Why waste my time on flash fiction?

Good question. I can think of two reasons.

The first should be obvious. Writing flash fiction helps authors sharpen their writing by forcing them to choose precise words, to eliminate empty words, and to focus on the theme of the story to make certain every scene, every paragraph, every sentence, and every word is important to the end result. Otherwise, the authors may be unable to write stories within the demands of the word count limits of flash fiction.

But there’s another reason that may be even more important, especially to the unpublished novelist. Publishers and agents look for experienced authors to represent. Book production costs are high, and many publishers aren’t willing to take a chance on an unproven writer. They want to know the author is serious about writing through a consistent history of publications. Now that’s a Catch 22. You can’t get published if you aren’t a published author. Enter flash fiction (and short stories, and essays, and articles on writing, and poetry, and blogs, etc.).

While it’s not easy to get your flash published (at least in quality magazines), it is a way, if you take it seriously, to build a portfolio of publications. I started writing flash fiction in 2007 and have nearly ninety published stories to my credit. Some stories take a week to complete, others a month or more. That’s considerably faster than the time it takes to write a novel. If I can publish one flash piece a month for every month it takes me to write my novel, I have a publication history to show any publisher/agent interested in my book. Even if the deal falls through (which of course it won’t), I can still say, “I’m a published author!”

Here’s what Kevin Morgan Watson, Founder and Fiction Editor of Press 53, has to say on this topic in an upcoming Six Questions For. . . post.

“If you have a novel or memoir, but have never published a few shorter pieces somewhere, your chances of finding an agent or landing a publishing deal for your book are slim. That’s just the way it is. [text omitted] So my advice is to send out some shorter pieces to magazines, journals, and contests, and to use this time to hone your craft and learn how the editing and publishing process works. Your best calling card is a publication credit. The more the better. A writer with no publishing credits delivers a lot of unknowns: Does he understand the business? Will he be receptive to edits and rewrites? Are his expectations realistic? After his book is published, will he make me want to jump in front of a train?”

Copyright Jim Harrington 2010

This post contains text from one session of a flash fiction workshop to be presented by Jim at the 2010 Muse Online Writers Conference.