Author Fan Clubs:
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Barbara Quinn
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Simon Wood
Barbara Quinn's short stories have appeared in print and online magazines and journals, including Shalla Magazine, The Melic Review, Muse Apprentice Guild, The Ledge, and laZer. Her stories, The Clambake, and Crab Lines, were nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and her work has won awards from Writer's Digest and the Melic Review. Her story Crab Lines was selected as one of the Best of the Net stories for 2006. Barbara is the Founder, and former Publisher and Managing Editor of the award-winning literary e-zine, The Rose & Thorn. She is the author of four novels: 36C, Slings and Arrows, The Speed of Dark, and Hardhead. Besides writing novels, she is a freelance SEO (search engine optimization) writer who specializes in legal website content production.
For ten years Barbara practiced law. She held the position of North Salem Town Attorney, and Westchester Assistant County Attorney, and spent time in private practice. She has been a Features Editor for Strictly Scarsdale, a reporter for The Scarsdale Inquirer, and for a time wrote a legal column for laymen for a local paper.
Barbara loves to travel and has visited 47 states, plus many countries on four continents. She's ridden a camel in the Canary Islands, attended the opera in Vienna and spent time in an absinthe bar in Budapest. When she was 19, she hitched across Europe with a backpack. For a time, she owned a motorcycle, and a pink-suede biker jacket.Barbara is a native New Yorker and currently resides in Rockland County, NY and Bradley Beach, NJ with her husband, Tom.
The Rose & Thorn
Q: As a member of the TriggerStreet short story community I am working to improve my craft to the point where it might be marketable. Any tips...other than shameless self promotion and keep on keeping on...both of which I am attempting to do...would be most appreciated, as would any anecdotes from your own experience.
BQ: I can't emphasize enough how important it is to keep working at your craft. Study with the best that you can. Read books about your craft. I'm a novelist for the most part, and am partial to John Gardner's books: On Becoming A Novelist, and The Art of Fiction. Read widely in the genre you are writing. Read as a writer, which means figure out what makes the story work. Make contacts at places such as conferences. This is a business where networking can be a great help. Find a couple of good critique partners and learn to listen to what they are saying. Finally, ask yourself, are you writing about something that anyone else would be interested in? It's not enough to write well, you have to write something that moves the reader.
Q: As a fellow Sniplits author, I wonder if you prefer writing short stories to other forms of writing? Always interested in the opinion of a published writer. Thanks, Tom Anselm
BQ: Hi Tom, Nice to meet you. What I've found over the years is that my short stories often are seeds for a longer work. One of my early published stories, Hardhead, inspired my first novel of the same name. Other stories in whole or in part, have wound up in my novels too. I spend most of my time writing novels, and I love that, but the shorter works do still demand to be written. Short stories are like sprinting, and novel writing is more like long distance running. Both are painful, but strangely enjoyable too!
Ask Barbara a Question
A woman hands down the lessons she learned from her grandparents while catching and cooking crabs. Honorable Mention in Writer's Digest contest. Nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
Time: 21:20 / $0.98 Sample Add to Cart
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Expecting their first child, a young couple finds an unexpected memento - and comfort - among the tchotchkes of the boardwalk.
Time: 7:45 / $0.88 Sample Add to Cart
A widow breaks free and has a sensuous encounter on the night of the town's annual clambake. Nominated for Pushcart Prize. Sexual reference.
Time: 12:25 / $0.88 Sample Add to Cart
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What can a widow do when her husband's spirit turns up in her barbecue? Second Place, The Melic Review Micro Fiction Contest.
Time: 1:40 / $0.48 Sample Add to Cart
Books by Barbara Quinn
Slings and Arrowsi, DiskUsPublishing