KMWR: Can you tell us about what it was like writing the first draft of “Walk a Mile”? I was drawn to this piece from how you establish character, humor, and tension right away: "It had been snowing a great deal that winter, which drove up the electrical bill, so we rented the living room to Dean's cousin, Charlie, as a way of circumventing the additional expense... Charlie had recently been dishonorably discharged from the Army due to an accident involving a horse, a firehose, and two waitresses from the High-Five Bar and Grill."
EL: The first draft is always a bit of a mess, but I tend to start with character over plot. Whenever creating with a situation, complex or as common as cousin Charlie needing a place to stay for a while, I find it best to use an odd number of characters who differ in ethics and personalities, because the triangulating of points of view naturally creates inner conflict (showing additional layers of each character) within the group beyond the external conflict (Charlie unexpectedly living with Dean and Tanner). When Charlie, who was recently dishonorably discharged from the Army, shows up, it quickly sets up the question, “What’s going to happen next?” Most interesting stories feature an innocuous inciting incident, illustrating how a simple “yes” or a small, kind gesture can set in motion a series of unfortunate events. Below the surface, this fun, quirky story points to the proverb “Be wary of strangers bearing gifts” and to the ideas that unlearned life lessons are cyclical and how energy, good or bad, can reappear in many forms, like handcrafted slippers changed into albino alligator shoes, yes?
KMWR: I’m intrigued by the relationships that make up your portfolio. I’m thinking of your previously published works “The Separatists” and "Sign the Papers" in conversation with “Walk a Mile” where complex characters and conflicts are tinged in the slightest by a strange occurrence--bullfighting dreams, a wedding band jumping fingers, the alligator slippers. What drew you to write these fictions and to fleck them with these strange notes?
EL: I have always been fascinated by the unsuspecting details in most everything in life, people, places, things, and the overlooked, strange occurrences that are everywhere. Since I can remember, I have always tried to find the backstory for most everything; however, doing so can lead to a rabbit hole. Without a healthy curiosity and an over-active imagination, I would surely be lost in triviality. For instance, and to oversimplify, when I notice something in a person, like a scar, ring, chipped tooth, or shade of lipstick (details that seem commonplace to most), I begin to see the person in a unique light, wondering how and why these details came to be. In Rome, when I toured the Colosseum, above and below ground, my imagination raced with horrific and victorious visions, wondering about the gladiators who carved into the stone walls of their cells. Now, try to imagine the moment when a forgotten gladiator felt so compelled to carve a message into his cell wall. Those smoothed-over, illegible stone carvings made my mind overflow with emotional backstories. But a writer does not need to go to Rome or any location for this type of experience to occur, because most writing, good or bad, begins in the imagination, and the spark of a story can start with a simple detail and express a great deal beyond its physicality. I’m drawn to details because of the choices behind them—that’s where the greater insight rests.
KMWR: You are a prolific visual artist. How do you balance your writing life with these other mediums? What aspects of visual art do you bring into your prose?
EL: I must admit, I rarely find balance in anything I do, and have come to embrace the fact, which is also saying that I am laser-focused and result-driven. The writing life is exactly that: a life of writing, a relationship that has no ending, mostly because the greatest and hardest part of writing, regardless of its varying mediums, resides in the imagination (conscious and subconscious), not the physicality of writing, so my mind is always at work, whether I want it to be or not, even when I am not physically typing. Before I began painting, I always noticed the details, physical and or emotional, in the world and tried to describe them to best of my ability in my writings, so whether I’m creating fiction or visual art, they are merely branches stemming from the same creative tree, and the writings or artwork are simply the leaves. In other words, in fiction, I paint stories with the use of language; with visual art, I use color and theme to create a narrative, and in both disciplines, I attempt to evoke an emotional experience from the audience. I find the greatest beauty in art and otherwise lies not in perfection but rather in the imperfections that make us human.
KMWR: What is your ideal writing session, and what do you like to have nearby as you write?
