Author: Nancy Stohlman

Nancy Stohlman, Writing Prompts & Craft Articles

Flashback: 30 Flash Fiction Prompts from FlashNano Year One

Nancy Stohlman

The year was 2012.

The Mayan calendar was ending.

We were all preparing to die.

And FlashNano was born.

FlashNano

FlashNano, flash fiction’s answer to NaNoWriMo in November, challenges writers to write 30 flash fiction stories in 30 days.

Can’t wait until November? Try one of these flash fiction prompts from Year One:

1: Write a story in which something transforms into something else.

2: Write a true story that is so ___________(insert adjective here) that no one would believe it’s true. But it is.

3: Find a story you’ve written that isn’t quite working. Chop it down to exactly 100 words. Give it a new title.

4: Write a story that is based in or uses elements of mythology–any mythology from any culture or time period.

5: Bibliomancy–open the dictionary to any random page, place your finger on any random word and poof! That is the title (or part of the title) of your next story.

6: Write a story from the point of view of someone much older than you.

7: Write a story about or featuring a body part. (Heads out of the gutters, people, there are other body parts!)

8: Write a secret, preferably one you think no one could relate to.

9: Write a story in which something important is lost.

10: Use a dream or pieces of a dream to create a surreal, alter-reality story.

11: Find a story of yours that’s not quite working. WITHOUT rereading it (this is key), rewrite it from scratch, letting it morph as necessary. Then compare the two and blend to taste.

12: Write a story that begins with, and consists mostly of, dialogue.

13: Write a story that deals with or includes some aspect of a taboo.

14: Write a story that has happened to you but write it from another person’s point of view.

15: Write a story that’s happened to someone else, but write it as if it happened to you.

16: Write a story that involves a reoccurring and/or deep dark fear.

17: Write a story that has some reference to a current event.

18: Write a story that involves an animal.

19: Write a story in which you “spill the beans”. Disguise as necessary.

20: Write a story that takes place in an empty landscape.

21: Rewrite a scene from history.

22: Write a story that involves time travel.

23: Write a story that contains at least three of these elements: body lice, gasoline, a Hostess product, a childhood hero, an outdated slang expression, a song title or your favorite flavor.

24: Write a story that contains elements of a real holiday memory.

25: Write a story that takes place over breakfast.

26: Write a story that includes a humiliation, real or invented.

27: Write a story that involves a celebrity.

28: Write a story in which the impossible is now possible.

29: Revisit a story you’ve written. Count the words. Now reduce the word count by half.

30:  Write a story with a theme of “The End.”

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Happy Writing!
(P.S. Want to join FlashNano in November? Get on the mailing list here)
Interviews

Negotiating Bliss: Tea and Time Travel with Sally Reno

Nancy Stohlman

Sally Reno small.full

Disclaimer: Sally Reno and I did not actually have tea during this interview, but we have had tea many, many times in more than a decade of work together. Sally is one of the most insightful writers I know and my go-to for feedback on my own work. So naturally Kathy Fish and I are just thrilled that she will be joining us this August in Breckenridge for our first flash fiction retreat!

Nancy Stohlman: The biggest challenge most writers have is finding the time to write. How do you “retreat” in your day-to-day life in order to honor your creativity?

Sally Reno: A workshop retreat to a gorgeous spot, a solitary cabin in the woods, a house-sit with views, a borrowed beach house—all are bliss. But for me, to negotiate effectively with Time, writing must also be a daily fact of life. I write most of first drafts in my head and keep stacks of notebooks around for impulsive scribbling. Whenever I can, I write in my sleep.

Nancy: You’re one of the co-producers of Blink Ink, a tiny print magazine publishing exclusively microfiction stories of around 50 words. What is your biggest learning from this endeavor?

Sally: We are always  amazed by the  surprising and wonderful things people send us and the lovely circumstance that we can always find new things to try. The Big Learn has been how expensive it is to produce a quality print lit mag, even a ‘tiny’ one.

Nancy: What piece of your own writing are you most proud of?  Where can we read it?

