A never-ending short story
BY Jeff Nield
For the past five years, Vancouver writer Kevin Spenst has woken up most mornings to write a very short story. “The day seems like the most natural frame for everything,” explains Spenst. “I have one burst to get something done in the morning before I have to deal with all the mundane things of life.”
What began as a simple writing exercise has evolved over time. In year two, Spenst’s stories focused on specific works of art. In year three, he distributed his work through a “subterranean distribution system”—international friends who left his work at bus stops, on bookstore shelves and in other public spaces with requests for feedback. He received responses from as far away as Portugal and San Francisco.
Today, each of his stories begins with a confession that he’s not who he said he was in yesterday’s story. “I want to surprise people,” explains Spenst. “I want people to read my stuff and peel back the layers to the previous story.”
On the day he wrote story No. 1,000, Spenst embarked on a oneday, bicycle-powered, 50-venue reading tour of Vancouver. The ninehour feat was captured by a film crew, and the resulting short film, One Thousand Stories, hits the film festival circuit this summer.
Fast Fictions, a collection of Spenst’s “short short stories,” can be found at www.kevinspenst.com.
