Actual News!

I got some rather good news while writing this post. It was originally to be titled 'Something of a Roundup', and feature some news and musings of a decent nature, but this latest development has put an even better spin on things.

Initially I was going to say how I'd entered a flash fiction competition run by the folks at 5asideCHESS (in partnership with the Morecambe Fringe) and although I'm deflated to have not been one of the winners, I'm happy to have submitted something, and I believe an anthology is going to be produced, which I should be in (all entrants will be published, unless they don't want to be, so I understand), which is great. I can't put too fine a point on how important it is to keep talking about mental health, and I'm happy 5asideCHESS and Morecambe Fringe have given us this opportunity to express our Covid-19 thoughts through the medium of sort fiction. It's not just a benefit to the writers themselves, but hopefully everyone reading the stories (or listening to/watching them in these videos that I don't seem to be able to link to individually...) will at least be entertained, but hopefully deeper chords will be struck too :)

One thing I didn't enter, that I should have done really, was the 100 Words of Solitude project. I don't regret not submitting too much, because I wasn't 'just being lazy' and putting it off, I had (and have) other pressing things going on in my life, and will just look out for the next opportunity, rather than chastise myself for missing that one. I've really been enjoying the entries I've read over on their site. There were a few standard thoughts and expressions, sure, but mainly there's a wonderful variety of angles they've attacked the brief from, some real dreamy narratives, and some bizarre surreality etc etc, lovely, go check them out :) And keep an eye out for the book they're producing - I'll be hoping to get a copy myself :)

Another part of the original post was going to mention how it's nearly two years since Till Roll was published. That's nuts... To think what I've (not) done with my life in that time... Shameful. But I digress :) I will instead say how happy I am that Till Roll ever came to be (it was, and is, an honour to have worked with Sam Riviere on that), and I've bought a number of titles from If a Leaf Falls Press since then, which have all pushed the boundaries of poetry in such a way that is enjoyable, but serious. As ever, do check out his site and, if you think you're at all bothered about poetry, then you should check out some of his titles (his own, and the ones he's published).

But now, without further ado: BIG NEWS! I found out on Thursday that I had been shortlisted for the Literary Lancashire Award. I can't remember now if LLA came up as a Facebook advert, or whether someone from a local Creative Exchange group shared it back in February, but either way, I thought it sounded good and got to work on a piece using a technique I'd recently been experimenting with, and produced 'Since Error'. I don't want to blather on about it too much (I'm giddy and all that, but I have to remember not to make you, dear reader, suffer my pretentious dissections of craft, as if I've bloody won the Faber and Faber 'None Greater' award for 'absolutely smashing poetry and being a poet'), but yes, it is great to have that boost, and I look forward so much to reading everyone's entries when the collection comes out. I see that the winners have been published in Cake Magzine (buy your digi-copy HERE), but keep your eyes peeled for the collection of winners, runners up, and 'shortlistees' which I'm assured will be out soon. If any of the organisers are reading this; thank you for your time and effort in creating such an opportunity, bringing together and celebrating Lancashire's writing talent :)

Au revoir!

Calum Kerr Interview: Flash Fiction

I’ve been pretty disillusioned with writing short stories and thinking of novels lately, preferring to write poetry instead. Every time I go on one of these ‘poetic breaks’, however, I always notice that I start to miss writing fiction, and this time has been no exception. To get back into the swing of things I entered a couple of FlashFiction competitions, figuring I’d be pretty good considering I didn’t need to write as much as usual, and didn’t win. I read over some of the other entrants’ work, though, researched the form a little more, and it became very exciting, making me want to write more. I realised there’s so much more to their creation than simply cutting out words. Flash Fiction is still a bit of a strange beast to me, but luckily Calum Kerr, author of Braking Distance, 31 and Undead at Heart, editor of Gumbo Press and director of the National Flash Fiction Day, has given up his time to talk with me about his thoughts and experiences.

