140 Character Short Story: THE CHICKEN FACTORY!
Get to know writer Philip Rowarth
1) What is your very short story about?
Well it was about one summer I spent working for this Employment Agency in Middle England, where I was placed in different locations doing various things. It was the first and easiest thing to get after finishing College. If you have no connections to call on, well you have to swallow your pride and consider almost anything if you need money. Of course most of us draw the line at things that are too horrible or bad, and it depends if you’re made of strong stuff or not ; luckily I am.
So one of the first jobs for this agency was at this so called ‘Chicken Factory!’ And although other jobs that summer had their moments, this one was the Star of the show ; and not in a good way. It dealt with all aspects of the hours of a Chickens life, many departments many details ; much shock and disgust. But through such insanity you have to laugh at times as it helps, and looking back you laugh and think how did I survive haha!
At this stage I think it is perhaps inappropriate to go into the detail of this place as it was quite bad and I would have to describe it in a graphic way for it to paint the full picture for the reader.
2) What motivated you to write this story and submit it to the festival?
Well I think I’ve already explained what motivated me to write about this, but it’s also something that I’ve never forgotten ; and I’ve tried to write it up into a full story but never got round to it. I’m not a professional writer I’m just a person with a story like everyone else. I do though think with a bit of help and guidance this and other bad job stories could be made into something really funny, and I know most people can relate to this type of stuff.
3) What movie have you seen the most in your life?
The Movie I’ve seen the most is a difficult one as I do like a lot of the obvious Classics most people do, and I never really watch many Films more than a few times ; although I am a Film Buff.
One Director I have always loved is Stanley Kubrick as I’ve always been a fan of Film, sadly I’ve never had the money to pursue this dream like many others but I still follow what goes on. There is a Film called ‘The Shining!’ which I’ve always considered to be a Horror Masterpiece, it’s got so much to it and I’ve never been able to not watch it. It is the one Film I’ve watched a lot but as I say I like most Kubrick Films, and Film in general though.
4) How many scripts and stories have you written?
I haven’t actually written any Stories or Scripts I’ve just sketched out ideas for things over the years, suffering from writers block endlessly.
5) What artists would you love to work with?
It’s something I’ve not even thought about or dared to dream about as I’m not even sure I have any skills, and have never been the most confident person. By Artist I gather you mean in general across The Arts? Well I guess to meet a proper writer like Stephen King would be an honour, but I would feel incredibly nervous and out of place I think. If something in an alternate reality involved myself or my written contributions towards a project, that was going to be produced into something then I guess you could start to seriously dream ; but I think you would have to get a reality check not get carried away and become deluded. Musically I admire the great Film Scorers like Ruichi Sakamoto, Hanz Zimmer etc and proper Music greats like Andrea Bocelli. In Popular Music I admire the brilliance of original people like : New Order, U2, Tom Waits, Morrissey but a lot of other less starry named people too. In general I think I connect more with great storytellers who’ve something to say. If it hasn’t any meaning, heart, soul etc then you won’t care about it or have a connection to it ; or even relate to it.
6) What is your passion in life?
My passion in life is Film, Music and travel whenever I can but its not easy. I would like to include other things but many areas of life are what they are sadly and we all do a lot of things because they’re necessary. In a trivial sense you could say exercise is a real pain and many of us go through long periods of undoing all our hard work, as we are too busy and tired etc but when we can we do because it’s important but not because we love it or it’s a passion.
7) Any tips for other writers who want to write a 140 character short story?
It’s such a short amount of space and I’m no expert so it’s difficult. All I would say is just try and write from experience whatever that is, as your connection with something will inform your ideas helping you to add detail to your tale. Try and make it interesting, unusual, funny, poetic, moving etc. It is not easy with such few words to use, but give it a go ; what have you to lose.
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