In this new Interview Series, Susan Tepper talks with authors about their books and lives, hopes and dreams.

Richard Peabody (photo by Dean Evangelista) is a French toast addict and native Washingtonian. He has two new books out— a book of poetry titled Speed Enforced by Aircraft (Broadkill River Press), and a book of short stories Blue Suburban Skies (Main Street Rag Press). He won the Beyond the Margins  “Above & Beyond Award” for 2013.  Peabody has edited Gargoyle Magazine since back before Elvis died.

Susan Tepper: French Toast is your addiction of choice, according to your book’s back cover. How often do you imbibe? What is your favorite way of having French Toast?

Richard Peabody:  I don’t imbibe frequently enough. I did have some at AWP. Those who have the book expect it of me. That particular version was on Hallah and it was melt in your mouth good. I dream of morning after spoon-fed morsels with whipped cream and berries. Maybe honey instead of syrup. Warmed slightly. But this begins to sound like Sean Connery’s Bond— yoghurt, with ripe green figs and freshly-ground, black Turkish coffee.

 ST:  Do you imbibe in the nude? Alone or with friends? 

 RP:  Lucinda threw me an all-female bachelor party. A perfect time for French Toast though we had sushi. Naked sushi models were not yet the rage. I can imagine naked French Toast models might get a bit too sticky for comfort. And I remained clothed.

 ST:  Who is the elusive Lucinda?  For years I’ve seen her listed as co-editor (Lucinda Ebersole) on your Gargoyle masthead.  Yet never have I seen a photo of Lucinda, or noticed her making an appearance at AWP or any conference.  Does the mystery woman Lucinda exist in corporeal form?  I picture her with sandy flowing hair and pale, diaphanous garments.

Lucinda Ebersole… bought an entire West Virginia town on Ebay a few years ago. Really.

As she said at the time, be careful what you click on. 

RP:  Lucinda Ebersole, a fellow Pisces, bought an entire West Virginia town on Ebay a few years ago. Really. As she said at the time, be careful what you click on. She moved out to Shirley, WV where she owns the building the USPS rents as the local post office, and the remainder of the buildings on main street. She raises chickens, gardens. Her two blogs are —
http://lucindaville.blogspot.com/ and http://cookbookoftheday.blogspot.com/

Plus she sells wooden cake boxes.  I don’t consider her the Ophelia type per se, but her author shot for her St. Martin’s novel Death in Equality shows her underwater wearing pearls. We used to do book fairs together. We introduced the Karen Finley “Barbie” (book) at the Miami Book Fair back in 1993 and gave out an award at the Firecracker Award ceremony in Chicago in 1994? I think that’s right. “Mondo Barbie” made us so hot for a skinny minute that Lucinda was actually asked about fashion in the NewYork Times Magazine that year.  She does have sandy flowing hair.

My mom’s from North Carolina. Between her and Lucinda I had to be a feminist.  And both have influenced characters in “Blue Suburban Skies.”  At least I like to think so. Enabled me to spend more time in the female POV in some of those stories. You never know whether it works or not until you get some feedback from readers. What’s surprised me is how much feedback has been directed at three of my male characters—Renfro, Eddie Luhan, and Wyatt. People really like them. Enough so I’ve been asked if there are other stories that feature them. Of the female characters the one I hear the most about is Isabelle from “Travels in Major Minor.”

My rule about covers has always been this—

Will a person see it face out from across a room and be curious enough to walk over and pick it up? If the image can’t do that it’s not the right one. That’s why we spend a lot of time trying to find an image that will grab people’s imaginations. 

 ST:  The title story in your book (of the same name) “Blue Suburban Skies” centers around addiction.   Do you think the father’s reaction is uncommon?

 RP:  Really? I don’t see it that way at all. I’m not glamorizing addiction and when I hear that word I think hard drugs like heroin or crack cocaine. I don’t see pot as a starter drug. In my experience it often aids people in getting away from alcohol as a crutch. Speaking of addictions. I do imagine that most people’s reactions are more like the wife’s in the story. I was after a much lighter experience–the bonding of two strangers, two men who discover they actually do have something in common. I find it very difficult for men to bond after they reach a certain age in this country. I liked the idea of them sharing something from their glory days, something neither has done in a really long time. Two oddballs making a peace treaty, sharing a little empathy, finding an oasis from their roles as stressed out fathers.

 ST:  Did the burbs pan out for you?  Or did they leave you with something missing, the way they seem to leave Cheever’s characters.  Sort of confused and conflicted.  Left out in the cold.  Stranger in a strange land syndrome. 

