Odd Jobs—Josh Vogt

Part of Odd Job's inspiration came from reading another all-dialogue short, They're Made Out of Meat, by Terry Bisson. The format captured my interest: two disembodied alien intelligences discussing humanity's fleshiness and debating whether they should allow us "meaties" into their intergalactic fellowship. I loved how much was conveyed through dialogue alone and fiddled with variations of the style for fun. Most of my stories, whether shorts or novels, are often rooted in conversations characters start having in my imagination. So one day, I typed out the opening line, "According to your resume, Mr. Whisk, you spent five years as the Man in the Moon." I let the conversation flow out from there, as Mr. Whisk described his experiences. After I had enough conversation, I had to decide whether I wanted to create a framing scene, character descriptions, etc., but in the end chose to leave it all dialogue and give readers much more room to play. It's a story I hope folks enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing.

--Josh Vogt

www.jrvogt.com