When Stories take Flight: A Circle With Mick Cochrane

In this episode, Mick talks about his published works. He also touches on larger questions for writers—for example, how much of ourselves do we put in our fiction? How do we make characters ring true? And how do we trust our instincts to know when we are ready to tell our story? DailyGood.org wrote of Mick: "His work is compelling, candid, and cuts straight to the heart of what it means to be human, what it means to experience love, loss, limitation, and transcendence." 

Mick Cochrane is a teller of stories. He writes novels, short stories, essays, and poetry  which have  appeared in literary magazines such as The Sun, Kansas Quarterly, and The Cincinnati Review. He has written 4 novels and is Professor of English at Canisius College in Buffalo NY.

His first book Flesh Wounds, published by Doubleday, was a finalist in Barnes & Noble Discover Great Writers Competition. His second novel, Sport, published by Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s and was selected for the annual New York Public Library’s Books for the Teen Age List. 

The Girl Who Threw Butterflies and Fitz are books for young adults. He’s also published critical essays on Raymond Carver, Bob Dylan, baseball literature, and the art of biography, and he’s received grants from the Saltonstall Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Mick talks about the process of writing that touches on larger questions like how much of ourselves do we put into our fiction? At the heart of this discussion is the power of centering oneself with clarity and intent of why I need to write my book and know who it’s for.

 LINKS:

• Mick Cochrane's Website
• DailyGood.org: His Back Pocket & Other Poems by Mick Cochrane
• DailyGood.org: “Caped Crusaders” by Mick Cochrane

Today's episode is brought to you by the Joan of Arc Scroll Medal, a beautiful brass alloy medal, designed by award-winning artist, Pat Benincasa. This uniquely shaped medal is ideal for holiday or as a special occasion gift!    Visit www.patbenincasa-art.com

Joan of Arc Scroll Medal
This brass alloy medal can be worn on a necklace, a keychain, dogtags, on a bag, or in your car.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Please Note: The views expressed by our guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the podcaster.

Follow me on Instagram!

Transcript

PODCAST QUOTES 

Mick: ..."and I think my poems are just short stories with line breaks, basically that there's a narrative element in...all of them. I love short stories. Maybe most of all, I think life comes to us as short stories. the anecdote, the little nagging incident that we wanna tell someone about."

Mick: ..."So that's the irony of fiction. It's not literally true, but we hope it's true in some large sense."

Mick: "But I was in my thirties before I felt like I had a place to stand, the understanding to write about that. So everybody gets to take their time and, and, uh, there's no obligation to...spill our most painful stories... If we're not ready to do it. So that's, that's something that needs to be thoughtfully undertaken, you know?"

Pat: “A story is like a bridge.  A bridge is not a bridge until the first person walks across it. A story begins when it's shared.”

 Pat: "So Mick Cochran, you wrote "the best fiction, the fiction I love to read, the fiction I aspire to write explores this human landscape, the tumultuous terrain of the heart.”

 Pat: "To this, I would add your work is a bridge that carries the reader smack dab into the tumultuous terrain of the heart. But trusting that we have a heart strong enough to carry the weight load. the work you do, touches lives. And I thank you. I would like to open it up to our listeners. “