 RP:  I think I like the idea of the burbs in the way I like the idea of utopia. It’s easy enough to see why they caught on. A few reviewers have mentioned Cheever but he wasn’t a direct influence. The Vietnam war impacted the burbs, as did the Civil Rights movement. That division and culture war (still being played out in current politics) was like an electric current for me. I think everybody I knew in the neighborhood was confused and conflicted. We were all driven to escape. And we did into travel, drugs, and loud imaginations. My characters are constantly running away only to find that a new place doesn’t eliminate the mental baggage of a life. Nothing new to you or me but for some of the characters it’s all about how that plays out in the world. As I get older I have a certain nostalgia for those lazy burn days. It was never perfect. But there are some strong memories that still tie me to those sweet spots in and among the madness.

And every artist I know, no matter what their discipline, feels like the outsider, the alien. That’s one of the engines we need in order to stand apart, observe, and render our work. Is that a good thing? Depends on the work. Depends on the family unit, or relationship. I think everybody in the arts is seeking some sort of balance in that regard.

 ST:  What inspired this choice of cover for your book? I like it. I’m drawn to the guy’s temple veins bulging as he leans over. It feels personal.

 RP:  Ooh, love at first sight. God-like hunk reaches down from heaven to grab tiny little houses between thumb and forefinger. I think you laugh when you see it. The cover is actually grabbing potential readers exactly the same way. So, you pick up the book, flip it over, and there I am with my fingers in a wolf’s mouth. What’s not to love? I suppose you could say that the individual houses mirror the individual stories as well, though that veers too close to  “Life is a box of chocolates” hokum.

We didn’t take the photo or anything.  Scott subscribes to a few of those freebie photo places and I browsed them and had a few possibilities but when I saw this one the bell rang— this is it. Nothing more behind it really. I’ve been doing this long enough that perhaps my filtering process runs at hyper speed or something? Dunno. I’ve seen a lotta covers. Maybe it’s just sheer numbers. Seen it, seen it, seen it, want it, love it. Ya know?  My rule about covers has always been this—

will a person see it face out from across a room and be curious enough to walk over and pick it up. If the image can’t do that it’s not the right one. That’s why we spend a lot of time trying to find an image that will grab people’s imaginations. And this one has worked as it’s grabbed yours.

 _____________________________

Susan Tepper is the author of four published books.  Her current title From the Umberplatzen (Wilderness House Press, 2012) is a quirky love story set in Germany and told in linked-flash.  Tepper has received nine Pushcart nominations, and one for the Pulitzer Prize for her novel What May Have Been (with Gary Percesepe) published by Cervena Barva Press in 2010.   Tepper created the Monday Chat Interview series at Fictionaut, and the reading series FIZZ at KGB Bar in NYC.  Her work appears in hundreds of print and online venues.  www.susantepper.com

I don’t want you to read my story.

I want you to hear my voice in your head.  I want you to feel as though I’ve been telling you something you just can’t stop listening to.

Or that you were walking past a doorway, heard something going on, stopped to listen.

I don’t want to frustrate you, lie to you, or disrespect your intelligence.

But I want you to be so intrigued by what I’m telling you that you’re willing to think it over in your own mind, take the time to make sense of what I’ve said.

I want you to feel that the characters were fully alive before you encountered them, and that a backstory, and perhaps an afterstory, feels not only possible, but undeniable.

Sometimes a story falls right out of my head onto the page.  The voice is already authentically alive and all I am doing is making it tangible for you.  Sometimes I want to write about something–that happens when the title falls out of my head without anything else attached to it.  Those are the stories I struggle with.  Those are the ones where–sometimes for months–I can’t find the right voice.  I have to leave those stories alone, let them sit quietly on their own, until that extraordinary moment when I’m reading the draft for the tenth time and a voice emerges that refuses to be shaped to an artificial demand, and goes ahead and tells its own story.

This is how the character thinks and speaks.  It might not be correct–but it’s right.

Sometimes, when editors have questioned a grammatical choice in one of my stories–one that might be technically wrong–my only defense is that it sounds right in my head.  This is how the character thinks and speaks.  It might not be correct–but it’s right.

That’s not to say I’m too big for my britches to revise an unsatisfactory story.  I’ve learned–painfully sometimes–that when editors say a story isn’t ready to be accepted, they’re usually right.  When that happens, it’s usually a plot weakness.  Occasionally, though, it’s because I hadn’t found the right voice.

