Thursday, October 9, 2008

Very Short

I love reading flash. love writing it. But I have zero idea of what I’m doing or what’s good when I’m done. Every time a flash of mine is accepted for publication, I’m stunned.


and no, I won’t read a book about how to write ‘em. However, I might read a flash about how to write flash . . .


My latest technique, and it’s a deeply flawed one, is to watch the blog discussions and try to write with a particular editor in mind. It’s a decent start gimmick that inevitably unspools and gets away from me, and I’ve never sent the finished work to the editor I had in mind.


My flash confidence is in sharp contrast to my confidence in my conventional short stories. I know how to build those, finding the biggest challenge is making them interesting to me. Once I have my own attention, I tend to be able to place the story in a nice home.

1 comment:

Scott Garson said...

it's funny--i think i've done 3 shorts in the way you say, w/ a particular editor in mind. the same editor, actually--Cooper Renner at elimae. And I sent all three to him and he passed on all three. That's not all that remarkable, I guess. What's funny is that he took 3 others.....