Flash Fiction Blog

Thursday Craft: A Critical Essay on Gesture in Fiction
The Boy, the Girl, and the Goose in Leif Enger’s Peace Like a River A critical essay on gesture …I picked up Davy’s knife and tried it against my thumb, then beheaded the snow. Watching, Swede said, “Forgive me running, Rube?" “What?” “I ran away.” “From the goose? Swede, it wasn’t any big deal.” I tossed the head into a cardboard box we’d found in the barn and went to work on the wings. They came off a lot harder than the head; I had to saw the knife blade back and forth. “Come on, forgive me,” she insisted. I nodded, but said nothing. Those wings were gristly f

Wednesday Writing Therapy: 9 Thanksgiving Day Flash Fiction Shout-Outs
I started writing flash fiction before I found it in the world—and I'm still full of wonder when I encounter it. Surely not a definitive list, here, in no particular order, are nine (9) things I'm thankful for in the world of flash fiction. ◊ Dave Clapper & SmokeLong Quarterly . I had the pleasure of working with Dave and his staff for a number of years, and I continue to admire SLQ's ability to find the varied new and established voices in the world of flash. And those author interviews adds to the pleasure of reading each story, kind of like getting a b

Tuesday Focus: Helen of Troy, As Poem, As Flash
First, the poem:Helen of Troy Does Countertop Dancing by Margaret Atwood  The world is full of women who'd tell me I should be ashamed of myself if they had the chance. Quit dancing. Get some self-respect and a day job. Right. And minimum wage, and varicose veins, just standing in one place for eight hours behind a glass counter bundled up to the neck, instead of naked as a meat sandwich. Selling gloves, or something. Instead of what I do sell. You ha

Monday Flash Focus: Searching for Epiphanies About Epiphanies
“And you, you ridiculous people, you expect me to help you” (77). For Charles Baxter, writing in his book of essays Burning Down the House, this excerpt from Denis Johnson’s writing illuminates Baxter's problem with epiphany stories: Why would any reader look to writers (of all people) for the realizations of life that will save them? The emphasis and resulting desire for epiphanies make such sudden insights the raison d’être for stories; they exist for characters to encounter the unknown and be transformed as a result of the confrontation with chaos. They are creation stories (

Saturday Flash Interview: Shoplifting from Tao Lin
Shoplifting. Delivering pizza. G-mail chats. Love. If you want to know where all of these intersect with writing, the answer lies in Tao Lin. The author of four books, the most recent Shoplifting from American Apparel, Lin's gotten a lot of attention recently, both for his writing and his internet stunts (his latest involved auctioning off 30-minute G-mail chats while he was on various drugs.) Hijinks aside, the man can write. Pick up his collection Bed, and the story "L