A Birmingham-based publishing house has laid down a challenge to budding young writers. Richard McComb reports.

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The door of Henry’s lunch-room opened and two men came in. They sat down at the counter.

“What’s yours?” George asked them.

“I don’t know,” one of the men said. “What do you want to eat, Al?”

“I don’t know,” said Al. “I don’t know what I want to eat.”

So begins The Killers, by Ernest Hemingway. The story is packed with tension, black humour, post-modern alienation, sexual slurs, the banalities of human existence and the impending menace of death.

It’s a pretty good read, too – astonishing when one considers everything is packed into 10 taut pages. A perfect 10, if you will.

In fact, The Killers is so concise you could almost read through it during the ad breaks in I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!

If you don’t know the story, here’s the nutshell in a nutshell: two brooding henchmen, Max and Al, bicker over food orders – Al has a taste for “chicken croquettes with green peas and cream sauce and mashed potatoes” – and take three men hostage. Armed with a sawn-off shotgun, they lie in wait to kill a fourth man before walking off into the arc-light when their intended hit, a heavyweight boxer, fails to show.

One of the freed hostages goes to warn the boxer, who is lodging in a nearby rooming-house, but he refuses to flee for his life. “I’m through with all that running around,” he says.

And that’s it. Death deferred, for now.

If it was written today, would The Killers make it into wider print? If it had a celeb author attached – an Ian McEwan or a Salman Rushdie – publishing houses and the colour supplements would squabble over rights.

But what if it came from an unknown writer? Realistically, there’s a fair chance it would hit the “slush pile” – the collective term for those thousands of unsolicited manuscripts sent to publishers every day. Here, The Killers might get lucky – or gather dust with the bodice-rippers, chick-lit and dime store detective stories.

Now in a bold bid to uncover a would-be Hemingway (or a Raymond Carver, or an Alice Munro), Birmingham-based Tindal Street Press is calling for submissions for an exciting new anthology of short stories, to be called Roads Ahead.

The writers need to be aged under 35 – Hemingway would have got a look in – and should aim to pen “lively, intelligent, well-crafted, ambitious, funny, surprising, fluent, arresting, superb short stories” of between 2,500 and 4,000 words.

The anthology, to be edited by award-winning Birmingham novelist Catherine O’Flynn, is scheduled for publication in October 2009 and will mark the tenth anniversary of Tindal Street Press.

The new collection underlines the publisher’s commitment to unearthing fresh, new voices and follows in its plucky tradition of supporting the short story genre, an endangered species in the literary jungle.

Birmingham Post is supporting the initiative and will be publishing a series of four masterclasses, written by Tindal Street authors, in order to give first-time writers an insight into the creative process and the skills of the art.

The first masterclass, by Tindal Street’s publishing director Alan Mahar, is printed on our books page today and the other three others – by Paul McDonald, David Gaffney and Gaynor Arnold – will be carried in the Post next week.

Alan, who helped form the original Tindal Street Fiction Group in 1983, is baffled why short stories are not more popular, particularly in a social and economic climate in which people claim to be time-poor and happily devour brightly-packaged parcels of bite-sized culture and entertainment.

“Busy people have limited time to read for pleasure. What could be better than a short story or two between meetings or on the train?” says Alan.

“Yet many readers prefer to sink their teeth into a chunky novel for their summer beaches or on cold winter nights when there’s nothing on the TV.”

The brevity of the short story would appear to be tailored made for our world of text messages, email conversations and sound-bite news. Similarly, the form is hugely appealing to writers, and does not require the time commitment of a novel, which may eat up several years of angst and self-loathing.

Alan says: “Short stories can be written in a month, a week or maybe even a day. They are easier to produce, supposedly, and yet they demand a measure of concentration that is often compared composing a poem. They require concision, a light touch, speed of thought and a delicate turn of phrase. And, of course, a perfect ending.”

Gaynor Arnold wrote two short stories for Tindal Street – Hospitality and Heart Trouble – and the publisher subsequently took on her first novel, Girl In A Blue Dress, on the basis of this earlier work. Blue Dress proved to be one of literary successes of the year when it was long-listed for this year’s Man Booker Prize.

As I talk to Alan in Tindal Street’s office at the Custard Factory in Digbeth, I spot the contract for the novel’s US rights on a table, awaiting the final signatures. Such confidence in Arnold’s work is testament to the power of the short story. “Because the publishing market is so limited, people sometimes perceived writing short stories as being a calling card or a shop window for their talent,” says Alan.

