BCC Shines A Light On: Michael Schulman
BCC Shines a Light On:
Michael Schulman
Name of the piece published by BCC:
When/where was it originally published:
HalfHourToKill.Com (June 2023)
Tell us more about your piece! What is the background of the piece? What led you to write it? What’s your process?
The story is about a young man who apologizes for killing a man’s son in war. I wanted to present a timeless moral dilemma and impressions of the endless desert and sea representing the heart’s potential for forgiveness.
I originally wrote The Stranger in high school and left it alone for thirty years. Until I rediscovered my passion for writing, I rewrote it—prose, mostly, but some beats are different—for a collection of short stories I wrote for myself. Then, it was published earlier this year as one of the first stories I submitted to magazines. This success encouraged me to write for more short story publications and curate an extensive collection of dream deferral notices.
My subconscious is the horse, and I, the writer, am the mere cart. I write from a feeling or picture that’s in my head. Stories come to me as a setting or the way a character adjusts his hat, things like that. If I’m lucky, I have a theme. I’m constantly reading, so I know what’s been done and have all the inspiration I need.
Habits are crucial. When writing a novel, I set a daily word count quota and never go under. And wherever I go and whatever I do during the day, I carry a notepad and am ready to receive the Lord’s Dictation on His Writing Ideas. Writing, to me, is akin to magic or theology, and hard work is subordinate to the ecstasy of ideas. Of course, I find the drudgery equally exciting, or else I wouldn’t be here!
How did you feel when it was first published and how have your thoughts or feelings on the piece changed from then to now?
Before the thrill of publication, the story’s premise, invented in adolescence, hadn’t changed, though I made the writing respectable. My feelings for it have changed. I recognize The Stranger is one of my best stories because of its relatability. It’s one of my few not in the speculative vein.
Is there a specific message you would like readers to take away from reading this piece?
I want the reader to put themselves in the protagonist’s shoes: if you were a soldier who loved their country and took down another soldier just like you, would you have the courage to apologize to the man’s father? If, like the protagonist, we could see our humanness in people just like us, maybe we can avoid war and other terrible things we inflict on each other. The message is compassion is the way we heal others and ourselves.
What else would you like to tell readers about your writing? (Doesn’t have to refer only to your BCC piece)
Someone else’s joke: Why did the cannibal not eat the clown? Because he tasted funny.
Where can readers find more of your work? (Website/social media, etc)
Feel free to say hi to me at IronSonnet@gmail.com
