Q: What are you enjoying the most when writing flash fiction?
A: Finding a new form for telling a story. Be it 100 single word sentences all beginning with the letter ‘C’. Or a story composed from bingo caller’s number rhymes. The 1000 word limit of flash is so liberating in this way.
Q: What is the biggest challenge when writing flash fiction?
A: Nothing specifically, you can make a simple idea go a long way with flash, all the way to 1000 words, in a way if you did it over the course of a novel, you’d lose or bore the reader. The only challenge is a self-imposed one, I try and write one flash a week for 52 weeks, that’s not always possible.
Q: Of all the flash fiction books you have written what is your favorite and why?
I think my first “52FF” having 52 stories is perhaps the most satisfying as a writer, but I have a soft spot for my 3rd collection, “Long Stories Short,” which has some particularly strong stories, I think.
Q: How do you deal with writer’s block?
I don’t suffer from it. Because I work, I am always behind on my writing and if I get stuck, I just put it aside and go on to another project. I’ve written over 300 flash fiction stories, 5 novels, two (unpublished) short story collections and a 4000 word poem, so I think this suggests I don’t get stuck too often!
Q: How long does it normally take you to complete a flash fiction book?
A: That’s really hard to say, because I never set out to write a book with a certain number of flash stories. I usually just write the stories for my blog each week, then at some point I’ll feel I have enough to put together in a collection and go back and choose which ones, perhaps those that are themed as with my last collection “Extra-Curricular”, where the stories were all arranged according to (high) school subjects.
