Monday, June 17, 2013

Annalisa Crawford: That Sadie Thing

I'm excited to have Annalisa Crawford on my blog today. She's hopping around talking about different short stories from her anthology, That Sadie Thing. (The cover is below and it is so awesome! Totally one of my favorites.) I'm going to go ahead and hand things over to Annalisa:


Huge thanks, Rachel, for letting me take over your blog today. I can't believe this is my penultimate post for the tour!

I veer between writing very simple, straight-forward stories and weird ones that my mother doesn't understand. The Girl who is Good probably falls into the latter category.

Before this story was placed in a competition, and indeed afterwards, people (competition readers, mostly) have got very confused by it. I don't think it's confusing - you just either believe she's imagining everything or you believe every word is actually happening... Or, if you really want to, you can believe a mixture of the two. I don't mind. I know what I think is happening, and I'm happy for you to have different ideas.

Sorry, I didn't mean that to turn into a mini-rant. 

I have no idea how this story turned out the way it did. I had the first line in my head for a while: The girl who is good sits between her parents in an elegant restaurant, doing and saying very little, and being very good. It seemed harmless enough.

I'm a huge people watcher - and when I see unusual groupings in restaurants or cafes I always wonder what's going on. After all, a girl in her late teens doesn't often dine out in restaurants with her mother and father, does she? She'd be with her friends or boyfriend.


So this nameless girl then decided to bring her dinner back up and hate her parents. I went with it - this was a case of letting the character speak. The fact that she's bulimic, I think, does make sense of the rest of the story... but I can't tell you what it is, because it would spoil it.




About Annalisa
I live in Cornwall, with a good supply of beaches and moorland right on my doorstep. I live with my husband, two boys, a dog and a cat. Despite my location. I neither surf nor sail, and have never had any inclination to try. I much prefer walking along the beach and listening to the waves crashing over rocks. For this reason, I really love the beach in the winter!

Buy That Sadie Thing here (this link should take you direct to your local Amazon)
Follow Annalisa here, or Like her here
Read her blog here

42 comments:

  1. If people are forming their own opinions then I'd say the story was effective.

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  2. Ah, this one was particularly unusual, which is why I liked it so much! I think I am a member of the "some of it is happening, but some of it is imagined" camp! :D

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    1. Glad you liked it. Interesting to know your take on it too :-)

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  3. Thanks again for hosting part of my tour, Rachel :-)

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  4. Sounds like a great read! And that cover is amazing :)

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    1. Thank you, Meradeth. The fabulous Kyra Lennon gave me a lot of help with the cover.

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  5. Great post!
    Best of luck, Annalisa. :)

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  6. Very interesting read when a story can be interpreted differently by the readers:)

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    1. It's very interesting to write a story like it too, Marta.

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  7. That is a great cover! And I'm glad that other people's opinions didn't sway what you wanted the story to be!

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    1. Oh no, I'm far too stubborn to be swayed by what people think, Ashley :-)

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  8. What a different cover! (That's meant as a compliment :) )
    Sounds really interesting.

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    1. Thank you - I always take 'different' as a compliment. It's a common description when talking about me in general, according to my friends :-)

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  9. Wonderful post. I loved the tone of this one.

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  10. It's an interesting story. My take on the story? Everything happened. I can't say anything more.
    Writer In Transit

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    1. Thanks for answering discreetly :-) I'd love to hear this story being debated in a reading group lol

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  11. I have to read this story! ☺

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  12. I loved this one - and I think the ambiguity is what makes it!

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  13. Sounds like my kind of story, Annalisa. Happy Monday, Rachel.

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  14. I'm a people watcher too, and imagine what their lives are like. Sounds awesome...

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    1. I could happily spend all day in a coffee shop, just watching.

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  15. I think it sounds like an interesting story, and I especially like the title; I immediately started thinking about all the ways that the girl was/wasn't "good". And I people watch too; that's one of the reasons I like to write in cafes. I often write down funny/weird things that I see/hear other people say, do, or wear.

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    1. There are so many stories out there, just waiting to be written! I keep meaning to write in cafes, it's such a romantic image of a writer... but instead I just stay home :-/

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  16. Stories have a way of creating a life all their own. Great Story Annalisa.

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  17. I am always people watching myself. I can't seem to help it. My girls get embarrassed, and are always saying, "Mom, you're doing it again!" Oops.

    This sounds like such a great story! Can't wait to read it.

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    1. But isn't that why we have kids, so we can embarrass them? :-)

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  18. That cover is just amazing! Can't wait to read the story.

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    1. I still gets shivers when I look at the cover too :-)

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  19. I was in the literal category. Never really thought it might have all been illusion.

    I'm rarely confused by stories, not because I am smart, but because I am an arrogant reader...it is as I say it is and that's the end of that ;)

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    1. Fair enough, Liz :-) One critiquer for a competition disliked my use of the word 'suitor' in a story that contained a motorbike. I thought that was an odd thing to be confused by in this story lol

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  20. I have this book on my Kindle. Can't wait to have the chance to read it sometime!

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  21. Hi Annalisa .. I must read it now - and then see what effect it has on me! Catching up on life .. and reading .. cheers Hilary

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