The Centifictionist

Waverly X. Night’s 100 word microfiction, “Always the Realist”, will appear in the fourth issue of The Centifictionist (Vol. 2, Issue 2, Fall/Winter 2021). Waverly graciously answered a few brief questions for us. Read the interview below.

1. What inspired the story “Always the Realist”?

There’s a realist and an idealist inside all of us. Most people give one side a louder platform than the other, but mine have always felt pretty evenly matched. They are constantly at war, arguing over what the right path forward is. “Always the Realist” is just one way that argument has manifested inside my head.

2. What inspires you and your writing?

Everything! Quotes, artwork, music, my friends, my family, and the small magic that moves in the periphery of mundane moments.

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

I find that there are very few moods that can’t be solved with chocolate and good company, but when that fails, I hop in my car and drive to the nearest beach for a day by the water.

4. What advice do you have for microfiction writers?

There’s a story about a pottery teacher who splits her class into two groups. The first group is tasked with making a single, perfect pot. The other group is tasked with making as many unique pots as possible, regardless of quality. At the end of the semester, even though the first group had pooled their resources and spent all their time researching, the second group had the best pot. This is because, at the end of the day, your first pot is always going to suck. So keep writing. Write a dozen stories, a hundred stories, a thousand stories. Eventually, one of them will be a winner.

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

I’m working on my first novel, a YA magical realism following the story of a biracial girl struggling to fit into a world that was only made for half of her. I’m looking to start querying for it early 2022.

---

Waverly X. Night is a writer, an engineer, and an avid believer in magic. She has been published in several anthologies from Ghost Orchid Press. Find her on Instagram: @livesbetweenwords, Twitter: @wxnight_writes, or at waverlyxnight.com.