“I think the process of handwriting them slows you down, forces you to be more careful about what you are doing.”
Time: 2026 / Three weeks thus far
Location: New York City, at home
When did you first want to create this piece? What gave you the idea?
Over the past few weeks. The idea usually forms as a sort of ‘prompt’, then I begin to work on it to see where it goes. Sometimes I know where it’s going, other times not. Most of the time, it becomes what it wants to be and I try not to get in the way of the story that wants to be told.
What parts of your everyday life — your routines, responsibilities, relationships, surroundings, or inner world — find their way into your creative work?
It depends on the story. Most, if not all, my fiction has anything to do with my personal life, though I do sometimes incorporate observations and perhaps draw on personal experience and then fictionalize it. If there’s anything ‘autobiographical’ about my work, perhaps it’s more emotional than anything else. Perhaps many of my stories are ’emotionally autobiographical’, but not literally.
What does the making of this work look like behind the scenes — the rituals, materials, moods, drafts, questions, or inspirations that help it become?
No particular ritual other than sitting down and begin writing, usually by hand. I look for the story to be told, and write until its completion before the editing process begins, although that often happens during the writing process as well.
What do you wish people knew about the inner process behind this work?
Every writer works in different ways. For me, I sit and think and handwrite my manuscripts. I think the process of handwriting them slows you down, forces you to be more careful about what you are doing.
Julian Gallo is the author of ‘Existential Labyrinths’, ‘Last Tondero in Paris’, ‘The Penguin and The Bird’ and other novels. His short fiction has appeared in The Sultan’s Seal (Cairo), Exit Strata, Budget Press Review, Indie Ink, Short Fiction UK, P.S. I Love You, The Dope Fiend Daily, The Rye Whiskey Review, Latinoture, Angles, Verdad, Modern Literature (India), Mediterranean Poetry (St. Pierre and Miquelon), Borderless Journal (Singapore), Woven Tales, Wilderness House, Egophobia (Romania), Plato’s Caves, Avalon Literary Review, VIA: Voices in Italian Americana, The Argyle, Doublespeak Magazine (India), Bardics Anonymous, Tones of Citrus, The Cry Lounge (Germany), Deal Jam, 22/28, Active Muse (India), Zero Readers, Hominum Journal, Write Now Lit (Nigeria), MiniMAG, Paradox Magazine, Penman Review, Lowestoft Chronicles, Marrow Magazine, Lanae Literature and Review, Helix Literary Magazine, Interweaved Magazine, Pattern Recognition, October Hill Magazine, Lit Ezine, Inkwell, Microficciones y Cuentos, Laid To Rest, and Flora Fauna (Upcoming). You can follow Julian on Facebook.
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