A story worth reading isn’t words on a page–but the compelling recounting of a tale.

_______________________________________

Sarah Crysl Akhtar’s shtetl forebears gifted her with the genes that impel her to make much from little. So of course she writes flash fiction, cultivates orchards on her windowsill and bakes fabulous shortbread.  Her son gives her what’s immeasurable–the best of all possible worlds.

Every year, Flash Fiction Chronicles has honored May as Short Story Month by asking readers to supply their favorite short story links.  We have asked for 100 links to excellent online stories in the past.  This year I’m hoping we can reach 150!  This sets all of us up with many many great pieces to read during the course of 2013-2014.  This is a loose, fun endeavor.  No prizes and not too many rules.

Got to this page on FFC, or this Facebook group page for further instructions and to submit your list of stories.

Onward to 150 story links!

If you haven’t already, be sure to read the String-of-10 first place story, After the Tsunami by Linda Simoni-Wastila.

by Bonnie ZoBell

Abigail Beckel and Kathleen Rooney (shown right and left respectively in the photo) of the highly-respected Rose Metal Press are interviewed at Flash Fiction Chronicles today.

Abigail Beckel (Cofounder and Publisher) has worked professionally in publishing for more than eleven years at publishing houses such as Pearson Education, Beacon Press, and Blackwell Publishing, and for the magazine Physicians Practice. She is a published poet and received her MA in Publishing and Writing from Emerson College.

Kathleen Rooney (Cofounder and Editor) is the author, most recently, of the novel-in-poems Robinson Alone, released in fall 2012 by Gold Wake Press. She is also the author of the essay collection For You, For You I Am Trilling These Songs (Counterpoint, 2010) and the memoir Live Nude Girl: My Life as an Object  (U of Arkansas Press, 2009), as well as Reading with Oprah: The Book Club That Changed America (U of Arkansas Press, 2008). Her poetry collection, Oneiromance (an epithalamion), won the 2007 Gatewood Prize from the feminist publisher Switchback Books, and her collaborative collection with Elisa Gabbert, That Tiny Insane Voluptuousness, was published by Otoliths in 2008. Her debut novel, O, Democracy!, is forthcoming with Fifth Star Press in 2014.

*****

Bonnie ZoBell:  Hello, Abby and Kathleen. I appreciate your participating in this interview since Rose Metal Press is one of the best fiction chapbook publishers out there.  

Abby Beckel and Kathleen Rooney:  Thank you! We appreciate you interviewing us and appreciate the compliment about our flash fiction chapbooks.

 BZ:  Does Rose Metal Press have a philosophy?

AB and KR: We founded Rose Metal Press in January of 2006 as an independent, 501(c)(3), nonprofit publisher whose mission is to produce books in what we call hybrid genres, by which we mean short-short stories, prose poetry, flash nonfiction, novels-in-verse, book-length linked narrative poems, image and text collaborations and other literary works that move beyond the traditional genres of poetry, fiction, and essay to find new forms of expression.

 BZ:  What would you say your press is looking for in the way of submissions?

 AB and KR:  We’re looking for work that is formally adventurous and, for lack of a better word, “experimental” because we like those two simultaneous effects: the pleasure of the form itself in addition to the content and the invitation to the reader to be challenged (and hopefully rewarded).

That being said, we do not look for work that seems bizarrely structured merely for the sake of being able to call itself “hybrid.” We seek work whose hybridity feels both exciting and essential—because while the form is a big component of what a reader is supposed to be getting out of their experience of a Rose Metal Press work, so too do we want the reader to feel that the work has an emotional impact and truth.

 BZ:  What mistakes do you see writers making who submit to Rose Metal Press?

AB and KR: Sometimes we get submissions from people who seem to think that “hybrid genre” means “chaotic mess” or “anything goes” or “clean out your drafts folders,” and that’s not really what we are looking for.

We also get a lot of queries and submissions from people writing traditional books of poetry and prose. That’s great, but it’s not right for us. Our advice to writers is to always take the time to read the submissions guidelines and general mission of a press or journal before submitting. It saves everyone time and the process will be much more fruitful for you!

 BZ:  What’s your idea of a perfect submission?

 AB and KR: We want work whose hybridity, though it may be surprising and innovative, feels purposeful, considered, well crafted, and essential: in other words, we can’t imagine the work taking any other form than the hybrid form they’ve presented. We also want work that has ideas and heart.

BZ:  Name a few writers whose chapbooks Rose Metal Press has published and tell us a few words about their chapbooks.

