During our Friday Indie Q&A we talk with Author & Graphic Designer, C.P. Wyszynski about their Napkin Microfiction story Elles Fine. Cory (C.P) shares with us a life changing meeting, the shock of cutting out words, and some sage advice on not being indestructible and what you need to do today. Read Cory’s touching and inspiring Friday Indie Q&A below folks.
Shaking the Hand of a Horror Giant
Indie: Congratulations on your 5th place win in our 2nd Annual Microfiction Contest! Elles Fine, is an Incredibly creepy, chilling story. How did you come up with the idea for this microfiction story?
Cory: Thank ya, kindly. I have been drawn to the world of cosmic horror since I was young. My dad is a massive horror fan and when we went to go see Stephen King, and hear his words, how he wrote them…I was around eight. My life was never the same after I shook his hand. Specifically, for this tale, I mined from one of my unseemly habits of nail biting. I wish to one day get a manicure and overcome this nervous habit. In the meantime, I thought what if that dream became a nightmare, and the story unfolded from there.
Shock & Chop
Indie: What did you learn about yourself and the craft of microfiction while writing Elles Fine?
Cory: I am often too wordy (nooo, really?), but this has been the first work I have published since my health took a terrible turn. In short, 2020 was a year of one horrific discovery to the next. The result has left me homebound with a lot more knowledge of complex illnesses that a lot of doctors out there are clueless–braced with three surgeries under my expanded belt…a few extra pounds while sedentary in my home, and more pills than your local Drugstore. Luckily, my hesitation to cut and self-edit was gone as I started writing Elles. I was shocked. If this sentence was too long, chop, delete, there it goes. It was quite exhilarating and I thought I would never be able to learn that task well. My former editors are all applauding, saying job well done, from an underground N.O.R.A.D. facility.
FALLOUT, a Trip
Indie: In your bio, you reference being a graphic designer AND a late night talk show host on FROM THE COUCH! As an artist, and a person who manages Ehler’s Danlos Syndrome, ME/CFS, and Dysautonomia among other diseases, how do you juggle all of this? How do you stay consistent creating art?
Cory: The truth is I don’t. Creating art is not, “I want to do that,” or “I like making that”. I will not survive if I don’t create. I have to do it. There is no choice in it. As for complex illnesses of that nature, you can never fully get everything under control. Bad enough there is a mystery, but when the mystery has locomotion–when it moves–and once you think you understand it all, it can change on a dime, like that! From the Couch was an absurdist’s dream that lasted about one season and that was before my surgeries. My book, U-Turn at Next Synapse was written in the days before my world changed and our world died, in a sense. Think about it; 2020 was a trip, and universally, upended all our lives. We will never fully grasp the fallout.
“Creating art is not, “I want to do that,” or “I like making that”. I will not survive if I don’t create. I have to do it. There is no choice in it.”
C.P. Wyszynski
About the Book:
The year is 2010. John Howard can barely stand upright as he stumbles through the streets, his crushing headache a brutal reminder that he’s the only person who knows the fate of humanity: he can see what will happen in the next one thousand years.
The year is 3027. The Zerseck 6,000 Tri-Universal, the grand race of the cosmic universes, has just begun—and the last human straps in as The Makers, nightmarish creatures born from genetic aberrations, ambush the starting line.
Fractured between two timelines, John must solve unanswered questions from 2010 as he lives through the eyes of a mysterious racer in 3027. As the racer traverses down the war-torn race track of our crumbling world, John twists and bends down the synaptic highway of his own mind.
Sanity Ensues
Indie: Why do you create in so many mediums? What has it brought to your life?
Cory: Working on all these side projects in their different mediums keeps me from going off my rocker. I was a writer who was an actor and always wanted to publish a book, so I did it. It was a tiresome effort. I recommend it to everyone and no one at the same time. I miss writing. What do I mean? Well, I am currently writing out these mini microfictions on my couch behind warn out Samsonite eyes on my phone. My Samsung Galaxies are my lifeblood, but it does not feel like writing. Drawing and editing photos, or [Photo Alchemy: Experimenting with Static Medium] transformed my creativity in lieu of writing. Even though I am ill, I can still manipulate photos or images with my phone. The mediums change based on my fatigue level. I am grateful that I love dabbling in graphic art as much, if not more, than on a stage or behind a camera. The typing will return, maybe?
Do The Thing Today- on NOT being Indestructible
Indie: Please offer us some sage advice about being a creator and what that means to you.
Cory: My advice to everyone: pick up a pen and write! Yes, those archaic ink tubes. I recommend a true Fountain pen. Grab that book that is on your nightstand you got from IKEA or Wayfair (Yes, yes, They Had Just What You Needed) and read it, if just a few pages. Go see that play that was extended another month and you missed before because life got too busy. And let me call that black kettle for a moment, put the phone down…if only here and there. That call can wait. You do not have to email your supervisor at 2 o’clock in the AM. Look out for you, because we are not indestructible, and if your body takes a wrong turn in your 20s/30s, or already has, you will understand just how fragile life really is.
Get Social
Follow Cory on Instagram @corywysz & Check out his PhotoAlchemy design shop.
