Behind the Scenes: Bottom of the River

As you know, each Monday and Thursday I've been spotlighting a different author from A Journey of Words. Today, those fabulous authors are spotlighting me. So I decided to do two things with today's post:

First of all, I'm going to link to the Facebook pages of each author participating in this blog tour! Get your clicking finger ready, and like like like! We all love Pokémon Go, right? Think of it as a "collect them all" sort of deal.

Secondly, I'm going to give you a behind-the-scenes look at the story and inspiration behind my piece, "Bottom of the River!"

Go on, like 'em all!

Jacklynn M Desmond

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Douglas Esper

Brian Paone

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Dawn Taylor

MR Ward

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Dennis Doty

David Williams

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J.M. Ames

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Susan Gibbons

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Marlon S. Hayes

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KN Johnson

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S.W. Anderson

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Lauren Nalls

Laurie Gardiner

Travis West

D.T. Sako

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Uni Brown

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William Thatch

So what's the story behind "Bottom of the River?"

​I wrote the story near the end of my four-month concussion so, while I was able to string words together, it was a journey for me as well as for the protagonist. I jotted down the story, running on pure instinct, and then read the whole thing aloud several times, finding mistakes that would make a middle-school teacher cringe.

With the lack of rational thought that went into the piece, it’s amazing how much of myself wound up between the lines—perhaps more so than in pieces I consider with a full, un-concussed brain.

A few tidbits:

• The setting is based on Cape Fear River at Raven Rock State Park in North Carolina. I’ve kayaked there, myself, and drew inspiration from the memory.​

• The protagonist remembers working with a jackhammer, splitting toothpaste boxes. I took this from one of my dad’s past.
• While writing the woman playing the banjo, I was hearing the bluegrass music that fills Dollywood in the summer. I spent many days of my childhood scampering through the crowds, listening to music play through speakers disguised as rocks.
• The protagonist alludes to the falsity of memory and even of reality. I have been and continue to be extremely interested in the emotional truth that it seems only fiction can convey, and my protagonist’s musings are similar—on the individual level, whereas mine tend to be more theoretical.

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For good measure, my answers to the interview questions:

Author Name: Victoria Griffin

Story Title: “Bottom of the River”

Story Synopsis:
A man takes a kayak down the river, revisits his life, and decides whether or not he has a future.

What inspired you to write this story?
I began with an image of a kayak on a river. Once I began writing that image, the character’s story made me continue.

How long have you been writing?
I have been writing as long as I can remember. I have a folder of scary stories from first grade, but my first publication was my junior year of high school, 2011. That was when I began to consider myself a writer.

What genre do you usually write in and why?
Most of my stories are horror, suspense, drama, or some combination thereof. During creative writing class in high school, I absolutely loved the stillness in the room when I would read a suspenseful piece. That feeling is always in the back of my mind while I’m writing—is the reader tensing up yet?

What else are you working on writing at the moment?
I am querying my suspense novel, Ghostlings, and drafting another, Left at the Sycamore. (P.S. Since answering these questions, Left at the Sycamore has progressed through draft and edits and is now in the hands of beta readers!) The former explores the ability of desperation to steal a person’s judgment. The latter deals with a topic I am extremely passionate about: the culture of belonging in southern Appalachia, as both an asset and a poison to the region.

What advice do you have to give to new writers?
Don’t wait for everything to be perfect. Your life will never stop and say, “Okay, now write.” Your words will never fall pristine and polished onto the page. Writing is work. You have to wedge it into your schedule and tear apart your drafts line by line. But writing is the most rewarding work you will ever find. You get to create and to find truth in an inconsistent world. Remind yourself why you love writing, and do whatever you need to to keep working at it.

How can people discover more about you and your work?
At my website/blog, on my Facebook page, and on Twitter.

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Thanks for going behind the scenes with me, and don't forget to snag your signed copy of A Journey of Words!