“Grab-It Claw” by Corinne Silver appeared in Issue 36 and can be found here.
We’d love to hear a little more about this story.
“Grab-It Claw” was inspired by a prompt I received during a workshop, to take an item from around the house and create a story around it. I chose the toy grabber I once bought spontaneously at a thrift shop because it looked neat. The more I pulled the trigger, the more I wondered what would appear when the claw drew back. Or might it take me somewhere?
What was the most difficult part of this story?
The most difficult part about writing “Grab-It Claw” was finding the right tone. In the original version, I wrote from a first-person perspective and it sounded like the beginning to a much grander tale. Later, when I revisited, I realized I wanted it to be quick and punchy, like the claw itself. The unidentified case reporter narrator was the best way to accomplish that.
Recommend a book for us which was published within the last decade.
I very much enjoyed “The Night Tiger” by Yangsze Choo. I appreciated a more fantastic mystery dependent on Malaysian and Chinese cultural knowledge.
If you could have a drink with any living author, who would it be? Why?
Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket). One, he makes fantastic cocktails. Second, his sardonic yet hope-provoking voice inspired me to chase my own unique voice as a writer, so I’d like to thank him for that in person. Third, someone who supports libraries and independent bookshops as much as he does must be a person I can have a comfortable conversation with.
What are you working on now? What’s next?
I’m currently working on revising my sci-fi/fantasy novel manuscript, Aftermath. I hope to find it a home with a publisher in the coming year. We’ll see how that goes. In the meantime, I’ll be distilling more feelings into short stories.
Our thanks to Corinne for taking the time to answer a few questions and share this story. Read “Grab-It Claw” here: https://www.sequestrum.org/fiction-grab-it-claw.
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Corinne Silver is an author of YA and adult sci-fi, fantasy, and poetry. She received her bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Houston. At UH, she worked as a consultant at the Writing Center and earned a minor in Creative Work from the Honors College. Her work has been featured in the online journals Fterota Logia and 100 Word Story. To find more of her writing and musings on literature, follow her on Instagram @scripturientsilver or go to scripturientsilver.com.