Jason Young, London Independent Story Prize 2024 2nd Competition Flash Fiction Finalist 'The Crazy Composer'

London Independent Story Prize 2024 2nd Competition Flash Fiction Finalist 'The Crazy Composer' by Jason Young

You and Your Daily Life

I read every day and have been doing so since the publication of my first short story in 2002.

When and How Did You Get into Writing?

I wrote my first short story titled Stunts are Here Again in 1981 based on Mad Max ll. I then wrote my second short story, Tom and His Men, in 1982 based on Jason and the Argonauts when I was in primary school. I then wrote The Horrors of the Marshes, Granny Widdlesworth, I Saw a Ghost and Return to the Marshes in 1985 when I started my GCSE English course at secondary school. But it wasn’t until 2002 that my first short story, The Dark Angel, was published in Writers’ Forum magazine which led to my second short story, Annals of an Afro-Briton, published in The New Cauldron magazine in April 2003.

How Often do you write? Do you have a writing routine? And what inspires you to write?

At primary and secondary school it was films that inspired me to write short stories, but that wasn’t sustainable. What was missing was reading material that would inspire me to write. That’s why there was a huge gap between my last short story at school in 1986 titled To Hell and Back and the publication of my first short story in 2002. The reason for this was that films were no longer inspiring me and I wasn’t reading anything that was inspiring.

     However, by the time Zadie Smith published her debut novel, White Teeth, in 2000, I wrote my first novel, From Tottenham to Oxford, which was rejected by all publishers. The concept behind the story was the fact that Zadie was a Cambridge graduate, and as I had been to Open Days at Oxford University colleges in the 1990s, I wanted to write about the experience of a Black Englishman at Oxford University. I then wrote my second novel, When Two Worlds Meet, which was a historical novel set during the Second World War, but again it was rejected by all publishers. I then wrote the first three chapters of three more novels, The Greatest Dancer, Concrete Jungle and Writer’s Block, but all of them were rejected when I submitted them to agents and publishers.

     By this stage in 2002, I was reading screenplays of films that inspired me and that’s how I got on track to write The Dark Angel.

How does it feel to have your work recognised?

Because I have been writing short stories since 1981 in primary school, I kind of feel like Dina Asher-Smith in the Paris Olympics 200m finals in fourth position. I have reached the finals, which is great, but I didn’t win a medal. I feel like an Olympic finalist (which is an achievement in itself), but no medal.

     However, this is progress because the last LISP competition in March 2024 I didn’t even make the finals like Dina Asher-Smith in the Paris Olympics 100m. The next step has got to be a medal in order for the recognition to be complete.

What’s the best and most challenging thing about writing a story?

The most challenging thing about writing a story is having it rejected by all short story competitions. However, as Anthony Joshua says: I’m a fighter for life, even if I get beaten. I’m a writer for life (provided I’m inspired to write), even if my stories are rejected by competitions.

How did you develop the idea for your LISP selected story? Is there a story behind your story? And how long have you been working on it?

After the publication of The Dark Angel in October 2002, I wrote a short story titled The Prince of Music about the 19th century violinist, George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower. The story was rejected, so I adapted it into an animation titled Bridgetower (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1813209/) which enabled to present a three-dimensional story about Bridgetower with actors and music, but again, it was rejected by all film festivals. Neither the original story, nor the animation exists now. My flash fiction, That Crazy Composer, is almost a distilled version of Bridgetower.

Can you give us a few tips about writing a story?

Read what inspires you. In order to write, you have to read. My GCSE English syllabus was made up of reading, writing and oral communication. The reason why there are so many gaps in my writing career is because there was a lack of access to books that would inspire me.

What’s the best and most challenging thing about competitions?

The most challenging thing about competitions is not making the first round. The best thing about competitions is winning them (although I haven’t done that yet).

Do you recommend writers to submit to LISP?

As LISP is the only competition where I have been a finalist, I most certainly do recommend writers to submit to the Flash Fiction section of LISP.