J'AIME SEPTEMBER 2021
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describe are totally made up. It’s based on him but<br />
fictional.<br />
“Dad was ill and in a home for a few years and I<br />
found myself writing all these little flash fictions.<br />
Then when I came to write the novella I had all these<br />
linking stories which I expanded and added to.<br />
“What’s really sad about this book is that dad isn’t<br />
here to see it being published. I had to dedicate it to<br />
him.”<br />
In snapshots through time, Only About Love takes a<br />
sweeping loop around protagonist Frank’s life as he<br />
navigates courtship, marriage, fatherhood and illness.<br />
Told through the perspectives of Frank and his<br />
family, the story is one of intense honesty about the<br />
things we do to those closest to us.<br />
Although she hasn’t self-published, Debbi says people<br />
who go down that route work extremely hard at it.<br />
“There are a lot of people who assume that I’ve selfpublished,<br />
but I haven’t, not that there’s any shame<br />
in that,” she said.<br />
“The marketing is all down to them and a lot of<br />
people have become very successful releasing books<br />
that way.<br />
“I’m being paid in advance and will be paid royalties<br />
as well,” said a proud Debbi.<br />
“The publisher put out<br />
an open call for novellas<br />
so I applied. They loved<br />
what I sent in and wanted<br />
more to develop it a bit. I<br />
doubled it in length.<br />
“They’re such great<br />
publishers to be with, so<br />
proactive and they aim<br />
to only publish quality<br />
fiction.”<br />
The novella-in-flash has<br />
been around for many<br />
years but has become<br />
increasingly popular over<br />
the past three or four<br />
years. Every chapter of<br />
a novella-in-flash can be<br />
read as a standalone story,<br />
but they also link together<br />
and make sense as part of<br />
a wider story.<br />
“They’re short chapters<br />
so they’re easy to read,<br />
you can read one of two<br />
chapters if you only have<br />
a few minutes,” she said.<br />
DEBBI’S DEBUT BOOK ONLY<br />
ABOUT LOVE IS OUT NOW<br />
“You can be very experimental with flash fiction<br />
and use a lot of different techniques. I enjoyed<br />
putting some lists in there - including the items in an<br />
adulterer’s holdall. The first chapter is a breathless<br />
paragraph - which purposefully has no punctuation.”<br />
Debbi’s debut has already earned rave reviews<br />
from fellow writers, with Tracy Fells, 2017 regional<br />
winner (Canada & Europe) of the Commonwealth<br />
Short Story Prize calling her writing ‘breathless,<br />
red-raw and brutally honest,’ while Lisa Blower,<br />
author of Pondweed described Only About Love<br />
as ‘gut wrenching, heart-warming, playful with<br />
time, language, and memory; a gathering of special<br />
moments relived that remind us that time is never on<br />
our side so to make the most of it whilst we have it.’<br />
Debbi added: “When I won the Too Write<br />
competition five years ago mum and dad went to<br />
accept the prize on my behalf as I was away on<br />
holiday. Dad was so proud, he cried. That was just<br />
before he started to get really ill.<br />
“When I heard about this book being published he<br />
was still alive but was too ill to understand. I still wish<br />
I could tell him about it.”<br />
Only About Love by Debbi Voisey, published<br />
by Fairlight Books, is out now, priced £7.99.<br />
42 www.jaimemagazine.com