embark and stay on the journey. I want readers to experience the characters’ worlds visually and with all of their senses.

Setting is akin to another character, integral to each story. It comes by building in layers, then paring away.  Every detail reflects or influences the characters’ journeys directly and indirectly. Creating the setting includes imagination, research, and keen observation.

This is more than the landscape or what a home’s interior looks like, although that’s part of it. I’m fascinated by the myriad of given circumstances in a world – the social norms, prejudices, inequalities, politics, cultural milieu, as well as bread-and-butter details including the time period, location, season. Sarah is under the Table happens after residential schools have closed but before the Canadian mainstream has begun to acknowledge their devastation. Typhoon is set as colonial Hong Kong’s 1997 return to China looms.

I revel in small details of the worlds the characters live in, as they navigate pivotal life questions and sometimes, simply exist in a moment. The creatures and plants on Wendy’s island. The smells and sounds which bombard a young Canadian ex-pat’s senses in Hong Kong. The northern city of Whitehorse through Edgar’s newcomer eyes. Always there are too many details in early drafts. In revisions I choose which ones enhance the story without pulling the reader away or slowing down the pace; I cut what’s not holding its weight.

LB: Your female characters are often placed in situations where they have significant decisions to make.  Please comment on the importance of agency to these narratives.

PF: My intention is to situate female characters at pivotal life moments where they face difficult choices without an obvious path forward. It’s vital that they have opportunity to act, with agency, even if they believe or know their choices are limited. I’m rooting for my characters to make decisions beyond the strict dictates of a patriarchal society that seeks to control much of who we are.

My characters are perhaps not typical super-heroes; they are girls and women who chafe against society’s expectations of how to behave, in conflict with their true natures. Sometimes they get lost, want to explode, or are unsure or frightened about their next move and the risks involved. In a way they’re everyday heroes. Sometimes, they break through with their true selves. At other times, they settle for less, and they know there’s a cost. I extend compassion to my female characters at those moments – and anyone who’s been beaten down by the world.

That’s really how it is even now – we pick our battles, there are so many to choose from.  We step up to some battles and sometimes we settle. It’s exhausting to fight constantly while caring for ourselves, our families and communities. There’s been virtually no action after the 2021 national action plan to end violence against Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people. Reproductive rights are under attack. Our society does an abysmal job addressing gender-based violence. Another little not little thing recently – the Canadian women’s soccer team, Olympic champions, in 2022 still being paid one-fifth of what the male players are paid. Yeah, we have a lot still to fight for.

LB: Share with us a little about your go-to support group.  Do you have trusted supporters that you bounce ideas and early drafts with?  Are they also writers?

PF: In my early days in Whitehorse, I was involved in a fabulous writing group. I also began working with Patricia Robertson, an outstanding creative writing instructor, who was writer-in-residence at the public library. When I returned north after my MFA at UBC, Patricia offered to lead a small group of us writers. She moved away; we kept meeting. Members have come and gone but we’re still active together, reading each other’s manuscripts with a keen constructive eye, sharing both challenges and triumphs. We also at times organize and participate in special writing and storytelling events, including most recently with Yukon Words.

LB: What is the biggest challenge or hurdle you have had to work through as a writer?

PF: Believing in myself. Asking if what I’m writing matters and is worth sharing. Projects like this story collection can take years. It’s a long, lonely process. It can feel self-indulgent.

Finding a publisher or, in playwriting, a theatre production, isn’t easy. Is it because the writing needs more work? Possibly.  What about other factors such as bias, perceived marketability of the work, and more? Probably.

We women tend to have less confidence in promoting ourselves. We prioritize other concerns and responsibilities– children, spouses, parents, friends, community. There have been several important surveys of the underrepresentation of women in Canada theatre including by Rebecca Burton, now at Playwrights Guild of Canada. One finding: women give up more easily when pitching our work. It’s safe to assume this applies in the literary world too.

I’m glad that I didn’t give up despite those times of self doubt. I was willing to re-examine my manuscript, seek an outside eye, and make it better.

Here’s advice to writers who might feel outside the mainstream. Put yourself out there. Do your research and pitch your work where there’s likely to be interest. Initiate conversations with others in the writing and publishing world. If need be, create your own opportunities on your terms.

LB: How was the title chosen for this book? Who had input and what were the deciding factors? 