Sally: It’s probably just a quirk in aid of forward motion but I’m always most excited about what I’m writing right now. I do still like some oldies. Most of my published writing is in print, so I have fewer links to offer. You can read my first Pushcart nomination (in under a minute) here:

Nancy: React to this quote by George Santayana: “To the art of working well a civilized race would add the art of playing well.”

Sally: Since I’m not a fan of civilization, I would say: No sane society, or one with any potential for joy, would make a distinction between work and play. Only a slave culture, like ours, segregates work from life and makes of that ‘work’ the only respected effort.

Nancy: Tell us something we don’t know about you?

Sally: I am a time traveler.

Nancy: Anything else you want to add?

Sally: Thank you for inviting me here. I had fun.

Sally Reno’s fiction is widely anthologized and s been among the winners of National Public Radio’s 3-Minute Fiction Contest and Dr. T. J. Eckleburg Review’s Prosetry Contest and has been nominated for Best Small Fictions and Pushcarts. Her microfiction has won Vestal Review’s 7-word caption contest, Fast Forward’s 6-word story contest and Radar’s 5-word movie review competition. She lives in a vapor cave with a big snake and serves as Pythoness for Blink Ink Print and Haruspex for Shining Mountains Press.

Join us! Check out our retreat offerings here:

 

Interviews

Jayne Martin: On Hummingbirds and Trusting Our Wings

Nancy Stohlman

 

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*In anticipation of our upcoming retreats, Kathy Fish and I have been getting to know our participants here, asking playful questions and sharing stories. Jayne Martin is not only joining us this summer, but she has been part of planting this seed that is now coming to fruition. We’re so excited to welcome her here!

Nancy Stohlman: The biggest challenge most writers have is finding the time to write. How do you “retreat” in your day-to-day life in order to honor your creativity?

Jayne Martin: “Retreat” is my go-to state of being. I’m a card-carrying introvert. My biggest writing challenge is having too much time. I have always worked best with deadlines. Give me a short window of time to get a story done and I can summon the energy and focus of a hummingbird paused mid-flight. One television series I worked on required me to write two half-hour shows a week. I thrive under that kind of pressure. Without it, no one can piss away time like I can. That’s why I love your November 30-Stories-In-30-Days writing challenge. I also need accountability, because apparently I’m an undisciplined child. This I get by taking online classes and workshops almost constantly. So my challenge isn’t finding time to write. It’s getting my ass in the chair and focusing.

 

Nancy: You’re also a horse lover and your animals seem to be an important part of your world. Do animals also inform your work or are they separate for you?

Jayne: My animals are my emotional center, so I suppose in that way they inform my work. Mostly, they take me out of my constantly chattering mind, especially my horse. I’m never more present than when I am in his presence. I also live in a rural area high on a hilltop where red-tail hawks are currently teaching their fledglings to trust their wings. That’s what we must do as writers, isn’t it?

 

Nancy: What piece of your own writing are you most proud of?  Where can we read it?

Jayne: That would be “When the Bough Breaks.” It was originally written for Midwestern Gothic’s first summer flash, photo-prompt contest in the summer of 2015 where it placed in the top three published stories. The prompt was a photo of a little boy in a darkly-shadowed room, looking out a window and holding a flower. The piece went on to win Vestal Review’s VERA award in 2016. You can read it here. 

 

Nancy: React to this quote by Henri Matisse: “Creative people are curious, flexible, persistent, independent with a tremendous spirit of adventure and a love of play.”

Jayne: I have a problem with attempts to define people as anything. Henri’s opinion is not divine, it’s just his opinion. Am I curious? Well, I’m nosy. Flexible? Oh, God no. Hate change. Always have and I’m a total control freak. But maybe that’s what most writers are. Control freaks. How else does one account for our need to create characters and then make them do our bidding? Persistent? You betcha. And as tenacious as a tick on a hound’s butt. I was brought up by a single mother who couldn’t quite get the discipline thing down and so I learned to never take no for an answer. As it turns out that has served me well in both life and in my writing career. Independent? “I’ll do it myself” is my mantra. Spirit of adventure? Not so much. I like to plan ahead and know what’s coming (refer to “control freak”). Love of play?  Define “play.” On my horse, in my garden, reading a book? Sure.

