What inspired you to write your short story, The Third Match?

Two years ago I read Erik Larson's "The Splendid and the Vile." At some point in the book, very briefly, there was a mention of what was happening at the London Zoo leading up to the declaration of war. I'd never heard about it before — about the plans for the various animals housed there — and I went looking for more information. I found a little bit, but was surprised there hadn't been much (if any) fiction inspired by this compelling story. For months I couldn't get it out of my head; it felt like a story that had to be told. Finally, despite never having written any historical fiction before, I decided I needed to give it a shot.

How did your story change and develop over time from when you first imagined it, to its final form?

The hardest part was finding the point of view. Again, I knew the subject was compelling, but I had to sort out the best way to tell it. I realized pretty early on that I wanted to come at it from the perspective of a character who was something of an outsider but would have reason to be present in the zoo during those difficult days. At first I thought the young man might be on the cleaning crew. Then I decided that he was a student. In the initial draft he was mostly an observer in the story. It wasn't until later drafts that he truly became a character.

How has being a professor of English and writing helped you become a better writer and what are some of the most important lessons you try to pass on to your students?

I've been a teacher almost as long as I've been a writer, and I'm still excited to go into a class full of college students and talk about stories. Sometimes my creative writing students don't believe this, but I tell them, "I'm facing the same challenges in my work as you are in yours." It's 100% true. Of course I've had a lot more practice, but at the end of the day we're all trying to do the same thing: make a reader feel something by putting a complex character in a difficult situation. It doesn't matter the style or the genre, that's the bottom line.

Can you articulate some of the storytelling differences between writing a short story and writing a full-length novel?

I bet someone could make a terrific novel out of the story of what happened at the London Zoo in the months before, and during, the Second World War. That person is not me. As I said, I'd never written historical fiction before, and I wasn't about to start with a project that requires total immersion in time and place and enough artistic and emotional energy to stay immersed for a year or more. That's the difference between novels and stories, for me. A novel is a commitment. A novel demands to come first in your life. In my experience — and of course others may have different experiences — when you write short stories, you can fit them around the rest of your life. When you write a novel, you have to fit the rest of your life around IT. Also, artistically, there's something I really enjoy about creating a brief, intense glimpse into a single situation — even a single afternoon, as in this story. I like seeing how much character I can fit into 8 or 12 or 20 pages.

How does writing a fictional story help readers connect with and learn about real historical people and events?

I think putting a realistic and likable character at the center of another time and place makes the world around that character come alive. One of my favorite books in elementary school was "My Brother Sam is Dead," by the Collier brothers. I'll never forget how fully engaged I was in that story, how fascinated I became by the time period (around the Revolutionary War), because I felt so connected to the twelve-year old narrator. Forty years later I still think about that book, not because of the subject matter, but because of that memorable narrative voice.