This unsure baby writer clocked 250 (and counting) publications from zero in 2019. At the moment, I’m excited about the preorders for my Novella-in-Flash Where We set Our Easel and its launch by Stanchion on 23 May 23!

So, in order that we aren’t disingenuous or casual in the practice of our craft simply out of hopelessness or boredom, let’s do a Spring cleaning of the skills we have, and see how to make our writing exciting and what else we could do. Let the fresh ideas come!

In this month’s blogpost, let’s look at pieces that stand apart from the others and marvel us. Those that make the EiC exclaim: Good Gracious! This is Excellent! Obviously, these are ones litmags get very little of and could do with some more. Let’s make a list:

Sleek satirical pieces. Editors will agree that in a queue for unthemed submissions, prose written in a lighter vein, in a quirky, comic, satirical style, are always eagerly read. (Read Avra Margariti’s The Clown King, if you’d like to attempt one)

Bottom-up Approach, or Reverse Chronology (Keys by AE Weisgerber ). Done well, these are sensational.

Difficult subjects like Identity, Displacement, Gun Violence, and Climate Catastrophe when tackled well (Read Market Forces Winner, Bath Flash Fiction 23rd Award, February 2023)

Authentic cultural perspectives (Read Hema Nataraju’s CNF Tempering)

A story that does not obey spelling and grammar (You might find this amazing: Elisabeth Ingram Wallace’s Scrolling Facebook Memes…, Winner, Fiction, Forge Literary Flash Competition, 2020)

Using time jumps in spite of extreme brevity using clever writing (Read Leah Browning’s Orchard City : lifetimes in 100 words!)

Unusual setting. Places where no one’s been (or very few have!). Flash Fiction set in Kenya, Madagascar or Greenland for example. I found none! If you have, do link in the comments!

About or fiction set in a game/match/competitve race that most of us aren’t very aware of, like archery, or Jallikattu

PROMPTS

DIFFICULTY LEVEL 1: A flash piece about someone who lost his way while on an expedition in Antartica.

DIFFICULTY LEVEL 2: A flash piece about a retired Olympic swimmer. Make it funny (for example: he tells tall tales to his friends when drunk)

DIFFICULTY LEVEL 3: Write prose but using the rules of a villanelle or limerick

THING TO LOOK OUT FOR

2023 FlashFlood UK : 00:01 BST on 30 April to 23:59 on 6 May 2023

Micro Madness New Zealand (submissions open April 15)

SUBMISSION SPOTLIGHT:

Here I list magazines writers may not know about. These are FREE TO SUBMIT & either are open or are opening on April 1

Broad River Review (Free on the 1st of April), Narrative Magazine (First two weeks in April are free), The Cortland Review (upto May 15, poetry), Fictive Dream, MoonPark Review, Brilliant Flash Fiction Contest (until Aril 15)

WORKSHOP NEWS

PRO-TIP OF THE MONTH

This month we hear from published writers who offer valuable advice. Things they wish they knew when they started out!

To find the right workshop. The right sensibilities, perspectives, and skills are essential in the peers to whom you entrust your work. — Camille U.Adams

That writing ebbs snd flows. Don’t be afraid of the days the words won’t come, or won’t come out right. Give yourself space. Do other things. Trust that the tide will turn. — Laura Besley

Have a strong circuit of fellow writers whom you can go to whenever you want to. A strong support group is absolutely necessary.— Rashmi Agrawal

That the goal is to move towards our most authentic voice and perfect our craft to get there NOT to try to embody someone’s else’s voice. That writing isn’t about the publishing world. That you need to find your people and listen to them. — noam keim

Your writing will improve if you keep doing it. — Jamie Etheridge