Gina Nutt: “Mercy at the Farm” follows a narrator to a new job. Can you tell me how you came to write this story? What drew you to this specific setting and these characters?
Veith Coleman: This story combines a lot of attributes I enjoy writing. I like beginnings and arrivals for how they drag forward the past. No matter how much a character is trying to focus on the present, how they relate to a new situation is telling of where they’ve come from. This is part of why I love writing descriptions through the eyes of a character unfamiliar to a place. It also allows for deeper attention and curiosity. And most of my writing occurs outside. So, a character starting a new job at a farm in a place she doesn’t know ticks all the boxes for me.

GN: I’m curious about the pacing here and the subtle unfolding of the narrator’s past. What influences the moments when you move toward a reveal? When do think a story benefits from extending the unknown?
VC: As a reader and writer, I’m interested in the amount of information necessary for a story to occur. I think something magical happens in stories that walk that line of information. In stories with less, the reader is invited to imagine what might be. I like the idea of “extending the unknown” so far the story gets handed off to some thing unknowable, like the natural world, the nature of consciousness, etc.  That’s what guides the moments of unfolding in this story. Lu’s past is quite opaque. But there are moments that the characters and events of the farm force the past to bubble up. Those moments came from the setting.

GN: You’ve crafted an intriguing blend of imagery that speaks to pastoral beauty and violence on the farm, with echoes of heartbreak and danger. What considerations were on your mind as you fine-tuned these details? Do you find that imagery influences the dynamics in how these characters relate to each other, as well as themselves?
VC: I’m interested in how disconnected people are from how things get made, especially when it comes to animal products. When people do learn about farming, they tend to react at the extremes, finding it horrifying or overly romantic. This binary mirrors others, like how gender is perceived, how people get defined as good or bad, how death is described like an on-off switch. I tried to stack these things together through imagery and dialogue to see what they might look like in a pile. The imagery feels like it both contrasts and complements the characters’ dynamics and certainly influences how they respond and understand.

GN: What’s in your creative mosaic? Books, music, restaurants, films, visual art, fashion, ephemera, architecture, anything that energizes your writing.
VC: I try to be outside as much as I can. I walk a lot and sometimes I pick up trash. The trash brings me a lot of ideas. I really like spending time with children and animals. I also try to read everything that gets recommended to me. I don’t like it all, but I think it’s a nice practice. Right now, I’m finishing Ladivine by Marie NDiaye which I have liked a lot. And of course, Joy Williams. I read her work for the first time a few months ago and it’s brought me more ideas than trash walks. I just moved to Salt Lake City and it’s very clean.