 AB and KR: Our most recent chapbook, Shampoo Horns by Aaron Teel, is a collection of linked stories set in a Texas trailer park and is a meditation on boyhood, brotherhood, and the fragmented process of coming of age. The one before that, Betty Superman by Tiff Holland, is based on Holland’s relationship with her mother, a story arc all its own, only Betty isn’t her mother and Holland’s not the narrator, not completely. We like both fiction and nonfiction, and these two most recent ones have blurred the edges between those genres. The one before that, We Know What We Are by Mary Hamilton was more lyrical, and even though the pieces were decisively flash fictions, they came close, in many cases, to being prose poems.

We’ve just announced the winner of this year’s contest, chosen by judge Deb Olin Unferth: Kim Henderson’s The Kind of Girl. The stories in this chapbook explore the way girls and women are defined and confined—by themselves, someone else, or their environment. It’s a restless book, full of tragedy, beauty, and resilience. The Kind of Girl will be available this August.

BZ:  If you could put a fold-out in one of your chapbooks, who or what would it be of?

AB and KR: If we were able to do foldouts, we can think of lots of cool options, like a foldout string of paper dolls representing all the kinds of girls Kim Henderson illuminates in The Kind of Girl, or French fold front covers with extra space to letterpress great dialogue lines from the book.

 BZ: Talk a little about the production of Rose Metal Press’s chapbooks. 

 AB and KR: The page range is 25-40 pages in manuscript form, and then that varies in the finished product depending on the design and the trim size. Our longest is 64 pages, but most are around 44-52 pages. Each year, our amazing head designer Rebecca Saraceno decides on a different trim size and interior design based on the “feel and tone” of the stories. We have the interiors printed offset, but print the covers by hand on an old Vandercook letterpress at the Museum of Printing in North Andover, Massachusetts. It’s a wonderful couple of days where the 3 of us wear aprons, pull the type, set the type, and crank each cover out by hand. We usually use two colors on the chapbook covers so all 400 copies have to go through the printer twice. We then choose specialty endpapers and deliver the covers and endpapers to the interior printer (Red Sun Press in Jamaica Plain, Mass.) and they saddle-stitch and trim them for us. Because of the special, time-consuming process we use, we only print 300-400 copies for each chapbook, so they are considered a limited edition item. All of our chapbooks are now sold out on our site except for last year’s Shampoo Horns. We’ve reprinted several of them in our anthologies of 4-5 collected chapbooks, A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness and They Could No Longer Contain Themselves.

 BZ:  Do you accept manuscripts all year round, or only during certain times of the year?

 AB and KR: Only during certain times of the year. We always run our annual Short-Short Chapbook Contest from November 1 through December 1 of every year. We generally have an open reading period for hybrid genre manuscripts every other spring. We have one this year from April 1 to May 1. (Details here http://www.rosemetalpress.com/Submit/Submit.html)

 BZ: Is Rose Metal Press interested in chapbooks from new writers who haven’t had books or chapbooks published before?

 AB and KR:  Yes. We’re open to manuscripts by both established and emerging writers. Quality is the first consideration and all of our contest submissions are read blind.

 BZ:  How many stories in the chapbooks submitted to you do you like to see already published? 

 AB and KR:  It depends. We’ve published some chapbooks where the author had only published a few stories individually before submitting the whole manuscript to us, and others where a large number of the stories had already appeared in print and online. We do like to see authors getting their work out there and building a readership, but again, quality is the first consideration.

  BZ:  Would you like to add any other advice or tips to writers trying to get their fiction chapbooks published?

 AB and KR: Three quick tips:

• Research! Try to familiarize yourself not just with the guidelines, but also with the aesthetics of the presses you submit your work to.

• Put one of the best stories in the collection as the first story. During a contest reading period, the reviewers and judge are reading a lot of manuscripts, so you want a strong hook to keep them reading.

• Pay attention to the overall arc of your book, even if your stories are not linked. A manuscript that is well crafted and organized feels purposeful to the reviewers and offers more of a feeling of resolution. If you just print out all your stories and clip them together, that feeling of haphazardness can carry over to the reviewers.

 BZ:  Thanks very much for all this information on fiction chapbooks, Abby and Kathleen. This will be a big help to a lot of writers.

