Mobbing Midnight – Approaching Short Stories Differently

When April Steenburgh approached me to contribute a story to Mobbing Midnight, An Anthology of Crows, I said yes right away. Why? Well, I’ve worked with April before for Fight Like a Girl and What Follows. But also–birds.

I’ve always had a fondness for birds. My last name, Larking, means to pull tricks on people. Lark within it, has made me interested in birds for as long as I remember.

After I agreed to do the anthology, I remembered my first real encounter with crows on a symbolic level. And it was inextricably tied to my writing.

My first rejection of a manuscript, I was perhaps 14 years old? I didn’t keep track that well. I sent my very very first horrible novel off to a major publisher because I totally thought it was magnificent. The day I got the rejection, two massive crows had landed in the park space in front of my childhood home, croaking away in the bare branches, stark against the dismal grey of the winter February sky. I wondered if it was an omen. I wondered if omens existed or whether I was imposing meaning upon those crows as I looked over my form rejection.

I’ve seen many crows since then. They haven’t all carried the meaning with them. But if there is no other living thing in sight except for those crows…I wonder what is going to happen next. Sometimes, it seems to be nothing. Sometimes, it’s a massive change or disruption of my family dynamics.

So I wondered, thinking back, if I could make fiction with the crows looking over my shoulder.

I have the idea. It’s different from my previous stories–a focus on science fiction. A focus on the goal of a quiet life. I’m excited to write the story, despite my history with crows often coming with bad news.

I have a feeling that a lot of people are tied to some animals in similar ways. It might be crows for you, as well, that makes you think of the hard times in your life. It might connote the opposite, symbolizing the happier times and victorious emotional events. I think I might be able to work through it if I write this story.

Click here to support the Mobbing Midnight Kickstarter happen! Both E. V. O’Day and I are involved and are looking forward to sharing our stories with you. You can make that happen for us. For as little as $12 USD, you can get the anthology and see how both of us are pushing forward, improving, and conquering our writing anxieties. There are so many great authors involved and we are all looking forward to seeing what we are all writing. So pitch in here!

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