“Short stories announce a talent, which can be wonderful if it is followed up with a novel.”

During the past decade, Tindal Street has published more than 150 short stories by nearly 100 new writers in anthologies including Whispers In The Walls, Her Majesty and Birmingham Noir. It will be the task of Catherine O’Flynn to decide who makes the final cut for Roads Ahead.

O’Flynn’s own story is an inspiration to any aspiring writer. She was working at the box office at Midland Arts Centre, Birmingham, when she picked up the tag of the Next Big Thing for her debut novel, What Was Lost. The book won the Costa First Novel prize and the British Book Awards Newcomer of the Year as well as being listed for the Man Booker, Orange and Guardian First Novel prizes.

The book’s success has allowed her to give up the day job and she is half-way through what she calls her “disappointing second novel.” As yet without a title, O’Flynn, who is 38, will only say the novel is set in modern-day Birmingham. “Everything else is subject to change,” she says mischievously.

O’Flynn, who lives in Hall Green, relishes the prospect of editing the Roads Ahead collection. She says: “I am looking for serious and authentic voices who are doing something original – combined with a good story, something that excites me. In a short story, it has to be punchy.”

The potential subject matter, she says, is “unlimited,” so don’t be constrained by convention. Her advice to aspiring story-tellers is, she says, “trite” but it bears repeating: “Have a go – just do it.”

“If you think you have got an idea for a story don’t be intimidated by all the reasons you think of for not doing it,” says O’Flynn.

“The most difficult thing with writing is forcing yourself to sit down and not let your sense of despair about writing over-power you. You have to do five or six drafts before you get to a point where you think, ‘This isn’t rubbish.’”

She also advises people to write something that appeals to them, rather than seeking to pander to editors and publishers.

“When I am writing I want to get something sorted out in my own head. There is something that interests me and I want to get to the bottom of what it is that interests me.”

If it sounds selfish, who cares?

And don’t be put off by rejection. O’Flynn was turned down by 15 publishers before What Was Lost was taken on.

Now about that intro …The door of Henry’s lunch-room opened and two men came in. They sat down at the counter.

“What’s yours?” George asked them.

“I don’t know,” one of the men said. “What do you want to eat, Al?”

“I don’t know,” said Al. “I don’t know what I want to eat.”

So begins The Killers, by Ernest Hemingway. The story is packed with tension, black humour, post-modern alienation, sexual slurs, the banalities of human existence and the impending menace of death.

It’s a pretty good read, too – astonishing when one considers everything is packed into 10 taut pages. A perfect 10, if you will.

In fact, The Killers is so concise you could almost read through it during the ad breaks in I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!

If you don’t know the story, here’s the nutshell in a nutshell: two brooding henchmen, Max and Al, bicker over food orders – Al has a taste for “chicken croquettes with green peas and cream sauce and mashed potatoes” – and take three men hostage. Armed with a sawn-off shotgun, they lie in wait to kill a fourth man before walking off into the arc-light when their intended hit, a heavyweight boxer, fails to show.

One of the freed hostages goes to warn the boxer, who is lodging in a nearby rooming-house, but he refuses to flee for his life. “I’m through with all that running around,” he says.

And that’s it. Death deferred, for now.

If it was written today, would The Killers make it into wider print? If it had a celeb author attached – an Ian McEwan or a Salman Rushdie – publishing houses and the colour supplements would squabble over rights.

But what if it came from an unknown writer? Realistically, there’s a fair chance it would hit the “slush pile” – the collective term for those thousands of unsolicited manuscripts sent to publishers every day. Here, The Killers might get lucky – or gather dust with the bodice-rippers, chick-lit and dime store detective stories.

Now in a bold bid to uncover a would-be Hemingway (or a Raymond Carver, or an Alice Munro), Birmingham-based Tindal Street Press is calling for submissions for an exciting new anthology of short stories, to be called Roads Ahead.

The writers need to be aged under 35 – Hemingway would have got a look in – and should aim to pen “lively, intelligent, well-crafted, ambitious, funny, surprising, fluent, arresting, superb short stories” of between 2,500 and 4,000 words.

The anthology, to be edited by award-winning Birmingham novelist Catherine O’Flynn, is scheduled for publication in October 2009 and will mark the tenth anniversary of Tindal Street Press.

