The Centifictionist

D.M. DiLillo’s 97 word microfiction, “The Showers”, will appear in the third issue of The Centifictionist (Vol. 2, Issue 1, Spring/Summer 2021). D.M. graciously answered a few brief questions for us. Read the interview below.

1. What inspired the story “The Showers”?

My wife, who was born and grew up in Gdansk, was on a business trip to Munich and I tagged along. I am an avid reader of all aspects of WWII, European Theater, especially events in Germany. I took a tour of Dachau by myself. In the shower room, I lagged behind, was alone and backed myself into a corner and tried to imagine the horror and terror unleashed on these poor people. I felt their screams.

2. What inspires you and your writing?

Humans, people, their interactions, their humanity and lack of it. People fascinate me.

3. What keeps you going when experiencing times of misery and despair?

That people are inherently good. We all want the same things; to be left alone, to survive and have peace in our lives and our families. Choices are made to be bad or inhuman and to subjugate others for greed. We can also choose not to do things, too.

4. What advice do you have for microfiction writers?

Find a powerful image or experience. It’s my experience these things find me. Write your story and cut and cut and edit and edit all the chaff out and the stories take life, then.

5. Is there anything else that you would like people to know about you and/or your writing?

It’s based on my experiences of dealing with others and their motivations. I believe art imitates life. There are things that happen in real life, to me, that could never be built or written because they would not be received as credible or believable but it happens…then there’s the kernel of another story.

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D.M. DiLillo lives just outside Boston. He is a retired semiconductor sales engineer. His second career is working as a SAG union actor on Hollywood films and television series around Boston. He is active in live theater in Boston and even did a little stand up comedy. He reads great fiction, takes writing classes and writes. His publishing history is: a short story; “The Steamer Trunk”, published in Volume 3 of A Feast of Narratives by Tiziano Thomas Dossena and Idea Press; a flash fiction piece, “The Gift”, was published in The Dewdrop; and a short story, “Haircut Sunday”, published in the December 2020 edition of The Italian American Alliance Magazine.