Q&A with M.R. Lehman Wiens

Unconventional in structure and length, "Over the Water" achieves so much in such tight constraints. Katie Moats, our dedicated managing editor and head of social media, discusses the themes and imagery of our Lehman's The Wild Umbrella debut.

This piece is quite short, but packs a punch and contains a lot of detail. How do you approach writing something like this? Is it different from writing a longer piece?

I originally wrote this piece as part of a flash fiction workshop, and we were charged to write something less than 250 words, on the theme of water. For a longer piece, I like to try to plot things out, and at least have a semblance of an outline in mind while I'm writing. For shorter flash fiction like this, I let the words flow onto the page without too much thought, essentially writing some thoughts about water on autopilot. In this case, the piece grew rather naturally out of several of my own life experiences. I was a cautious child, and absolutely terrified of the diving board. My son, at the tender age of three, has no such compunctions; he is already jumping into swimming pools with little hesitation, and the contrast of his joy against my own struggles with depression came out naturally.

The 250 word limit became a challenge, then, and I think it's what makes the piece so full. I had to edit out nearly half the piece to get it below the word limit, and so many of the sentences were chosen word by word to maintain both word count and meaning.

I really enjoyed your line "...barely making a splash, reminding me that I have made it to the future and I am here and real and alive." I thought that your writing had a lot of really rich imagery and feeling, and that the pacing flowed quite naturally. What was your purpose in writing this story? What message did you want to convey?

The line that you mentioned is one that I particularly enjoy as well. This was my version of the popular "It gets better" message. I've struggled with depression and suicidal ideation my whole life, and the longer I live, the more I find that life is worth sticking around for. In particular, the births of my two children have shifted my view of the world and my place in it. This piece is half a message to others, and half a reminder to myself, that for every dark moment, there are so many moments of joy yet to come.

Who would you say are some of your biggest influences in your writing? Who do you like to read?

When I was 12, my uncle gave my a copy of The Complete Short Stories of Ray Bradbury, and I think I read through it at least three times before I graduated middle school. Was I too young? Yeah, probably, but Bradbury's writing has had more impact on my own style than just about any other author. Stephen King and Brian Jacques were the two other authors I read at a very formative age, but recently I've been exploring the writing of Ann Patchett, Barbara Kingsolver, and R.F. Kuang. I'm usually reading one fiction and one non-fiction book at the same time; currently I'm reading The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin, a beautifully written piece of hard science fiction, and The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson, which covers the lead-up to the American Civil War and the attack on Fort Sumter.

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M.R. Lehman Wiens

M.R. Lehman Wiens is a Pushcart-nominated writer and stay-at-home dad living in Kansas. His work has previously appeared, or is upcoming in Consequence, Bright Flash Literary Review, The Metaworker, The Good Life Review, and others.

Katie Moats

​Katie Moats likes to write about relationships that just don’t work. She has a BA in English from Penn State and an M.Phil. in Creative Writing from Trinity College Dublin (2024), and when she’s not writing, she likes to travel and cheer on her favorite sports teams. Originally from the suburbs of Chicago, Katie is currently trying to figure out where she’ll put down roots next.