Andrea Caswell
A CRAFT CHAT WITH T.S. BENDER

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

T.S. Bender’s short story “Miguel’s Sancho” (Issue 45) is a skilled exploration of belonging and isolation, love and loss, and the darker sides of the human heart. In this Craft Chat, senior fiction editor Andrea Caswell spoke with Bender about techniques for writing group dynamics with multiple characters, and about how this piece, part of a novel-in-stories, fits into a larger whole.

“I needed to incorporate imagery to make a scene feel real, while understanding that even if we experience all five senses at once, it can be rather excessive to write that way.”

T.S. BENDER, “MIGUEL’S SANCHO” from cleaver issue 45

Andrea: “Miguel’s Sancho” exudes the aura of a ghost story. The character of the title, Miguel, is absent; he doesn’t speak a line, but his presence exerts pressure on the group. Further, his “sancho” is a character we never meet. Please share your thoughts on giving depth to characters who “aren’t there,” and some of the challenges that presented in writing.

T.S.: It was almost easier to write with neither character “present” because this story is ultimately about the group, and more specifically, about the narrator and the “pressure” you mentioned above. I wanted the story to be about more than infidelity, to expand it to our more universal fear of the unknown, and the power that this fear—that any fear—holds. Each of them is just waiting for something bad to happen, because why wouldn’t it? Keeping Miguel and the sancho removed from the moment highlights the fear of the characters who are still waiting. 

Andrea: I enjoyed the rich group dynamics of this story. It can be difficult to individuate a cast of characters, but you’ve managed it beautifully. Can you share writing techniques you may have used to accomplish that?

T.S.: This is one of the first stories I wrote for my novel-in-progress, and I did focus on creating distinct characters, especially during revision, with the help of editor Jaime Karnes. Though each character doesn’t appear in each story, when they do, whatever it is that differentiates them from others is also there, not only to distinguish them from other characters for a first-time reader, but also to serve as a reminder, to allow the reader to recall that specific character from a previous story. As far as individuating within a group, I tried to recognize that on a grounds crew of fifteen to twenty workers, every person has a particular way of speaking, each one has a tic, etc. I wanted each of them to be an actual person, and I used that simple premise, focusing on the little things that often do differentiate people in reality.

Another technique was knowing I needed to incorporate imagery to make a scene feel real, while understanding that even if we experience all five senses at once, it can be rather excessive to write that way. I like to keep imagery somewhat minimal, so that the imagery that is on the page is highlighted and carries more significance. This, then, can add to the character in some way, without explicitly telling the reader what each character is like. Victor comes to mind, with his boyish and pudgy face that turns menacing, and also Fin, smacking the side of the cart with the valve key. Each tells us a little something about the characters and is specific to them, but also allows the reader to form their own judgments.

Andrea: The narrator’s status is an uneasy mix of insider and outsider. When trying to understand Miguel’s behavior, I was struck by his comment, “I thought that was what you all do,” highlighting his recognition of their cultural differences and outsider status. Despite this, the reader senses he’s been accepted into the fold. Please tell us more about those themes.  

T.S.: This is a theme throughout the novel, though each story explores a different aspect of it, with a different conflict. It’s something I experienced during my time working on a grounds crew, but have certainly felt it at other times in my life, just as I’m sure everyone has. Each summer I worked on the grounds crew — nine summers, plus a few springs and falls, and one winter — there was something that made me feel like an outsider, no matter how many of the guys I knew, or how well I knew my way around the club and the work we did. Since this idea of being an “uneasy mix of insider and outsider” was familiar, and is so common for everyone, I knew it was a feeling I wanted to explore more, especially with this specific conflict. The tension is present because of Miguel’s sudden departure, and for the narrator, there’s the added tension of not being fully aware of the situation. He wants to be part of the crew, but also knows he won’t ever be, or not fully. So of course, during this tense moment, the narrator will say the wrong thing: “I just thought that was what you all do.” It isn’t malicious or demeaning from the narrator’s perspective, and on any other day, maybe it wouldn’t matter as much. But on that day, it highlights how different the narrator is, even as he tries not to be.

Andrea: What challenges did you encounter while writing and revising this story? How did you resolve them?

T.S.: One significant challenge revolved around the premise of Miguel’s sancho. Even though the sancho isn’t actually Miguel’s but his wife’s, the group would have viewed it as Miguel’s problem to deal with. While working on the grounds crew, I understood that this was something that could happen, but in taking it on in fiction, I felt like an interloper, writing a story based on the premise of a sancho. It could and would be very personal to someone, but it wasn’t necessarily to me, and I didn’t want to write a story that was beyond my realm. What helped resolve it was my decision to focus the story on the narrator, so that he, this insider/outsider, has to understand the situation for himself. Naturally he thinks about how it’s similar to something he’s gone through, but he also recognizes the differences. Additionally, I wanted the narrator to understand that he will never understand, because he can’t. He might feel the same emotions that Miguel did, but that doesn’t make their conflicts the same, and of course, the conflict is a complicated one.

Andrea: Can you tell us about the larger context of “Miguel’s Sancho”? This a from a novel-in-stories, so where does this one fit in? 

T.S.: Yes, this is from a novel-in-stories, currently titled All That We Did. The final story is nearly finished (by final, I mean the last one I’m writing, not the chronological last story). This much longer story directly precedes “Miguel’s Sancho,” and the narrator, whose name is Hank, drifts away from the guys on the crew because he’s dating a member of the club, and feels he might be better than his co-workers, and thinks he won’t be at the club much longer. In “Miguel’s Sancho,” there’s certainly a bit of a rift, some overt animosity from others on the crew, that isn’t as present in the other stories. With “Miguel’s Sancho,” I wanted a quick-hitting story after such a long one, just enough to show the narrator in this insider/outsider role, and at such an emotional moment for many on the crew. “Miguel’s Sancho” is the sixth of sixteen stories, so this narrator, Hank, still has a way to go before the end.

T.S. Bender is a writer and teacher who grew up outside of Philadelphia and now lives in Maryland with his wife, son, and beagle. In summer 2023 he took part in the Kenyon Review Writing Workshop for Teachers, and in 2024 he is a member of the One Story Writing Circle. His fiction has previously appeared in Shenandoah, and he is working on a novel, which includes “Miguel’s Sancho.”

Read more from Cleaver Magazine’s Writing Tips.
Read more from Cleaver Magazine’s Issue #45.