My point is creative people are indefinable. A prisoner who figures out a way to escape is creative, though I doubt Matisse was thinking of that when he came up with this definition.

 

Nancy: Tell us something we don’t know about you?

Jayne: I was the “SHOUT it out” lady. It was 1975. I was a young actress in Hollywood and I booked the very first commercial for SHOUT stain remover.

“How do you get a tough stain out?”

“I’d SHOUT it out!”

Yep. That was me. I lived off the residuals from that commercial for three years.

 

Nancy: Anything else you want to add?

Jayne: I have a tattoo of a hummingbird on my right shoulder.

 

Nancy: Jayne, we are so excited to work with you in person this summer!

Jayne Martin is a 2017 Pushcart nominee, 2016 winner of Vestal Review’s VERA award, and a 2018 Best Small Fictions nominee. Her work has appeared in Literary Orphans, Spelk, Crack the Spine, Midwestern Gothic, MoonPark Review, Blink-Ink, Cabinet of Heed, Connotation Press and Hippocampus among others. She lives in California where she drinks copious amounts of fine wine and rides horses, though not at the same time. Find her on Twitter @Jayne_Martin.

Join us in Costa Rica in January, 2019! We have 8 spaces left!

Interviews

Playtime with Paul Beckman

Nancy Stohlman

paul

Paul Beckman and I have been working together for many years on many projects. So Kathy Fish and I are jazzed that Paul is joining us this summer in Colorado–I’m always excited to get to see Paul in person!

Nancy Stohlman: Anyone who follows your work knows you are highly prolific. What is your secret?

Paul Beckman: I like to write and I like to read. I’ve always been a first thing in the morning writer and now that I’m retired I write for longer stretches of time.

How do you “retreat” from your day-to-day life in order to honor your creativity?

I grab my camera and go to one of our state parks and walk and take pictures of the bald eagles, herons and whatever else is around. I also do a lot of street shooting.

What piece of your own writing are you most proud of?  Where can we read it?

Ordinarily I would pass on this question but my story ‘Healing Time’ was one of the winners in the Best of the Small Fictions for 2016. Besides being in elite company I’ve been fortunate enough for quite a few reviewers to pick out this story and comment on it. Reviews tell me things about my writing that I don’t see for myself. It’s like holding your arms out to read the small print and then one day you get glasses and there’s a new clarity. “Healing Time” can be read in the 2016 issue of Best of Small Fictions or you can listen to me read it:

React to this saying: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

Jack, a product of a dull mother and a dull father, was a dull baby who grew into a dull toddler and as the years passed he grew into a dull boy. One day on his lunch break from his dull job he bumped into a dull woman and they spent their lunchtime together speaking of nothing interesting. The rest is history.

Tell us something we don’t know about you?

I’m not fond of heights but I like to go ballooning.

Anything else you want to add?

It would be nice if John Oliver would ask me to read some of my flash stories on his show.

Paul Beckman is the author of the collections “Peek” & “Come! Meet My Family and other stories, a novella, “Lovers and Other Mean People”, and a flash chap book, “Maybe I Ought to go Sit Quietly in a Dark Room for a While”. His story, “Healing Time” was one of the winners in the 2016 Best of the Small Fictions. Paul’s stories are widely published in print and online in the following magazines amongst others: Connecticut Review, Literary Orphans, Blue Fifth,  Litro, Playboy, Jellyfish Review, Brilliant Flash Fiction, Molotov Cocktail, and Thrice Fiction His blog is www.pincusb.com Paul hosts the FBomb NY flash fiction reading series monthly at KGB’s Red Room in New York and had a story picked for the 2018 Norton Anthology of Micro Fiction. He has a new collection of Flash and Micro Fiction, KISS KISS due out in late March. 

 

*Want to be part of the fun? Colorado 2018 is SOLD OUT but join us in Costa Rica 2019!