8 Questions for... Feast & Fables

Encourage Meant

Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

Barrie Thomson is one half of

Feasts and Fables

. He lives by the values of The Encouragement Manifesto at ‘Encourage Meant’ and he is learning the craft of fiction writing at ‘Just Write, Right’. A social media enthusiast, Barrie is knee-deep in Notes, sharing, celebrating and championing fellow creatives. When not writing, he will be on a bicycle pedalling in the countryside around his French home but only when he has finished the chores around the tiny farm. Latecomer to the satisfaction of splitting logs, and enthusiastic eater of meals cooked by JoJo (Mrs Feasts), he cycles to justify his intake of French patisserie.

1. Why Substack?

I wish I could remember who signposted Substack to ‘2022 Me’. There’d be a hug in it for sure. Out of love with the ‘Artist Formally Known As Twitter’ and hopelessly ill-disciplined at blogging on our (vanity project) website, I was on the hunt for somewhere that would encourage me to write. At the same time, we were offering positivity and enthusiasm to anyone in our social media circle who asked. So, we had an Encouragement Manifesto and a bucketload of encouragement to offer and I needed some too, ideally in a place where writing was celebrated. Coincidence? I think not. We have a habit of leaving all the big questions to serendipity which worked perfectly this time around.

2. How long did it take you to find your groove?

I liked the feel of Substack straight away. It was easy to write and there were some folk we knew so a few people peeked into what we were saying. But I would say the arrival of Notes was when things sparked. It was a reminder to me to put in the work to build a community. I put a lot of energy and positivity into that feed and I hope that comes across. We have always had an 80:20 ‘rule’ (we’re not big on rules so let’s call it an ‘approach’) - we spend 80% of our time celebrating other folk and 20% on us. Simple things like telling someone you admire their work, quoting them, or connecting them to other folk who will appreciate their creativity lifts the mood. The way we behave can be an indirect encouragement and if that’s a ‘groove’ that’s the one we’re in.

3. How has it changed you?

In one way, not at all. I arrived as an encourager and that’s not changed.

As a writer, quite a lot. Six months after setting up ‘Encourage Meant’, the space that celebrates the values at the heart of our Manifesto, I created a publication called ‘Just Write, Right’ to push me to take my creative writing practice more seriously. I started in a flurry of flash fiction (then dialled back the alliteration). Nowadays, I think I am at the ‘less but better’ stage; there are fewer stories but the ones I am writing offer a glimpse of what I’d hoped to pen. I also use the space to share my process of learning and that seems to help some other folk too.

4. What mistakes have you made?

I think probably just technical ones. When we left our deli life, some customers wanted to follow our adventures so we set up ‘Feasts & Fables’ as an identity. It caught on so we tend to create new online presences as F&F. That’s what we did here, nesting our publications underneath that ‘brand’. I’m not sure if that was the right thing to do. There’s a risk, I guess, that you have to spend a lot of time explaining … “who’s Feasts and Fables and what’s that encouragement thing all about”. Or maybe those conversations help bring us to life so they’re not a mistake after all.

5. To pay or not to pay?

As a reader, I wish I could reward everyone whose words I love, admire and learn from. I consume so much brilliant content here; honestly, I would almost give up Haribo sweets and spend all my pocket money on writing, and probably quite a lot of the housekeeping too. But it’s not practical. We have boundless enthusiasm to invest in likes, comments, restacks etc and we throw that around with largesse.

As contributors, we’re in the ‘no pay’ bracket. Nowadays, beyond the world of work, I have a bucketful of capacity, several sacks of life experience and a surfeit of enthusiasm, so we are able to turn that into free mentoring because not everything needs a price tag.

6. What artistic and technical choices have you made?

Not to make any.

We just turn up as us, positivity and encouragement turned up to the max.

7. What’s been the effect on your writing?

I think it has sharpened up. Editing was not for me, as Stephen King reportedly said, ‘divine’. I was an out-and-out ‘pantser’ and while I can still knock out a quick 100-word flash fiction without too many crossings out and deletions, I am less likely to. I like to hone stories to within an inch of their truth. I love writing for the way the words flow from my pen but I love the words more when not one of them is wasted.

8. In it for the long haul?

For certain. I try and live a frictionless life so the recent flurry of politics and the sharp edges it provokes was a test for someone who loves social media but not the angry edges of it. But I am pretty adept at creating the feed I want to look at. If something ugly pops up, I walk on by. When it comes to the abrasive bits of life, I ignore any invitations to engage (though I reserve the right to put them in a sharply observed fiction to let off steam). As long as the tools are there to let me play nicely, I’ll be here with a jaunty upbeat air and as much encouragement as folk can handle.

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