Just One Thing with Jean-Luc Bouchard

March contributor and winner of our recent flash fiction contest Jean-Luc Bouchard includes writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Toni Morrison, and Akhil Sharma in their list of literary influences—and we wouldn’t be surprised if Jean-Luc was just as much of a notable name someday. Read their prize-winning story “Fun and Fresh” if you don’t believe us! Here’s just one thing from Jean-Luc about the piece:

“‘Fun and Fresh’ is the first in a series of recent stories I’ve written where I tried to stuff my emotions, biases, and experiences inside of the deuteragonist/antagonist rather than the protagonist/narrator. There’s a lot I share in common with the protagonist of this story, but I don’t think I would have allowed myself to be as sympathetic to his point of view if I hadn’t forced myself to side first with his husband. I think it’s easy for readers to immediately pick a side when they see a bad relationship from the outside in, and I had hoped to present what I felt was a more realistic snapshot of a marriage that’s gone stale from the slow march of time more than anything individual's wrongdoing.

One fun note about the opening sentence: The last edit I made to ‘Fun and Fresh’ before submitting it to Split Lip came from swapping which character found sex disgusting and which one found it terrifying, and I’m very happy I did because I think it sets the right tone for the rest of the story.”