Discussing Disconnections and the Feeling of Otherness
An interview with the delightful Christine Jayne Vann, author of When Disconnected, a brilliant, surreal short story collection, exploring disconnect and the feeling of otherness.
Can you tell us why you decided to become a writer?
I began writing as a form of escapism, as a teenager. It wasn’t a conscious decision or choice. I’ve always made up stories in my head!
What do you love most about writing?
I have a love/hate relationship with writing. My favourite thing about it can be how you lose yourself into a story or character, it can be hard coming out of that state. My writing is exploration, and that curiosity keeps me interested.
Where do you get you inspiration to write?
Sometimes it’s been a dream. Sometimes I’ve seen people walking along the road and wanted to know their story -one day, I’d like to write about the time-travelling pair of monks in Oxford for instance. I’ve seen them on my daily commute and I’m pretty sure it’s a love story. That’s one of the ones ticking away in the background, but isn’t anywhere near ready to be written yet.
Other times it can just be a simple thought, phrase or feeling. Not all starting points end up somewhere worthwhile, but I try and explore as many as I can!
Describe When Disconnected in your own words.
When Disconnected is an eclectic collection of stories exploring the feeling of disconnect and otherness. It uses a variety of situations and backdrops for this. Each story is unique and I find it absolutely fascinating seeing who connects to which tale. Where does someone identify, at what point does this became something you can relate to?
Why should people read When Disconnected?
Everyone thinks differently, yet not a lot of books acknowledge that. This is part of what makes indie publishing so amazing, these books can be harder to find and may not get the promotion they deserve, but they now exist! As a teen, so many books told me how I should think and react and they never matched my reality.
Where did the idea for When Disconnected come from?
That’s a hard question for a short story collection!
The most personal stories in When Disconnected would be Mingle, and Shaded. I actually don’t want to tell you what my take on those is, because I love hearing what people discover in these stories without influencing that.
I can tell you that Mingle was written whilst I was struggling to fit in at University although it has some rather interesting foreshadowing given the small interesting boy that is now a major feature in my life!
Timely Journey came to me as you’d expect, whilst on a train from Southampton to Christchurch - university and home respectively at that time. Whenever I get bored I do tend to people watch and I’ve always played the ‘what if’ game in that sense!
The more sci-fi stories, Left for Dust and Shaded are my way of exploring my fears for the future of humanity and what it means for how societies and families are created.
What do you expect to accomplish with When Disconnected?
When Disconnected has two purposes for me, the first was to test how it would be exposing my work to public view.
The second was to make people think - and maybe to encourage them to explore different ways of thinking and relating to other people.
Mingle would be the clearest example of what I’d like When Disconnected to achieve. I’m not a fan of labels or boxes.
What can you tell us about When Disconnected, without giving away any spoilers?
Some of the quotes I’ve liked in the reviews about it are that it “goes under the surface of normality” and another dubbed it “tales to fire the brain cells”. I’d say there should be something to make you think within the collection, that’s the beauty of short stories!
Which were the easiest and the hardest parts for you to write?
The first part of Shaded was written whilst I was pregnant. It wasn’t a smooth pregnancy, and there were a lot of hardships along the way. We were lucky with the numbers and I have a fantastic little character in my life.
It took some years before I could return to Shaded. I hate that story because it takes me back to those fears. I needed to return to repair it. That story was broken for so long and I really wanted it to speak more about healing and hope.
Easiest was Shill and Shadows. I really enjoy writing about animals and their motivations. I’d love to discover a story about my squirrels or the hedgehog, but nothing has turned up just yet there!
Do you have a favorite character, scene or situation in When Disconnected, and can you tell us why he, she or it is your favorite?
I really enjoyed writing about Treela and her abduction in Startorn, especially when she encounters another victim and learns to overcome her fear and prejudice. I’m lucky enough to live in a place that attracts very diverse and interesting people - learning to challenge opinions we didn’t even know we had is vital.
Some stories are what some have taken to calling Message Fiction, due to the fact that there are (conscious or unconscious) messages to be found in those stories. Did you insert any conscious messages in your story, and if so, what do they try to convey?
Not overtly, with the possible exception of Left for Dust. Climate change and overpopulation are massive concerns that too many people want to ignore. I worry for my child, and the generations beyond that. We are very much at the point for tackling this now and it disturbs me that a lot of people just want to delay it for another generation to deal with (if they can).
And finally, is there anything else that you’d like to add?
My most recent work is a short story called When I was Not Myself, which can be download for free from smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/550534
I’m involved in three anthologies at the moment, which is rather exciting, two of which are for excellent charities. My sci-fi novel Tacenda is edited and I’m concentrating on a sci-fi short called Autobodied at the moment. I seem to be in a sci-fi mood currently, although I do have a fantasy book and a young adult one brewing.
So my closing remarks look to be: keep an eye out, more to come!
Thank you for this opportunity, it has given me a lot to think about.
And thank you for your insightful words, Christine!
Christine Jayne Vann was born in the Outer Hebrides. She now lives in Oxfordshire with her family, hedgehog and various squirrels. In addition to her writing, Christine works as a web developer, she runs the exotic pet resource website Crittery, and she enjoys geocaching.
Christine Jayne Vann's most recent work is a short story called When I was Not Myself, which can be downloaded for free at www.smashwords.com
Get your copy of Christine Jayne Vann's When Disconnected at Amazon.com
For more on Christine Jayne Vann and her work, check out her website at http://christinejayne.co.uk/stories.php