PF: I chose the book’s title after experimenting with different ones. At one point it was Stumbling Home. The title suits that particular story – the ending is darker – but not the collection’s overall tone. I wanted a title that captured my stories’ complexities. In Such A Lovely Afternoon, the final story, three sisters come together after the sudden loss of their mother on what was in fact a glorious spring day. There’s irony in the title but more than that. Such A Lovely Afternoon explores grief and making sense of the unfathomable, but also love, reconnection and resilience, with a sprinkling of humour.

LB: If you were to give a young writer a piece of crucial writing advice, what would that be?

PF: Your voice matters. Believe in it. Cherish and nourish it. Let it thrive.

People have faced challenging times before, but now it’s different. Young people live amidst pandemic and climate emergencies on top of extreme social inequities, skyrocketing housing costs, hateful backlashes against identifiable groups, and more. These are not easy times to be young.

We need the perspectives of young writers and artists more than ever. Be brave. Show your writing to trusted others. Consider their feedback carefully but not blindly. Take risks. Go beyond your comfort zone. Speak what is deepest in your heart. Transform into art what is happening at this point in the world, how we got here, where we are now, where we dream to be, through your unique lens.

Be compassionate and responsible. Words are powerful. They can lift us up and they can hurt.

Remember who you are and where you come from – no one else is just like you. Write stories that sing with wonder and joy, spark recognition, foster dialogue and reflection. Make us laugh and cry. Help us to find and share our humanity.

But take care of yourself. Writing can be solitary and scary and dangerous. It’s not the only path or the right path for all of us. There are other ways you can speak your truth in the world.

LB: What do you do to develop your characters?

PF: Getting to know my characters is one of the greatest joys in my writing process. They appear barely formed as I begin. I invite them into the writing journey and make space to explore who they’ll become.

I delve into their passions, desires, fears, and weaknesses, both epic and mundane. Whether they’re able to pursue and fulfil their dreams is always a central question. They need desires and flaws; otherwise they won’t be human.

One trick is putting them in situations where they want something badly and things aren’t working out. They may not believe they have agency, but their inner life force is crying out. I see what how my characters react. Eventually they take over, surprise me, and come to life as three-dimensional beings.

It can be hard, falling in love with characters while throwing obstacles into their path, putting them into pickles, but isn’t that life? I’m rooting for them even as I try not to let them off easily.

Other characters pop up along the way. Even smaller characters – those bit parts – need care and attention to feel real. They may come in conflict with the central characters and throw wicked curve balls.

Ultimately, I want to marvel at each character’s choices, while understanding them. As an avid reader and story-lover, that’s what I look for too.

LB: How do you sustain tension and energy in your writing?

PF: There must be a story at the heart that matters to me and the characters and hooks the reader. Drama and conflict are essential to sustain tension between the characters or between them and an aspect of the larger world.

Then I use a variety of methods; the combination varies depending on the story. Finding the most apt style, tone, and voice is part of it and influences pace and energy. Careful use and balancing of prose, dialogue, scenes, and half scenes are other ingredients. Just enough description and detail grounds us to where we need to be and what’s happening; I pare away the rest especially in short stories. My novella meanders more. – I made a conscious choice to explore Wendy’s island life. I ask astute trusted readers where a story lags for them. and make revisions, always.

LB: What are some of the ethical challenges you face as a writer?  

PF: Writing from a place not one’s own is a particular challenge. There always has been mixed messaging. Write what you know. But use your imagination, transcend the limits of your narrow perspective. I believe there’s merit in both.

But underneath that, we know there has been limited space for centuries for voices outside a particular dominant mainstream. Many stories have been silenced. This is a tragic loss to humanity. Now more writers demand space. I fully support that.

Appropriation of voice is a huge concern, rightfully; there is heightened awareness and sensitivity. We may be unsure what is acceptable in our writing. There are not easy answers and places we can get a stamp of approval. We must be responsible and accountable and we sometimes make mistakes, which is human.

My stories emerge out of me and where I come from. My biases, transformed into stories. We all are many things. I am a cis female anglo-settler with significant privilege. I strive to write from what I know while challenging myself to see through the eyes of others different from me.

Thankfully I live in a world full of incredible people I love who did not grow up like me, including my spouse and extended family, friends and colleagues, acquaintances and strangers. I want my story worlds to include them and not erase them, while making sure I’m not appropriating voice from another.