__________________________________

Bonnie ZoBell’s fiction chapbook The Whack-Job Girls with Monkey Puzzle Press was released in March 2013 and her short story collection WHAT HAPPENED HERE is forthcoming with Press 53 in spring 2014. She’s received an NEA fellowship for her fiction, teaches at San Diego Mesa College, and is Associate Editor of The Northville Review. For more information, visit www.bonniezobell.com.

by Earl Staggs

 This article first appeared in the March 2011 issue of Apollo’s Lyre (currently not publishing).

You don’t always have to write as tightly as we discuss here, but when you do, these tips may help.

If we want a fast-paced scene with tension and suspense, we need to eliminate anything that slows the action.  After you read the scene below, we’ll take it apart and see if we can do some tightening to make the action flow faster.

 Mike looked up to see everyone else in the office already staring at the door where a pair of police officers stood whispering with the supervisor. He turned to look at Maggie just in time to see her stand up.

The supervisor called out, “Is Maggie Carpenter here?”

But she was already gone. She leapt straight up in the air landing neatly on the counter under the window. As the police officers shouted for her to stop, she pulled back her fist and smashed it through the glass. She pushed through the spiderweb cracks in the remains of the window and disappeared outside. Mike didn’t see where she went.  By that time all the other students were on their feet and trying to get to the window. Mike alone remained seated.

Mike rose slowly and watched the officers push their way through the crowd. One of them finally made it to the window and crawled out of it, shouting to his partner, “Parking lot!” The second officer turned and ran out the door, leaving the room in a chaotic maelstrom.

Okay, lets start with the first sentence.

 “Mike looked up to see everyone else in the office already staring”

The word “already” is simply superfluous. Let’s cut it.

  “at the door where a pair of police officers”

“A pair of” means there were two of them.  Let’s say “where two police officers.” One word instead of three.

The third paragraph begins with, “But she was already gone” and then describes her leaving. That’s putting the cart before the horse, isn’t it?  Let’s cut that first sentence and get right into the action.

 “Maggie leapt straight up in the air landing neatly on the counter under the window.”

Think about that. If she leapt straight up in the air, wouldn’t she come straight back down and land in the same spot?  Let’s whittle that down to:

 “Maggie leapt onto the counter under the window.”

Also, under the circumstances of the moment, I don’t think anyone would take time to judge if she landed “neatly” or otherwise.

In the next sentence, we have:

 “As the police officers shouted for her to stop,”

We’ve already identified them as “police officers.”  Here we can just say “officers.”

Then, “she pulled back her fist and smashed it through the glass.”

In order to smash the window glass, we can assume she first had to pull back her fist. Let’s shorten that to, “she smashed her fist through the glass.”

Next comes, “She pushed through the spiderweb cracks in the remains of the window”

I doubt she could push her way through spiderweb cracks, so let’s tighten that to:

 “She pushed through the remains of the window and disappeared outside.”

We don’t need to say “outside.”  She was in a room and went out through a window, so we know that’s where she went.

The next sentence begins with, “Mike didn’t see where she went.” That’s redundant since we already said she disappeared. Let’s cut it.

 “By that time all the other students were on their feet and trying to get to the window.”

“By that time” is one of those little phrases we tend to use, but really only slows down the action. We’re trying to keep the action moving here, so let’s drop it.

 “Mike alone remained seated.”

We’ve just said, “all the other students were on their feet,” which tells us Mike was still seated, so let’s drop that, too.  Besides, the next paragraph begins with him standing up.

 “Mike rose slowly and watched the officers push their way through the crowd.”

The words “their way” are unnecessary. What else would they be pushing? Let’s cut them and go with, “He watched the officers push through the crowd.”

 “One of them finally made it to the window and crawled out of it,”

We don’t need the words “finally” or “of it.”

With those changes, here’s what we have:

 Mike looked up to see everyone else in the office staring at the door where two police officers stood whispering with the supervisor. He turned to look at Maggie just in time to see her stand up.

The supervisor called out, “Is Maggie Carpenter here?”

Maggie leapt onto the counter under the window. As the officers shouted for her to stop, she smashed her fist through the glass. She pushed through the remains of the window and disappeared. All the other students were on their feet and trying to get to the window.

Mike rose slowly and watched the officers push through the crowd. One of them made it to the window and crawled out, shouting to his partner, “Parking lot!” The second officer turned and ran out the door, leaving the room in a chaotic maelstrom.

With those bits of tightening, we’ve taken out unnecessary words and left the action moving at a faster pace.

And we’ve let the cops out after Maggie.  Run, Maggie, run!

