“Kindred Souls” and “Student Response to Referral Report” in Weathering Youth
Because Weathering Youth is my biggest collection to date, I’m grouping the short stories and flash fiction stories in pairs for my posts, based on the way they fall in the collection. This lets me look at the connections between the stories and how I decided to arrange specific stories in the collection!
“Kindred Souls” is a surreal flash fiction story about a family that continually has to rescue accomplished young ladies from floating away. It’s based in large part on a painting, which depicts a group of people doing just that, and me applying sibling dynamics to such a scenario. It’s also a sort of love story, but it’s told from the perspective of a character who isn’t part of that story.
“Student Response to Referral Report Re: Bring Your Pet to School Day” is another surreal flash fiction story, told in the format of a young student explaining why she shouldn’t be punished for following the (poorly defined) rules of a school activity. It features a kid who is perhaps too smart for her own good, which is one of my favorite types of kids to write.
While these two stories don’t appear to have a lot in common, I think their strongest link is in the voices of the main characters. Both are smart and savvy girls who use their cleverness to reach their goal. This isn’t uncommon in the stories I tend to write, so if you want to read these and others like them, check out Weathering Youth in ebook or print formats!
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