10 Things to Consider Before Submitting Flash Fiction

To be clear, Flash Fiction is a Short Story, only smaller. The word count hovers between 500 words to 1,500 words (though few Literary Magazines accept Flash Fiction over 1000 words).

I took a couple weeks to browse through what felt like hundreds of Literary magazines and online journals hunting for open (year round) Flash Fiction submissions (without entrance fees). There are so many to choose from, but they're all looking for something specific. If you plan on submitting, make sure you read their guidelines ... and their legals rights! Seriously, read the fine print! Giving away first printing rights is good (how else would they print it), but signing the piece over entirely, not so much.

So ... after reading hundreds of articles on it over the last few weeks (Okay, you got me. Dozens.) I thought I'd pull it all together in one place. A mish-mash list of tips, tricks, and points to consider. So here's what to keep in mind if you're looking to write Flash Fiction (and do it well).

1. Good Flash Fiction is short but it is still a story. Not a vignette. Not a blurb. Not a summary. Not a chapter. It is a piece of short fiction. It has a beginning, middle, and end.
2. Flash Fiction, by necessity, cannot delve too heavily into complex subplots or backstory. Don't overdo it. In the words of Donald Draper, "Make it simple but significant."
3. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Cut down the wasted phrases and unnecessary words. Chuck 'em. Or save them for another story. It doesn't matter, as long as the story you're working on is succinct and concise. 
4. Use your voice. In an effort to condense, I stripped a story down to the bare bones, but when I reread it, it sounded bland and decidedly not like me. Obviously Flash doesn't give you the same space to play with words that a novel will but that doesn't mean it can't sound like you. In fact, it should. A strong voice is often sought by the mags and it makes your piece stand out in the pile. Cut down the words but don't overdo it or the text will lose any semblance of poetry it had in earlier drafts. 
5. Watch your content. Being bold does not mean being gratuitous with sex, violence, coarse language, incest, rape, abuse against women, or other objectionable content. Though you might have some luck finding a really amazing fringe journal like Trigger Warnings (dedicated to horror, the dark, and macabre), most journals and magazines are looking for pieces open to a general audience. So keep it light and clean. Bummer, I know. 
6. Be bold. Be daring. (Avoid saturated tropes on the market- most notably Young Adult Paranormal Romance... vampires, werewolves, zombies etc.) Be different, but for the love of all that is good, make sure it fits with what the magazine or journal is looking to publish. Not sure what that is? A great place to start is cracking open an old issue and reading what they're all about. In fact, some even require you to purchase an old issue in order to submit. Also, go to their website and check out the What We're Looking For or the FAQ's (if they have one). 
7. Experimental Lit has a time and place. If that's your cup of tea, more power to you but make sure the magazines or journals have similar tastes... especially if your form would require nontraditional formatting. 
8. Get an Alpha & Beta reader. More seasoned writers can get away without critiques (maybe) but for beginners I'd recommend joining a critique site. My personal favorite is Scribophile. (No, they don't pay me to say that. I just really love the site and the community there.) I got seven critiques on the last Flash Fiction piece I posted. That means I had seven separate people point out the strengths and flaws which is a tremendous help during the next draft. 
9. Reread your piece. Don't embarrass yourself (and every English teacher you've ever had). It'd be a shame to be rejected for a few typos. Proofread before you submit. 
10. Don't overthink it. Have fun. It's just a story. The worst that can happen is that it gets rejected. You'll sigh (maybe cry a little), take a deep breath, and move on. It's not the end of the world so don't treat it like it is. Write. Edit. Submit. Repeat. 

Conquering Fear and Overcoming Writer's Doubt

You're not alone.

As writers, doubt is difficult to escape. It follows us around like a shadow. It can be accompanied with depression, self-deprecation and any number of other issues which makes it all the more difficult to shake.

You wrote something yesterday, last week, maybe a few years ago. As you read through it you can't help but wonder - what is this crap? Or ew ... where did this come from? Maybe you're prepping to send out your manuscript to beta readers, to submit it for critiques, or maybe even send it to a publisher. But ... is it ready yet? You've already revised it a thousand times but maybe just one more version before it's really ready. If this sounds familiar, you've got writer's doubt.

Don't worry, we've all been there. In fact, I'm not so sure we'll ever shake it completely but we can take a huge step towards casting a light on these shadowy emotions and being prepared for when they try to return.

There is no cure for doubt. No miracle pill or workshop will make it go away. Only you can do it and, unfortunately, overcoming these doubts is just a temporary fix. If you keep writing, the doubt will creep back in (eventually). Sorry. That's just reality.

You might be staring at the heavens screaming Ahh! Why me? The answer is simple - because you're human... because you're an artist and that's part of the process. It's difficult to be vulnerable and honestly, short of direct mind-reading, what's less personal than letting someone (read your stories and) take a walk through your thoughts? To meet the characters and see the scenarios and settings you've created? Really, it's intense and learning to let go and take a bit of criticism is tough stuff.

