Q: If your writing style were a bird, what type of bird would it be and why?
A: My first instinct when I saw this was to say “raven” because of how prominently they’re featured in “Treedom”. However, I posed this question to the writers group I frequently attend and one member, after careful consideration, suggested that my writing style most appropriately compares to a swan. She explained that swans are both elegant and fierce, mysterious and passionate, light and dark. I think that’s a nearly perfect summation of my writing style—at the sentence level, I aim for graceful language with the power to evoke deep emotion; in terms of plot, I often find myself discovering the mysteries of a story as I write it (I seldom plan out anything in advance); and I would certainly agree that my stories tend to balance light and dark aspects, striving for a hopeful note but at the same time acknowledging the grim realities that so often face humanity.
A.J. Cunder’s story “Treedom”
in Metaphorosis Friday, 5 November 2021.
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