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Jo Binns lives in Melbourne, Australia. She likes attempting to stay fit and healthy, but is often thwarted by her love of gin martinis, cheese, and the sedentary pursuit of reading. Her first self-published work, “Trapped Inside a Dinosaur”, is reflective of her long-held ambition to be a writer. A single copy was produced and the story enjoyed an audience of her family and her Grade 3 teacher. Nevertheless, the reviews were stellar. Jo’s work doesn’t just appear in a hand-written and bound Grade 3 story lost somewhere in her parents’ garage. Her first publication can be found in Crepuscular Magazine. There are no dinosaurs in that story. Jo loves the rhythm of words and varying sentence lengths. A lot. |
Interview with Jo Binns
about his story "Book Club for the Apocalypse"
Bronze Winner in The Scribes Prize
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What inspired this piece?
I am interested in climate fiction and also post-apocalyptic fiction, and for ages had an idea bouncing around in my head that was simply the title of this story, and the first part of the first line, about sticking at things longer than what might be good for you. I wanted this story to also be around older women, as I feel that a lot of apocalyptic fiction focuses on younger ‘chosen one’ figures or someone who is a hero bringing hope. In this story, I wanted to think about people at the edges of that, who are perhaps more oblivious to things but whose stories are interesting nonetheless. I still think I’d like to write a much longer version of this story, but I ended up using the idea in a prompt-based competition because the prompts just brought this idea to mind.
What draws you to the micro-fiction format?
Micro-fiction feels like a glorious puzzle and my brain loves working out how to get across a vivid, complex story in so few words. I love having that draft done and then spending hours trying to cut it down further. It turns into a little dance of putting words in and then taking some others out and then putting more in, to the point of wondering if it even makes sense at all anymore.
If you could continue writing your story after these 100 words, what would happen next?
Interesting question! I would like to first get to know the group a bit more and then see what they do when they survive this catastrophe. Perhaps how they find hope, despair, wisdom and comfort in great works of fiction while they set about rebuilding their town together.
I am interested in climate fiction and also post-apocalyptic fiction, and for ages had an idea bouncing around in my head that was simply the title of this story, and the first part of the first line, about sticking at things longer than what might be good for you. I wanted this story to also be around older women, as I feel that a lot of apocalyptic fiction focuses on younger ‘chosen one’ figures or someone who is a hero bringing hope. In this story, I wanted to think about people at the edges of that, who are perhaps more oblivious to things but whose stories are interesting nonetheless. I still think I’d like to write a much longer version of this story, but I ended up using the idea in a prompt-based competition because the prompts just brought this idea to mind.
What draws you to the micro-fiction format?
Micro-fiction feels like a glorious puzzle and my brain loves working out how to get across a vivid, complex story in so few words. I love having that draft done and then spending hours trying to cut it down further. It turns into a little dance of putting words in and then taking some others out and then putting more in, to the point of wondering if it even makes sense at all anymore.
If you could continue writing your story after these 100 words, what would happen next?
Interesting question! I would like to first get to know the group a bit more and then see what they do when they survive this catastrophe. Perhaps how they find hope, despair, wisdom and comfort in great works of fiction while they set about rebuilding their town together.