{"id":2238,"date":"2024-10-10T08:46:54","date_gmt":"2024-10-10T08:46:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quantum.closelycoded.site\/?page_id=2238"},"modified":"2024-12-17T10:39:48","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T10:39:48","slug":"backstory-dont-die-youre-dead-sally-wu","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/events.cqt.sg\/shorts\/backstory-dont-die-youre-dead-sally-wu\/","title":{"rendered":"Backstory: Don&#8217;t Die Before You&#8217;re Dead, Sally Wu"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"2238\" class=\"elementor elementor-2238\" data-elementor-post-type=\"page\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5922dc1c e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"5922dc1c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6683d3c4 elementor-absolute elementor-hidden-tablet elementor-hidden-mobile elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"6683d3c4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;_position&quot;:&quot;absolute&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"92\" height=\"143\" src=\"https:\/\/events.cqt.sg\/shorts\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/09\/pattern_top.png\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-image-591\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-66666dcf elementor-absolute elementor-hidden-tablet elementor-hidden-mobile elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"66666dcf\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;_position&quot;:&quot;absolute&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"160\" height=\"177\" src=\"https:\/\/events.cqt.sg\/shorts\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/09\/pattern_bottom.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-592\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d31c074 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"d31c074\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-35255a5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"35255a5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Backstory: Don't Die Before You're Dead, Sally Wu<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-698dafe elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"698dafe\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div>A Q&amp;A with\u00a0<strong>Andrew Neil Gray<\/strong>, Runner Up in the Open Category<\/div><div><a href=\"\/entry\/dont-die-youre-dead-sally-wu\">Read the story first: Don\u2019t Die Before You\u2019re Dead, Sally Wu<\/a><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2bc8bc4 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"2bc8bc4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div><strong>What inspired your story?<\/strong><\/div><div>\u00a0<\/div><div>I&#8217;ve been fascinated by the Many Worlds Interpretation for a long time. My family emigrated to Canada from Scotland when I was a child, and I often imagined my shadow self \u2013 the me that stayed behind, and what his life might have been like. For the contest, I started thinking about what the world might be like if we could communicate with other universes; how would it affect us, and how would we find practical uses for this.<\/div><div>\u00a0<\/div><div><strong>How did you go about writing it?<\/strong><\/div><div>\u00a0<\/div><div>I brainstormed first, just jotting down notes with a sort of free-association, making lists of the ways people might use access to multiple universes. When I started thinking about format \u2013 how best could I show this world and some of the characters I had created in such a limited number of words? \u2013 the list\/message format seemed to be the most effective.<\/div><div>\u00a0<\/div><div><strong>Can you tell us about you?<\/strong><\/div><div>\u00a0<\/div><div>I&#8217;m in my 40s, and I have been writing since my late teens. I received an MFA in Creative Writing in my 20s and published a book of literary fiction, but took a hiatus from writing when I became busy with my family and career. I returned to writing seriously a few years ago. I&#8217;ve been a science fiction fan since I was a boy, and decided to focus on this going forward. I work in educational programming at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.<\/div><div>\u00a0<\/div><div><strong>What interested you about the Quantum Shorts contest?<\/strong><\/div><div>\u00a0<\/div><div>Everything! I have long had an interest in the strangeness of the quantum world and I wanted to write more flash fiction, so the timing was perfect. I saw a notification about the story posted to Codex, a SF and Fantasy writer&#8217;s group I belong to.<\/div><div>\u00a0<\/div><div><strong>How do you feel about winning this prize?<\/strong><\/div><div>\u00a0<\/div><div>Delighted! There were lots of fascinating and talented stories in the shortlist (and I enjoyed a lot of the ones that didn&#8217;t make the shortlist too), and it&#8217;s an honour to be one of the winners.<\/div><div>\u00a0<\/div><div><strong>What other writing projects do you have planned or underway?<\/strong><\/div><div>\u00a0<\/div><div>As well as short fiction, which I continue to write, I&#8217;m in the early stages of a novel set in the same universe(s) as this short story. My brainstorming generated a lot of story ideas, far too many to fit into 1000 words! My personal website is at andrewneilgray.com<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Backstory: Don&#8217;t Die Before You&#8217;re Dead, Sally Wu A Q&amp;A with\u00a0Andrew Neil Gray, Runner Up in the Open CategoryRead the story first: Don\u2019t Die Before You\u2019re Dead, Sally WuWhat inspired your story?\u00a0I&#8217;ve been fascinated by the Many Worlds Interpretation for a long time. My family emigrated to Canada from Scotland when I was a child, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2238","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Backstory: Don&#039;t Die Before You&#039;re Dead, Sally Wu - Quantum Shorts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/events.cqt.sg\/shorts\/backstory-dont-die-youre-dead-sally-wu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Backstory: Don&#039;t Die Before You&#039;re Dead, Sally Wu - Quantum Shorts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Backstory: Don&#8217;t Die Before You&#8217;re Dead, Sally Wu A Q&amp;A with\u00a0Andrew Neil Gray, Runner Up in the Open CategoryRead the story first: Don\u2019t Die Before You\u2019re Dead, Sally WuWhat inspired your story?\u00a0I&#8217;ve been fascinated by the Many Worlds Interpretation for a long time. 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