EL: My ideal writing session is when I hit that out-of-body stride when I am no longer aware that I am physically writing but rather existing in the fiction with all of the characters, situations, and emotional dynamics. As a writer, that’s the best feeling; consequently, I am physically and emotionally drained at the end of one of those wonderful sessions. It feels like channeling, energy flowing through me, like I am nothing more than some sort of medium, a go-between fact and fiction. Since this writing experience is ideal and unexpected, I must rely on notes, outlines, and discipline most of the time to get the work done. I tend to have a cup of coffee nearby when I write.
KMWR: What kind of habits do you have with writing--good and bad?
EL: I try not to develop any habits or superstitions when it comes to writing. Otherwise, it creates a precursor to getting the work started. A good habit/practice I like to do when writing is to speak/read the dialogue aloud, and this habit continues whether I’m physically writing, at the dinner table, or drinking a cup of tea alone in the living room, etc. Yes, it may appear odd to most non-writers, but it’s just part of my creative process. If you haven’t seen this writing process before, imagine you’re going to write a scene, let’s say, a cocktail party, for example. Envision the protagonist in attendance, and then speak the dialogue as it comes to mind, speaking for the entire cast, including the narrator. Allow the dialogue to come naturally to get a better sense of how people really speak, as opposed to writing dialogue weighed down with stilted, on-the-nose exposition. The point of this habit is to get the ideas flowing. It may look funny or strange, but this helps me with dialogue. This good habit can be compared to method-acting.
As far as bad writing habits go, whenever I’m in the middle of a writing project, I do not read other fiction writers, so I keep myself strictly to non-fiction books, film, music, artwork, etc. This habit began in days when I wrote music and has continued into fiction and painting. It’s fundamental to have influences and steal from them, especially in the early stages of learning, if you must, but never ever copy another artist’s voice. Regardless of how good or bad a piece of writing or any art form is, above all else, be original. Be yourself at all costs. Nobody likes a copycat.
KMWR: Are you working on anything new?
EL: Good question. Currently, I have paused my dramatic writing, so no new stage play, screenplay, or television pilot is in the works, but if there is ever a good time to pivot disciplines, it is now, since the film and television landscape is under construction. As far as writing fiction goes, I always have more story ideas that I have time to write them. Currently, I’m seeking a publisher for my collection of short stories, a novella, two novelettes, four short stories, and one flash fiction story. One of my short stories will be published in an anthology by the end of this year (Running Wild Publishing), so I’m looking forward to that. Also, I’m adapting my latest screenplay into a novel (hopefully, the first draft will be complete in 2026). I’m always developing new artwork, applying to visual art exhibitions, and trying to find homes for my existing fiction. At the moment, I have three different paintings that I’m focused on. I have the good feeling that there will be new short fiction written in 2026 as well.
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Writer and visual artist, Ernest Langston is the author of two novels, Born from Ashes and Beyond Everyday Secrets. He was a finalist in the 2018 and 2021 Seattle Film Summit/Bigfoot Script Challenge and a 2019 PEN Writer’s Award recipient. His short fiction has appeared in Litro Magazine, The Plentitudes Journal, Oyster River Pages, and other publications. He was awarded artist residencies at Centrum, Vashon Artist Residency, Sitka Center for Arts and Ecology, in addition to international artist residencies in Spain and Germany. He was awarded a 2025 Artist Trust Fellowship (Literary Artist). Ernest’s paintings have been accepted for publication and or exhibition at Art Week, The Ana, Pictura Journal, Visual Art Journal, Lowlife Lit Press, The Vagabond’s Verse Literary Magazine, Gallerium Art Exhibitions’ 3rd Annual People 2025 exhibition, and Exhibizone’s 3rd Annual International Future 2025 Exhibition. He holds a BA in English and a certificate in Professional and Technical Communications from San Jose State University, a certificate in Writing from the University of Washington, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. For more information, please visit: ernestlangston.com; Instagram: Ernestlangstonmedia.
