Please note that this article contains plot spoilers. If you would like to read the short story before the article, you can find it here.

Lucy Cameron from the SMHAF Volunteer Collective spoke to writer Kim Campbell after she was shortlisted in the Fiction category at the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival’s 2025 writing awards for her short story ‘Skin’.

I had the honour of attending this year’s SMHAF Writing Awards in Aberdeen’s Cowdray Hall as a volunteer, having attended last year as a shortlisted writer, and winning the Creative Non-Fiction prize. It felt good to be able to absorb the other writer’s work, and not worry about when I was reading my own aloud.

Kim Campbell’s short story ‘Skin’ instantly grabbed my attention with its shocking final lines of the opening paragraph: “She had tasted as I had imagined she would, bitter and chewy.”

After reading this, I decided I HAD to chat with the creator of the fiction short story. ‘Skin’ is visceral, layered, and yes, a little disturbing – I mean this as a compliment of the highest order.

‘Skin’ is not only an attention grabbing and visceral story, it is a heartbreaking tale of the narrator’s complex familial relationships, her loss of childhood and attempt to cope with trauma.

Skin is a common symbol used in literature, as Kim explains. “Our skin is a crucial part of who we are, both physically and metaphorically.” It protects our inner self from the external world, it is a barrier and it is our own.

Interestingly in Kim’s short story, skin is a source of self-destruction for the protagonist. Kim says, “The reason for the focus on skin is because I know so many who have issues with skin (including myself), whether it be eczema, acne or more complex allergies.”

Kim’s background as a Clinical Psychologist shines through in this story, Kim forms a link between the symbolism of skin in writing and psychology. Kim says, “this concept of our skin is aligned with trauma and how people process difficult events.”

Kim explains the link between the idea of skin and suffering from trauma, “They often have a sense of wanting to protect themselves from the possibilities of future traumas (self-defence mode) but display or engage in behaviour that indicates internal distress. This can sometimes involve the use of maladaptive coping strategies that are harmful for that person but ultimately makes them feel better, even if it’s just in the short term.”

Kim’s detailed description of trauma processing gives an insight into the protagonist of ‘Skin’ who appears trapped in a cycle of self-destruction and trauma. The skin picking and chewing is not a disgusting act, it is a cry for help.

On the first reading of this story, I read it as body horror due to the visceral descriptions and images. On first reading it was clear that this story hit the nail on the head for the ‘disturb’ in this year’s ‘Comfort and Disturb’ theme.

However, when rereading it no longer appeared as a horror story at all, but one full of complex emotions and a heartbreaking ending. Kim says, “I didn’t set out to write a shocking, body horror piece but I also didn’t want to hold back from the sensory element of the story. I wanted it to feel real and visceral because that is what suffering and trauma feels like for some people. It can be disturbing, confronting, inescapable and all-consuming and invoke long-lasting raw emotions.”

In this short story the skin picking and chewing is not the real disturbing aspect of the story. Kim adds, “I wanted readers to really sympathise with her story and the life that she is stuck within.”

The complex familial relationships are a strong aspect of ‘Skin’, the mother and daughter bond over the chewing of flesh and the father is absent until the end. Kim says, “She uses the behaviour in some parts of the story as a means of connection, particularly to her mother, but it is also the behaviour that keeps her dad at a distance for most of her early childhood. I wanted the mechanism of the behaviour to help highlight the complexities of attachments.”

The flesh chewing, although seemingly wrong, comforts the protagonist. Self-destructive patterns, even like scratching eczema or picking spots, are damaging. But there is an element of almost curiosity, and relief or something else that makes us itch and scratch. A sensation you feel reading this story.

The character Jessie offers a sense of hope and normality for our protagonist. They stop picking at their skin and chewing flesh. They seem to become more socially accepted as ‘normal’ – they are not partaking in disturbing behaviour anymore.

The way our protagonist approaches meeting Jessie also relates to the familial relationships in the story. Kim says, “Our parents and early attachment figures are our safe base, our sense of protection, our role models and our guides for morality. If we don’t have that, then it makes it difficult to navigate the future world and some of the relationships that come with it.”

The saddest part of the short story is when it is revealed that Jessie has been the protagonist’s dad all along. The hope the protagonist had seems completely lost, creating this devastating ending. The ending reflects that the protagonist is trapped in a cycle of trauma that she cannot escape. The flesh chewing may not be relatable, but the ending absolutely is.

The parents are a large part of this story. Kim says, “The writing of her parents is extreme, but elements of their behaviour such as their emotional detachment is something we see all the time, whether it be due to pressures and stress of daily life or because parents are battling with their own difficult experiences. On some level I wanted some readers to maybe think about what the parents in the story may have encountered themselves and what their history and childhood may have been like. I think as a society we need to understand trauma and specifically the complexities of intergenerational trauma better.”

From previous answers and Kim’s background, there is a real sense of how Kim’s mind works. She is very focused on human behaviour and understanding it, and carries this to her writing. Kim’s writing process is very character driven, involving writing “little bios” about them and trying to understand them as people. Kim finds out about “what her characters have been through”, such as in their childhood and relationships, and then writes a story based on this. By doing so, she can form a story with a full understanding of her characters behaviour and actions.

Kim’s writing process is fascinating; it shows how connected writing and psychology are. To form wholly relatable stories, understanding human behaviour is key. Kim says, “My work in psychology inspires my writing all the time because I get to see such a spectrum of human behaviour. I try to write about how these manifest in the way they think and the way they behave and why they might be experiencing distress because of all these things. This is ultimately what we try to do in the role of clinical psychology with our patients, helping them to understand the reasons for their suffering so we can think together about what best ways would be to support them.”

‘Skin’ was Kim’s first venture into the world of literary competitions, having tried her hand at creative writing in 2025. This year, Kim has attended some of the Write Like A Grrrl classes in Glasgow and describes the decision as “life-changing”. The atmosphere at the classes Kim describes as “really supportive and nurturing”, helping her to discover writing as a “truly liberating” and “joyful” process.
Kim entered the SMHAF competition close to the deadline when figuring out that ‘Skin’, a short story she had previously written, was a good fit. She admits that she finds sharing work difficult. However, starting with the SMHAF was a fantastic one to start with its welcoming atmosphere.

From the writer of such a fascinating story that had me hooked from the get-go, I wanted to make sure I got some recommendations from Kim. She says, “I am a little old school and retro. There are the creepy classics that will always stay in my head that focus on complex families, namely Flowers in the Attic by V.C Andrews and We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver.” Both books that delve into human psychology and the darker side of life. Kim adds, “You also can’t beat some Shirley Jackson and Stephen King for the weird and the wonderful!”

Speaking of the weird and the wonderful, I hope there are a lot more stories to come from Kim.