Because I Don't Know What You Mean and What You Don't

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I live or die for feedback, which means I’m so excited my stories are finally out there, and can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks. Francis Bickmore, publisher-at-large, bought exclusive world rights including audio, in all languages, from Gordon Wise at Curtis Brown. At first I didn’t realise this was a collection of short stories, so I was waiting for all the seemingly disconnected chapters to connect.

Long’s characters are desperate and in deep, deep trouble, dealing with everything from social alienation to a full on apocalypse.I did not necessarily connect with every story, some were a little on the slight side and for me required more depth. Josie Long’s first collection reveals a natural gift with a frank and poignant tale; teenage experience, community WhatsApp groups and broken family units are picked apart with a wry cynicism at the weirdness and cruelty of life. Here we have a range of offbeat and punchy vignettes which each offer a 'slice of life' insight into the various characters' lives and human experiences. RELATED: ‘ Comedian and author Ruby Wax’s honest exploration of her mental health struggles in her latest book, I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was, unveiling treatments, musings, and a captivating European adventure.

The Raymond Carver-like title of the collection gives us a sense of the key problem that many of these characters face, one of communication. All of them are fiction but contain something that comes from my life, be it: how I felt about someone; what someone did to me; a person I know; err, an ex-boyfriend I wish to seek permanent revenge on,” she laughs. But it’s pure Long, too, with its clear-sighted honesty influenced by her work for activism group UK Uncut. Added to that has been a rising political consciousness that’s made her one of the UK’s loudest left-wing voices – alongside Stewart Lee, who was an early champion of her work – in a comedy scene that often ducks away from controversy. They're funny but I think its the warmth, humanity and natural optimism that runs through these stories and makes them feel like a coherent group rather than a jumble of assorted stories.Part of the strategy seems to be to insist that this is not “made up stuff”, but is happening to real people in the real world. Then as I wrote it I was finding all these things on Instagram and realising oh I have the name now, that was abuse, that was this, that was that, and so the story itself was my experience of writing that story.

And I like the idea of putting different types of energy in the book, having some stories more plot driven and some more emotional.My favorites of the bunch are: Gallus, What You Could Have Done and A Photo Taken at a Small-Town Museum.