During our Friday Indie Q&A we talk with Author Bobby Corpus about their Napkin Microfiction story Lonely Ghost at The End of Time. Bobby shares with us his family history in oral storytelling and the shift to writing it down, the difficulty of the in-between in a microfiction story, and writing on what life means to you after you’ve already lived.
The Unknown
Indie: Congratulations on your honorable mention win in our 2nd Annual Microfiction Contest with your visually compelling story Lonely Ghost at The End of Time. How did you come up with the idea for this end of time story?
Bobbie: What inspired me to write Lonely Ghost at The End of Time is the idea of what life means to you after you’ve already lived life your life. Lonely Ghost takes place in a dark fantasy setting where the end of the world has already happened, and all that remains are the ghosts of humanity. I wanted to make the post-apocalyptic world mysterious so I wrote that most ghosts don’t remember much about their past lives and ghosts refer to an event called “The End of Time” which marks an era that they are in, but most don’t know what even caused the end of the world. The main characters, Virgil and Freddie, don’t remember their past lives except for the fact that they are brothers. Nonetheless, they decide to delve into the unknown to find out more about themselves, and if there is any true meaning and purpose for them despite the fact that they are ghosts. And that’s what I really like about the idea I had for this piece because I think trying to find ourselves or even try to find meaning is something a lot of people do and can relate to. I took a lot of inspiration from The Road by Cormac McCarthy and an animated television show called Over The Garden Wall.
In-Between Challenge
Indie: What did you learn about yourself and the craft of microfiction while writing Lonely Ghost at The End of Time?
Bobbie: While working on this piece, I had to learn how to turn a short piece into an even smaller piece. And that was a challenge for me. I’ve written a handful of unpublished novels and a good number of short stories, but I’ve never had to write something that was going to be a little less than two pages or just one. So, when I started planning out Lonely Ghost I had a ton of ideas and things I wanted to talk about, but I had to find out how to make it short and simple yet still be descriptive and tell the story somehow. I knew how I was going to start and end the piece. It was the in-between that was going to be the challenge. That’s what I really liked about the craft of microfiction where I had to make decisions on what I needed to keep and what needed to be cut out.
“I knew how I was going to start and end the piece. It was the in-between that was going to be the challenge. That’s what I really liked about the craft of microfiction where I had to make decisions on what I needed to keep and what needed to be cut out.”
Bobby Corpus
Oral Storytelling to Writing Them Down
Indie: In your bio, you mention your long term career plans and being passionate about english and writing. Where does this passion stem from in your life and why are you so driven to study and teach?
Bobbie: I think I was about 10-12 years old when my cousin and I would stay up really late in my aunt’s 2-story house. We sat at the foot of the stairs and would tell each other ghost stories. The entire house was asleep and there we were, coming up with different horror stories or expanding off an already told story. It was a blast and I loved it! However, verbally telling stories just wasn’t enough for me. A few years later when I started high school, I decided that I was going to come up with all of these stories and actually write them down. In fact, I wrote my first unpublished novel when I was a sophomore in high school (it was horrible but you gotta start somewhere). And that’s what I loved doing. I loved going to English class to read and analyze literature, and I enjoyed learning about writing so I could make my stories better. For quite some time now, I’ve been the go-to person if you needed help writing/editing an essay or if you need help understanding an English assignment. Just like writing, I find it very fun to teach and help people with their writing. And I love classroom discussions over literature. So it only seemed natural for me to pursue teaching English, and eventually hope to teach at a college level.
For the Love of Genre
Indie: Tell us about your favorite genre. Do you write in that genre? Why do you, or why don’t you?
Bobbie: I like many different genres of literature, but I enjoy writing horror, dark fantasy, and magical realism. Every once in a while I’ll experiment with Sci-Fi. I don’t have a specific reason why I enjoy writing in those genres other than the fact that they interest me. I do love reading those genres when I’m looking for inspiration.
Read & Practice
Indie: Please give us some sage advice about being a creative writer and what that means to you.
Bobbie: The best advice I can give is to read. That’s probably a very generic answer but that small piece of advice will help you create your masterpiece. Your art will definitely improve if you read, and it helps even more if the genre you read pertains to the genre you’re writing. Other than that, keep practicing your craft, and don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. You never know what will come from it.
Get Social
Follow Bobbie Corpus on Instagram @bobbycorpus
