A Most Discourteous Interview

Storyfeather

A nervous young job-seeker’s interview is constantly interrupted by what seem to be personal phone calls to the interviewer, but from different callers.

Genre: Fairy Tale

Excerpt: I was nervous. Okay…yes, obviously. Obviously I was nervous. This one, I really, really wanted. Based on the description. Field investigation and research. Constant travel, mostly domestic, but some international travel might be required. Opportunities to advance, to earn further education, to earn money. But best of all, I would not be able to talk about the details of my work—with rare exception—with anyone outside of the organization. No details meant no criticism from my…beloved family. But you can’t always be sure from just a description. I tried not to get too excited.

What’s the Writing Prompt that inspired the story?Write a transcript for a job interview where the interviewer keeps pausing to take personal phone calls. Source: A Writer’s Year: 365 Creative Writing Prompts. Text by Emma Bastow. Copyright © 2019 HarperCollins Publishers

Faster FictioneerI held my first free writing workshop over Zoom to teach my method of writing short stories (an abbreviated version) on 11/8/2023. The workshop is based on my course, called “Faster Fictioneer: A Doable Method to Write a Short Story from Start to Finish in Five Weeks.”

You can watch a replay of the workshop here: FASTER FICTIONEER

(You can also buy the course there.)

Follow my Fictioneering MischiefThe Storyfeather Gazette is a monthly round-up of my recent podcast episodes, short stories, trailers, news, recommendations, and more sent by email. Follow the link to look through old issues and to Sign Up: STORYFEATHER GAZETTE

Storyfeather-themed merchandiseT-shirts, mugs, stickers, notebooks, baby onesies, and more featuring artwork from stories and art challenges STORYFEATHER TEEPUBLIC STORE

CREDITSStory: “A Most Discourteous Interview” Copyright © 2020 by Nila L. Patel Narration, Episode Art, Editing, and Production: Nila L. Patel

Music: “Trip-Hop Lounge Abstract Background” by Digital Emotions (Intro/Outro)

Music by ANDREA BARONI (Cyberleaf)* “Fugue For One Synthetic Heart” “Night Time” “Slightly Across” “The Tech Show” “Fast Lanes Light Rain” “March of the Waking Lights” “Evolving Cities” “The Tech Show Short3(loop)(126)” “Fugue For One Synthetic Heart (No Percussion)”

*These tracks were part of a music and sound effects bundles I purchased from Humble Bundle and sourced from GameDev Market.

Music by Andrea Baroni licensed from GameDev Market Sound effects from AudioJungle and GameDevMarket Vocal effects created with Audacity

Find more music by Digital_Emotions at audiojungle.netFind more music by Andrea Baroni at gamedevmarket.netFind more stories by Nila at storyfeather.com

Episode Art Description: Digital drawing. Central image with a top and bottom border to make the format square. Center left, a woman seen from waist up, facing forward, with forearms resting on a table surface, right hand over left. Brows raised, she looks over at a device, partially visible lying on the surface at right. Motion lines appear around the device. Faint shadows appear on the wall behind the person: a solid circle inside an open circle, tendrils, and the top half of a humanoid figure. Watermark of the “Storyfeather” along surface at left.