 _______________________________

Earl Staggs earned a long list of Five Star reviews for his novel MEMORY OF A MURDER and has twice received a Derringer Award for Best Short Story of the Year.  His new novel, JUSTIFIED ACTION, is available in print or ebook. He served as Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Magazine, as President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society, is a contributing blog member of Murderous Musings and Make Mine Mystery and a frequent speaker at conferences and seminars.  Email: earlstaggs@sbcglobal.net  Website: http://earlwstaggs.wordpress.com

by Karen Nelson

If you’re like me, April surprised you with a whole lot more than you expected.  Roller-coaster weather matched an equally hectic schedule, so I know you didn’t get to every FFC article.  Here’s the re-cap for April, and a quick guide to the great items you might have missed.

A special treat in April was the chance to meet the winners of the String-of-10 Contest, and read their inspiring flash fiction pieces.  If you missed these, take a minute (come on, it’s FLASH) and drool over the talent displayed here:

• First Place, Linda Wastila

• Second Place, Robert Vaughan

• Third Place, Folly Blaine

• Patricia McFarland Memorial Prize, Stephen Ramey

The Chapbook Series by Bonnie ZoBell is in full swing!  This month’s guests were Diana Arterian of Gold Line Press, and David McNamara and Brian Mihok of sunnyoutside.  Their insight into the publishing process will have you polished and shiny for your small press submissions.

Stephanie Freele shared her writing process with us, and just her conversation is lyrical…

Perhaps all of these influenced my writing: the dramatic storms, the friendly people, the eye-crackling winters, the stunning autumns, the mid-western accents, the lakes, the snow, the many solitary walks.

Jim Harrington played his favorite games with us, trying to stump us with characters and how we perceive them in What’s In a Name, and he helps us grow in 5 Tips for Submitting to Writing Contests (note to self: dark and stormy nights are no longer menacing).  And as an avid reader of books about writing, I appreciated his balanced perspective in Writing vs. “Writing”.

Every Day Fiction let us borrow their top author – Michelle Ann King – and if you don’t get some ideas from her, you aren’t trying hard enough.

Be sure to read the rest of her interview HERE.

Girija Tropp really sums up the month for me, though.  This Australian-based writer says simply,

“I write best when the sun is out.”

Have an amazing and productive May, and Happy Writing!

______________

Karen Nelson is the Technical Editor for Flash Fiction Chronicles, and also works as Curriculum Coordinator for Goldminds Publishing.  Her writing can be found in numerous niche magazines and educational curriculum, as well as via her blog (kbnelson.wordpress.com).  She homeschools her two children at their Ozarks hobby farm, where they look forward to every day bringing fresh eggs and fresh ideas!

by Andree Robinson-Neal

“Why do you write?”

The question has stirred the souls of countless authors, most notably George Orwell and subsequently Joan Didion, who both share the idea that writing is a selfish enterprise during which we engage all the senses in an examination of ourselves; we write to put “I” in every scenario, image, and feeling. Orwell describes himself as a Robin Hood, destined to always be hero while Didion describes the experience of creating art out of one’s perspective through a pen put to paper. Having moved into a highly technological age, writers are now able to avail themselves of online writing communities in which their work is critiqued by their genre-similar colleagues and where there are opportunities to pool resources on short stories or multi-chapter sagas. The “I” is still very present in many of these offerings but there is the new element of “We” that collaborative efforts bring. I find that I am guilty of using writing in ways described by both Orwell and Didion, in that I long to express my personal artistic perspective through the descriptions, images, and feelings that I attribute to my characters.

“Why write for prompts?”

A writer’s motivation comes from any and every experience he or she has in a given day. Like many people who write, I keep a notebook near the bed so I can jot down ideas as they come to me in the middle of the night. I also keep one in the car so I can take down notes about interesting things that I see during my commute. Unfortunately, many of those wonderful thoughts were being left in the notebooks or the ideas behind them grew stale with time.

 Prompts are not meant to be a substitute for that next great novel writing experience but are a way to hone writing skills.

I then happened upon the concept of writing prompts and was able to start crafting stories around many of those midnight scribbles and roadside commentaries. Prompts allow me to combine my penchant for personal expression with the freshness that collaboration can provide by offering an idea, a photo, or a line about which I can craft more of the story. I understand that publishers are looking for memorable characters and a solid storyline but when I have a partial picture in my mind, for example of an alien anniversary celebration, a prompt might just be the thing that helps me fill out that incomplete image with which I began, especially if my finished project is shorter than what a journal-ready short story might require.