It helps to remember that whatever it is you're writing at the moment doesn't have to be absolutely perfect. Of course, it shouldn't be riddled with grammatical errors or burden the reader with a painfully predictable plot, but it doesn't have to be 100% perfect either. This is a craft where we're all learning as we go. So this project might not be your best work ever but as long as you can make it the best that you can with the talent and skills you currently possess, there's no shame in that.

Another thing that's good to keep in mind is that nobody can tell your story the way that you do which is to say that no matter what anyone tells you- you are a special little snowflake.

Someone once said that criticism is how you know you're onto something special, that you're writing something that matters. If it didn't matter to the person criticizing it, they'd let it pass by without commenting. If they care enough to log into Amazon or Goodreads, then you've touched them in someway. Even if they reject your works, you've made them care enough to take the time to complain.

As long as you've put forth the best work that you can, don't doubt yourself.  Not everyone will love everything you do. That's just reality. It's bound to happen at some point and when it does, it means you might be on the right track. 

Developing Deeper Characters: Backstory

Every character walks a path that has two directions. While they move forward during the story (the character arc) it's important to remember to look back at the ground the character has already covered to get to that point. Everyone has a past, characters included. Their backstory or personal history gives readers a deeper sense that the character is complete, not just a stick figure going from one thing to the next.

Have you ever had those "ah-ha!" or "I didn't know that!" moments with your friends where you learn something about the way they were raised or something in their past? It's kind of like that. The character has a personality but his past is what has made him into the character he is at the time the story takes place. Another way to think of it is that the story being told doesn't begin at the prologue or the first chapter. For a more complex story it might begin years, even centuries prior. For most stories, the character's childhood is a good place to start.

Whether it's a terrible child hood, a traumatic event, a bad break up, it can be anything and it can make a difference in the way you (and your readers) view the character. When you give a character backstory, you create a life for them outside of the confines of the story being told. It makes it seem as if they exist independent of the story itself ... as if they are real, complex people and not flat fictional characters.

There are so many options to pull from but my personal favorite is exploring previous relationships.
If this is something you struggle with, you can start with the people that were closest to the character in his past or memorable life events. This usually means his parents, siblings, grandma, college roommates, former girlfriends, ex-wife, etc. Is the character still close to his parents? Does he get along with his father? His mother?

Many of my male characters are conflicted and struggle with maintaining a pretense of masculinity. I can give them effeminate reactions in the present story (screaming when he's scared, crying, failing to do something "manly" like change a tire, or successfully hunt deer), but I don't have to stop there. In order to give him a deeper sense of character, we can take it a step further and give him motivations tied to the present. Then, we can take it even further and create motivations for the present informed by experiences from the past? If you'd like, we could call this a dual motivation system. To take an example from my own works, Roger is effeminate because he's artsy in the present (motivation one) he's self conscious about it because his father was hypermasculine (motivation two). This instantly opens up a whole new world of possibilities as the reader is kept guessing which of these two motivations will win out as he faces a number of obstacles. It would be difficult to achieve this without backstory.

Suddenly, when the character steps out of his comfort zone and tries to defend his masculinity, we no longer run the risk having it feel like he is doing something out of character. If we know that he had a strained relationship with his father, we suddenly get to see a different side of the character... Yes, he's effeminate, but this suddenly gives depth to his struggles. He seeks male approval and it now appears that this has influenced his world view and planted the seeds of the insecurities he cultivates as an adult. And therein lies the genius of a multi-leveled motivational system (which is less complicated than it sounds).

Then there's romance...  Was she a heart breaker? Or did she always find herself being dumped on a whim? Did she ever come close to marriage? Or was she actually married at one point? (Maybe she has an ex-husband off in Idaho or Prague.) Is she bitter and cynical because of it? Or is she still a hopeless romantic?

If the character is guarded and takes a long time to warm up, the reader will want to know why. The reason should probably be that she has been burned in the past (or maybe her mother was burned and she witnessed it). Childhood trauma is another route that many writers like to exploit but I personally feel that it can easily veer into becoming repetitive and predictable.

A character's backstory can clarify their motivations in the present, give them a more distinct personality, make them easier to relate to, and just make them all around more intriguing. It's fine to have a character that is a "strong independent woman" but we should ask ourselves why is she like that? 

Not every detail of the backstory will end up in the final story (nor should it), but it will help you as a writer to know her motivations (who knows? It might come up later.) Of course, it's the writer's job to be judicious about what will remain but fleshing out a character's backstory is a great place to start if you're looking to develop deeper characters. So don't forget: it's not just about where the character is headed, it's important to also think about where they've already been.