Debut Short Story Collection
by Author Claudio D’Andrea
Story by Michael Seguin
Photography by John Liviero
“What I can say is this: It matters. Only it matters. I mean the written word. As Rachel Toor noted, ‘You just do the work. The work gets done.’ So write. Write anything and write all the time. Like constant reading makes you a better reader, writing all the time will make you good at it. Maybe great.”
Wise words indeed. Wise words straight from the fingertips of one Claudio D’Andrea, the author of the recently released short story collection: Stories in the Key of Song.
If Claudio sounds familiar, that’s because he should be. A self-described “ink-stained wretch,” he has worked in nonfiction and journalism for decades, even contributing to the Windsor Star. However, he’s always retained a soft spot for fiction—scribbling out countless yarns while in his youth. And 10 years ago, after building an impressive career, he dusted off his old notebooks and started writing short stories again.
Now, his first short story collection: Stories in the Key of Song—published by Black Moss Press—is available now.
“Publishing has been a lifetime dream of mine,” Claudio states. “It’s tremendous to see it in print.”
Claudio’s book is interesting because it combines his two greatest loves: the written word and music.
“Music is a constant in my life,” Claudio explains. “I played the drums many years ago. My family even recently bought me an electronic drum kit. And with drummers in particular, you always hear the beat in your head. You can’t escape it—you always hear the rhythm. I find music so enriching. It’s such a powerful force. And it helps inspire my writing all the time.”
The first short story in the collection—“Bus Stop, Bus Goes”—was inspired by the classic song by the Hollies.
“I was taking a trip on a Transit Windsor bus one morning,” Claudio recalls. “That song ‘Bus Stop’ by the Hollies was playing in my head. And next thing I know, the main character almost burst to life all at once. So I decided to sit down and write the story.”
Claudio—like all creative types—finds inspiration in the unlikeliest of places. Sometimes music serves as his Muse. Other times, little incongruities perk up his ears.
“One time I was walking down Ouellette Avenue and saw a car with a steering wheel on the opposite side,” Claudio states. “I started thinking: ‘What would happen if someone decided to drive one of these? And then I thought: ‘Wait. What if they decided to switch up everything in their life?’ And that eventually became another short story in the collection, ‘SwitchSides.’”
Another short story in the collection—the spectacularly-named “Julie Andrews vs. Alice Cooper”—came from noticing some peculiar similarities between their songs “My Favourite Things” (from The Sound of Music) and “Halo of Flies.”
“I just wondered, ‘What would happen if Julie Andrews thought Alice Cooper was ripping her off?’” Claudio states. “And that’s how that story came about.”
In addition to his work in journalism and prose, Claudio has recently branched out into screenwriting.
“Walter Riggi—Owner of Riggi Media International Inc.—reached out to me one morning,” Claudio explains. “He’d seen my writing out there. He asked me: ‘Have you ever thought about doing something with film? I’d like to do something with you.’ And I was a little hesitant at first. I’d never experimented with video before. I couldn’t see anything I’d written making the transition onto the screen.”
After some gentle prodding, Claudio decided to adapt “Bus Stop, Bus Goes” into a short film.
“It’s essentially a dialogue between two people, so I thought it could make the leap successfully,” Claudio states. “Walter and I went back and forth on it several times.”
Claudio credits Walter with helping him understand the nuances in writing for an audience as opposed to writing for a reader.
“It’s a whole new way of working, a whole new way of thinking,” Claudio states. “Walter sees everything with a videographer’s eye, so that’s been helpful. When a character launches into a long monologue, that might work on the printed page where you’re just reading along, but it has to be broken up in a film. He also explained to me that there needs to be other characters to round out the cast. So we came up with the idea of the protagonist manifesting all these other characters as she talks about them.”
Claudio and Walter are currently in the process of securing funding for the adaptation. The two are planning to start shooting towards the end of the year.
“We’re anxious to get going on it!” Claudio exclaims. “I can’t wait to get the bus-wheels in motion, as it were.”
And Claudio must have enjoyed his first foray into screenwriting, because he’s currently developing a television series. But his first love remains the written word. He has recently finished a collection of poetry he plans to publish in the near future that will serve as a companion piece to Stories in the Key of Song. As well, he’s currently working on a new fiction novel.
And when asked what he attributes his significant creative output to, Claudio returns to the same advice he dispensed earlier: “Write,” Claudio states. “Everyone has their own voice. Read and read widely. Read from the best. Get a good grounding of what the masters are doing and how. Then just start writing. There are tons of books and articles on how to generate the maximum amount of readers or ensure the most profit from your work. But I don’t really subscribe to any of that. The point is the work itself. Write what you know. Be honest and true to yourself. Write the best thing you can write. Just do it!”
Stories in the Key of Song is available now. Check it out! It’s good. Even very good.
It might even be great. More information on Claudio and his work can be found at claudiodandrea.ca.
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