Prompts offer a writing challenge. The collaboration comes through someone else’s inspiration, to which I and other writers are responding; some sites run the prompts as contests, where the winner of today’s challenge provides the image or set of words for the next round. The need to contribute my artistry is satisfied because my take on a prompt is just that—my own unique vision in as many or as few words as I find necessary. A quick search through the “Flash Fiction Markets” page here will yield sites that offer writers the opportunity to respond with anywhere from six to an unlimited number of words per submission, or to respond in “tweet” fashion (with 140 characters).

…many of those wonderful thoughts were being left in the notebooks or the ideas behind them grew stale with time.

Prompts are not meant to be a substitute for that next great novel writing experience but are a way to hone writing skills. Many blogs and websites offer daily or weekly prompts designed to keep creative juices flowing regularly and to keep writers writing. Such sites are open to new and seasoned writers alike; contributors comment on one another’s posts and I find that the constructive criticism I receive helps me develop as a writer. I highly recommend the practice of writing for prompts and hope to continue on a regular basis.

 ________________________________

Andreé Robinson-Neal got bit by the writing bug back in the late 1970s while watching Rod Serling and reading Ray Bradbury; although she has worked in education for more than a quarter-century, she has never been cured of her penchant for speculative fiction. Find some of her flash fiction www.starvingartist.wordpress.com. She writes under the name AR Neal, who will hopefully one day be identified as a famous NaNoWriMo participant…

Flash Fiction Chronicles interviewed Michelle Ann King about Every Day Fiction’s Top Story for March, “Not the Pizza Girl“ a story about deliveries, demons, and a race against time. 

Aliza Greenblatt:  According to your biography, you’ve had many different careers – insurance claims handler, tarot reader, and makeup artist – before becoming a full time writer.  What made you want to pursue writing professionally? Do experiences from past careers often find their way into your stories?

Michelle Ann King:  Writing is something I’ve done for fun all my life–one of my very earliest memories is of making up stories about my favourite toy, a space-faring poodle called Charlotte. In recent years, the internet created a whole new market for short stories, and the revolution in e-books made self-publishing a viable option–so when I was made redundant from my last office job it seemed like a serendipitous opportunity to make a hobby into something more.

I think all writers use their past experiences in one way or another–to a large extent, ‘write what you know’ is less advice than inevitability. Certainly, I can immediately think of two of my stories that feature tarot card readers and claims handlers.

AG:  Was there any particular prompt or inspiration for Not the Pizza Girl? Did you have any specific goals when writing this story?

MK:  Tying in with the answer above, when I was a make-up artist I would often drive miles to see a client who would totally have forgotten about the appointment by the time I got there–so a lot of Lisa’s frustration is pure autobiography. The idea was inspired by reading two stories in quick succession that both featured pizza boys, and I started thinking about what else people might want to be delivered quickly.

AG:  Can you tell me a little about your writing process?

MK:  A lot of my ideas are sparked by other stories–something I read jumps out at me, and takes me in a new direction. I usually rough out a basic outline using a version of the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet (http://www.blakesnyder.com/tools/) and then write the story in the kind of  ‘cycle draft’ that Dean Wesley Smith uses: run at it until you hit a wall, cycle up and re-read until it prompts you forward again, then repeat until done.  Dean Wesley Smith’s whole blog is fascinating reading, especially the ‘Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing’ series: http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/

I also try hard to follow the advice of Heinlein’s Rules and Ray Bradbury: write, finish, submit, write more.  The Write1Sub1 community (http://www.write1sub1.com/) helps massively with this. It’s a wonderful, friendly and supportive group that I’d recommend to all short fiction writers.

AG:  What are some of the challenges of writing stories that are both flash and genre (science fiction/fantasy/crime)?  What, if anything, is simpler?  Were there any particular challenges with this story being both fantasy and humorous?

MK:  I love flash, because it’s so versatile. You can tell a novel-length story through hints and implications, do slice-of-life (which is always fascinating with a speculative spin) or tell the intimate, detailed story of single minute. With crime, you can put high focus on intense moments or mindsets that would get too much in a longer story. Humour is always tricky, because it’s so subjective. The best you can ever do is write something that amuses you and hope for the best. In a way, I think fantasy can make it a little easier, because the juxtaposition of something mundane, that everybody can relate to, with something unexpected or weird, can be funny in itself. A lot of the humour in Not the Pizza Girl comes from Lisa’s very pragmatic, jaded attitude towards what to us seems like an extraordinary situation.

