An interview with
Will Winkle
What is, in your opinion, the best thing (or your favourite thing) that you’ve ever written? Tell us about it.
My favorite past work was a short story called "Stuck" that was published in Martin Brothers Review in 2021. It was inspired by the story of Floyd Collins, a cave explorer in the 1920s who became trapped during a cave-in leading to a full blown media circus surrounding the attempts at rescuing him. I felt like it had quick, punchy humor while also having a continuously moving plot.
Who are your favourite writers, and what influences your writing?
David Sedaris and Terry Pratchett are two of my biggest influences as far as straight-up literary humor. Besides them I've tried to take cues from Hemingway, Steinbeck, and Gabriel Garica Marquez.
What are your hobbies?
I enjoy golfing, running, and doing Bob Ross style landscape paintings.
Describe yourself as if you are a character in one of your own stories / poems
"Will is the most guy looking guy you'll ever see in your life. The pinnacle of brunette, white Americana. Slightly bald, could certainly lose a few pounds, above average height but not so much that anyone would call him 'tall'. He goes running often, but does so fairly slowly. His eyes are blue, but at no point inspire the sense of looking into one's heart, mind, or soul, but instead just looking at their outermost layer of clothing. He has a college degree and is good at pub trivia, which earns him the characteristic of 'smart', illustrating the blurred value lines between knowing about things and simply knowing of them. Comparison is both his bane and blessing. Standing beside one man he is Quasimodo, and beside another he is Apollo. Pluck him out of time and place him in the middle of last century and he would have been an established businessman. The century before that, a United States senator. But here and now, he is just a guy."
Tell us something crazy.
The job interview that I reference in the following question continued on for another 25 minutes after they asked me the question.
What’s the weirdest question you’ve ever been asked in an interview? And what did you answer?
During a job interview I was bluntly asked why I applied for the job given that I had none of the knowledge or skills required for it. I answered that I had not actually applied for the job myself, but that after uploading your resume the company's online application system would automatically apply you for positions that it believed you were a match for. So in truth, the company had been the one to think I had the knowledge and skills for that job, not me.
What is your writing set-up? (E.g your garden shed, a cafe etc) and are there any things you must have to get the words to flow, e.g a lucky hat or a favourite shirt)
Optimally, I'll actually have two separate writing locations in the same room that I can bounce back and forth between. I use a laptop, so I'll leave the charger in one location and write at the other until the battery gets below 50%, then I'll move over to where the charger is. I like them to differ in terms that one will be a chair at a desk/table/counter while the other will be standing or sitting on a sofa. I feel like the change helps keep my energy up. Usually I'll have on ambient music in the background.
My favorite past work was a short story called "Stuck" that was published in Martin Brothers Review in 2021. It was inspired by the story of Floyd Collins, a cave explorer in the 1920s who became trapped during a cave-in leading to a full blown media circus surrounding the attempts at rescuing him. I felt like it had quick, punchy humor while also having a continuously moving plot.
Who are your favourite writers, and what influences your writing?
David Sedaris and Terry Pratchett are two of my biggest influences as far as straight-up literary humor. Besides them I've tried to take cues from Hemingway, Steinbeck, and Gabriel Garica Marquez.
What are your hobbies?
I enjoy golfing, running, and doing Bob Ross style landscape paintings.
Describe yourself as if you are a character in one of your own stories / poems
"Will is the most guy looking guy you'll ever see in your life. The pinnacle of brunette, white Americana. Slightly bald, could certainly lose a few pounds, above average height but not so much that anyone would call him 'tall'. He goes running often, but does so fairly slowly. His eyes are blue, but at no point inspire the sense of looking into one's heart, mind, or soul, but instead just looking at their outermost layer of clothing. He has a college degree and is good at pub trivia, which earns him the characteristic of 'smart', illustrating the blurred value lines between knowing about things and simply knowing of them. Comparison is both his bane and blessing. Standing beside one man he is Quasimodo, and beside another he is Apollo. Pluck him out of time and place him in the middle of last century and he would have been an established businessman. The century before that, a United States senator. But here and now, he is just a guy."
Tell us something crazy.
The job interview that I reference in the following question continued on for another 25 minutes after they asked me the question.
What’s the weirdest question you’ve ever been asked in an interview? And what did you answer?
During a job interview I was bluntly asked why I applied for the job given that I had none of the knowledge or skills required for it. I answered that I had not actually applied for the job myself, but that after uploading your resume the company's online application system would automatically apply you for positions that it believed you were a match for. So in truth, the company had been the one to think I had the knowledge and skills for that job, not me.
What is your writing set-up? (E.g your garden shed, a cafe etc) and are there any things you must have to get the words to flow, e.g a lucky hat or a favourite shirt)
Optimally, I'll actually have two separate writing locations in the same room that I can bounce back and forth between. I use a laptop, so I'll leave the charger in one location and write at the other until the battery gets below 50%, then I'll move over to where the charger is. I like them to differ in terms that one will be a chair at a desk/table/counter while the other will be standing or sitting on a sofa. I feel like the change helps keep my energy up. Usually I'll have on ambient music in the background.