Wood smoke, burning plastic, dust, motor oil, and car freshener.
Wil Magness
Wil Magness lives in Portland, Oregon with his partner, their two kids, and their dog. He is a writer, creative director, and together with his wife and partner, a filmmaker. Their latest film is the sci-fi short, ‘The Manual’, which has accrued over half a million views since release. His short fiction has appeared in small press anthologies and indie literary magazines and he is currently working on his third novel.
Short Interview
- Write a 10-word sentence that embodies how you understand sensory overload.
- That point when information exceeds our capacity to interpret it.
- What smell/s would your story be?
- Wood smoke, burning plastic, dust, motor oil, and car freshener. If you’re talking about a kind of metaphorical smell, I think it’s more like walking into your childhood bedroom as an adult, your parents have kept it just like it was, so all those old smells linger, but they’re covered with a layer of stale dust and mildew.
- What did you intend your audience to feel when reading your piece?
- My intention was for there to be ups and downs throughout: I wanted Cab’s personality to drive the humor, and Hank’s longing for the past to add some nostalgia, and then triumph when he actually does something useful. Then I wanted a shock near the end where you realize that if Hank had only sat his ass down and not been so proactive, things would’ve ended up better. And finally, it was important for the reader to learn to love the relationship between Hank and Cab so that final moment of bittersweet loss felt poignant and real. My hope is that the final moment will shift the reader’s perception of what the story is really about.
- Describe your favorite type of light.
- I love the thirty to forty-five minutes after the sun has passed under the horizon because there is so much change there, and it happens so fast. Also, I’m a sucker for the old fluorescent lights they used to put in parking garages. I liked the way they make everything look green.
Angry Gable Press 