AG:  There is an interesting duality of the tension in this story.  One part of it is Lisa’s race against time, which is her primary concern.  The second is the slow dread the reader experiences as we realize that Lisa is standing on the porch of a house that has terrible things going on within. And the occupants do not seem…stable. It made me wonder, what sort of training (if any) does a delivery girl like Lisa need for her job? Is it a common occupation or is “Eddie’s Ethereal Emporium” a niche business?

The ‘ticking clock’ aspect was one of the first elements of the story, and the rest built around it.  I love the idea of ‘emergency magical supplies,’ and I see this as a world where magic is real but new–leading to a lot of people ending up with emergencies. I think Eddie spotted a need and stepped in to fill it–the equivalent of the first plumber to offer a 24 hour on-call service. I envisage this as a family business, with Lisa as a highly-trained magical expert who gets press-ganged into taking over whatever job currently needs doing.

AG:  What other projects are you working on now? Are there other stories of yours, either upcoming or published, that you can point readers to?

MK:  I think there are definitely more stories to be told about Lisa’s world, and it’s something I want to explore further. For now, my latest story, a dark fantasy called ‘Never Leave Me,’ will be published at Daily Science Fiction (http://dailysciencefiction.com/ ) on Monday 22nd April. (And if anyone would like to see a breakdown of how this story was structured with the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet, I’ll be guest posting shortly at Dianna L Gunn’s blog, http://diannaswritingden.com/ ) I also have a horror story in the upcoming issue of The Journal of Unlikely Entomology–where I share a ToC with Cat Rambo, which is a huge thrill!

The first two volumes in my Transient Tales series of short stories are now available, plus a collection of crime flash. Details can be found at my website, http://transientcactus.co.uk/

AG:  Thank you very much for taking the time to chat with us. Best of luck with all your writing endeavors. 

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  Aliza T. Greenblatt works in a firmly non-writing field when the sun is up and writes under a desk lamp at night.  Fueled by a sheer love of books and a tyrannical imagination, she writes the stories that appear over her morning coffee and won’t leave her alone until they are put down on paper.  She writes, raves, and blogs at http://atgreenblatt.com. and on Twitter @AtGreenblatt

We have a few things happening in May that I want to let you know about.

First, is our new series, UNCOV/rd with Susan Tepper. Once a month Susan talks with authors about their books and lives, hopes and dreams. Susan’s first victim, I mean interviewee, is Richard Peabody. Look for this enlightening chat on May 16.

May is short story month, and as she has for the past two years, Gay Degani will be hosting an event asking readers to share their favorite short stories (flash and longer). The list will be compiled and posted at Flash Fiction Chronicles. A formal announcement will appear online soon with further information.

During the months of March and April, FFC published new posts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Beginning with May, we will go back to our original schedule of publishing new posts on Mondays and Thursdays.

Thanks to all our readers, and please spread the word to all of your writing friends about Flash Fiction Chronicles. After all, we’re not just about flash.

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Jim Harrington began writing fiction in 2007 and has agonized over the form ever since. His stories have appeared in Every Day Fiction, Liquid Imagination, Ink Sweat and Tears,  Near to the Knuckle, Flashes in the Dark, and others. He serves as the Managing Editor for Flash Fiction Chronicles (http://www.everydayfiction.com/flashfictionblog/). Jim’s Six Questions For . . . blog (http://sixquestionsfor.blogspot.com/) provides editors and publishers a place to “tell it like it is.” You can read more of his stories at http://jpharrington.blogspot.com.

Markets Added

• Snail Mail Review (1500, bi-annual) Literary fiction and poetry – visit site, view guidelines, read editor interview
• Thrills, Kills ‘N’ Chaos (1000, varies) Open to most fiction – visit site, view guidelines
• Cecile’s Writers Magazine ($, 1000, unknown) Open to most fiction – visit site, view guidelines
• Tube-Flash @ The Casket (500, weekly) Open to most fiction / issues are themed –visit site

New Interview

• Literary Juice (100-600, bimonthly) Literary fiction and poetry – visit site, view guidelines, read editor interview

View the complete markets list.

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Jim Harrington began writing fiction in 2007 and has agonized over the form ever since. His stories have appeared in Every Day Fiction, Liquid Imagination, Ink Sweat and Tears,  Near to the Knuckle, Flashes in the Dark, and others. He serves as the Managing Editor for Flash Fiction Chronicles (http://www.everydayfiction.com/flashfictionblog/). Jim’s Six Questions For . . . blog (http://sixquestionsfor.blogspot.com/) provides editors and publishers a place to “tell it like it is.” You can read more of his stories at http://jpharrington.blogspot.com.