The new collection underlines the publisher’s commitment to unearthing fresh, new voices and follows in its plucky tradition of supporting the short story genre, an endangered species in the literary jungle.

The Birmingham Post is supporting the initiative and will be publishing a series of four master classes, written by Tindal Street authors, in order to give first-time writers an insight into the creative process and the skills of the art.

The first master class, by Tindal Street’s publishing director Alan Mahar, is printed on our books page today and the other three others – by Paul McDonald, David Gaffney and Gaynor Arnold – will carried in the Post next week.

Alan, who helped form the original Tindal Street Fiction Group in 1983, is baffled why short stories are not more popular, particularly in a social and economic climate in which people claim to be time-poor and happily devour brightly-packaged parcels of bite-sized culture and entertainment.

“Busy people have limited time to read for pleasure. What could be better than a short story or two between meetings or on the train?” says Alan.

“Yet many readers prefer to sink their teeth into a chunky novel for their summer beaches or on cold winter nights when there’s nothing on the TV.”

The brevity of the short story would appear to be tailored made for our world of text messages, email conversations and sound-bite news. Similarly, the form is hugely appealing to writers, and does not require the time commitment of a novel, which may eat up several years of angst and self-loathing.

Alan says: “Short stories can be written in a month, a week or maybe even a day. They are easier to produce, supposedly. And yet they demand a measure of concentration that is often compared to composing a poem. They require concision, a light touch, speed of thought and a delicate turn of phrase. And, of course, a perfect ending.”

Gaynor Arnold wrote two short stories for Tindal Street – Hospitality and Heart Trouble – and the publisher subsequently took on her first novel, Girl In A Blue Dress, on the basis of this earlier work. Blue Dress proved to be one of literary successes of the year when it was long-listed for this year’s Man Booker Prize.

As I talk to Alan in Tindal Street’s office at the Custard Factory in Digbeth, I spot the contract for the novel’s US rights on a table, awaiting the final signatures. Such confidence in Arnold’s work is testament to the power of the short story. “Because the publishing market is so limited, people sometimes perceived writing short stories as being a calling card or a shop window for their talent,” says Alan.

“Short stories announce a talent, which can be wonderful if it is followed up with a novel.”

During the past decade, Tindal Street has published more than 150 short stories by nearly 100 new writers in anthologies including Whispers In The Walls, Her Majesty and Birmingham Noir. It will be the task of Catherine O’Flynn to decide who makes the final cut for Roads Ahead.

O’Flynn’s own story is an inspiration to any aspiring writer. She was working at the box office at Midland Arts Centre, Birmingham, when she picked up the tag of the Next Big Thing for her debut novel, What Was Lost. The book won the Costa First Novel prize and the British Book Awards Newcomer of the Year as well as being listed for the Man Booker, Orange and Guardian First Novel prizes.

The book’s success has allowed her to give up the day job and she is half-way through what she calls her “disappointing second novel.” As yet without a title, O’Flynn, who is 38, will only say the novel is set in modern-day Birmingham. “Everything else is subject to change,” she says mischievously.

O’Flynn, who lives in Hall Green, relishes the prospect of editing the Roads Ahead collection. She says: “I am looking for serious and authentic voices who are doing something original – combined with a good story, something that excites me. In a short story, it has to be punchy.”

The potential subject matter, she says, is “unlimited,” so don’t be constrained by convention. Her advice to aspiring story-tellers is, she says, “trite” but it bears repeating: “Have a go – just do it.”

“If you think you have got an idea for a story don’t be intimidated by all the reasons you think of for not doing it,” says O’Flynn.

“The most difficult thing with writing is forcing yourself to sit down and not let your sense of despair about writing over-power you. You have to do five or six drafts before you get to a point where you think, ‘This isn’t rubbish.’”

She also advises people to write something that appeals to them, rather than seeking to pander to editors and publishers.

“When I am writing I want to get something sorted out in my own head. There is something that interests me and I want to get to the bottom of what it is that interests me.”

If it sounds selfish, who cares?

And don’t be put off by rejection. O’Flynn was turned down by 15 publishers before What Was Lost was taken on.

Now about that intro...

* Submissions (only one per person) should arrive by December 15, with SAE if you want it returned, to: Roads Ahead submissions, Tindal Street Press, 217

Custard Factory, Gibb Street, Birmingham B9 4AA