I stumbled onto flash fiction in 2010 while working with PANK Magazine as a proofreader who also wrote interviews. Prior to discovering flash fiction, my focus was writing poetry to compete with at poetry slams and writing shorter poems for publication. A poetry slam is a competition started in 1986 by Marc Smith, a Chicago construction worker. You have three minutes to perform a work of your own construction, no props, costumes, or musical accompaniment allowed. Your poems are scored typically … Read More »

We’ve talked about the parts of a scene—beginning, middle, ending. Now let’s think about the whole short story or novel. Consider the most recent novel you’ve read that you really enjoyed. The first scene hooked you, the last scene satisfied you. And the middle scenes propelled the story forward at a pace that kept you engaged and enthralled … at least I hope so. What a waste of time if not! But what made those scenes engaging? What enthralled you … Read More »

Regardless of the genre you write in, we can all claim to be authors of speculative fiction of some kind or another. Every story speculates about something. Our imagination is built from even the simplest what if question. What if this happened, what would happen next? What if this confronted our heroine, would she succeed? What if this transpired, how could our hero escape? Whether you write mysteries, thrillers, romance or mainstream literary, the journeys of your characters are driven … Read More »

It’s difficult to switch from writer to reader. I’m in the final phase of editing, and I’m reading my middle-grade mystery for the umpteenth time to see if it flows, hits the vital plot points, and becomes something the reader will have difficulty putting down. The reader in me dives in and becomes engrossed with the gothic mansion and the scary relative. It’s a good sign. Then the editor in me decides to tweak a phrase, insert a word, or enhance … Read More »

A good humor writer is a master of deception, a psychological deceiver, a sensory trickster. They’re filthy rotten liars. That’s because good humor is based on violated expectations. That is, the laugh comes from being surprised when you think one thing is going to happen, but another does instead. It’s based on what psychologists call the Incongruity Theory or Incongruity-Resolution Theory. That’s because the humor actually happens when you realize and recognize the incongruity.. Here’s how it works. “Take my … Read More »

  A scene’s ending should leave the reader with more information about the plot than he had when the scene began. But it should also leave the reader wanting more. Tall order! How can this be done successfully? A scene must be a conclusion—to a conversation or a date, perhaps. Maybe the scene ends a life or a job—something life-changing—and the MC has to ask himself where he goes from there.   Or, perhaps, the ending of the scene is … Read More »