Martin Palmer: Welcome to Blogtastic, the occasional home of useful and interesting things, as it is today. How did you get into writing Flash Fiction in the first place?

Calum Kerr: I was at a conference and in between all the papers with people talking about what they were currently working on, there was a workshop in this thing called 'flash fiction' which I had never come across before. It was run by a writer called Vanessa Gebbie. This was at the end of a dry spell for me where I had not written anything for nearly a year. In the space of that one hour workshop I wrote two short pieces - 'Salt' and 'Pluck' - both of which have since been published. After the workshop another attendee came up to ask if I had really written those two stories in the short time we were given, and to tell me how much they had enjoyed them. That was what started me off. After that, inspired by NaNoWriMo, I started embarking on projects to write lots of flash-fictions in set times, and I haven't really looked back.

MP: Why is Flash Fiction important for readers?

CK: It's short. Sounds simple, but in this day and age, short is king. A lot of people don't want to devote time to reading a whole novel, and something like flash is perfect for the bus journey, the tube ride, the few minutes that can be snatched between this appointment and that one. 

That much is self-evident. But more than that, flash is a perfect form for a society which is so saturated with narrative. We have novels, TV series, films, computer games and more. All of these have created a readership who have a great understanding of how narrative works. In this culture flash works by presenting just the tiniest snapshot of a story and asking the reader to bring their knowledge of narrative to bear on it, filling in the gaps, finishing off the story, providing the backstory. And there is something very satisfying for a reader in that - in part they get to write the story as well as read it. Despite its short length, I think reading flash can be a very satisfying experience.

MP: Why is Flash Fiction important for writers?

CK: It allows you to experiment in a way that even a short story doesn't. A story of, say, 5000 words, might take you a few weeks to write. A novel will take months. However a flash is something which can be written in a single sitting. It means you can try out something that you haven't done before, or something which you aren't very comfortable with. If it's good, great! you've written a new flash. If it's not good, never mind, bin it and do another one, you haven't lost anything!

Additionally, there is a control which is required by flash. Like with poetry the words have to do a lot of work, each one carrying a lot of baggage. It makes you more conscious of what each word is doing, and how the whole piece works together to construct your meaning. As such it makes you a tighter writer and a better editor.

MP: How do you manage to pack such a potent punch into so few words?

CK: For me it's about having a clear image of what it is I want to say. This rarely means plot, it means the 'theme' or 'idea' which underlies the story. The words are then a way of conveying that meaning, and in writing it you gear all nouns, verbs and adjectives (I try to avoid adverbs...) to that one idea. In language studies this is sometimes called a 'semantic field' where the various terms in a piece all belong to the same context. If you do that within a flash you can push forward your idea without ever mentioning the concept. One example would be a flash I wrote recently. It was a love story between an older couple. The man was making a wooden box as a present for his wife. I refer to two of the pieces 'marrying' together. It is a common term for two piece of wood meeting up, but it's other meaning also carries the 'love' part of the story forward. Now, if I can just write a piece where every word does that much work...

MP: What was it like working on your Flash365 project, how did you keep yourself motivated?

CK: Sometimes it was great, sometimes horrible. Very often this depended on the prompts that I had chosen. For those who don't know, Flash365 was a project to write a flash-fiction every day, for a year, and post them on a blog. I chose different prompts for each month, such as film titles (really good as prompts) or book titles from the Old Testament (really bad as prompts, avoid, avoid!). 

The other thing that kept me going was the process of doing it on a blog. I promoted it, linked it to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, and generated an audience who, if it was nearing midnight and no story had been posted that day, would actually start chasing me up. That kind of pressure - like any deadline - is a great motivator. 

Also, and this is personal, I suppose, I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. And I did! (And then my wife did too. Check out mrsflash365.blogspot.com for hers).

MP: You started National Flash Fiction Day as a way of spreading the word about the form, are the people getting the message do you think? What’s next in the campaign?

CK: Yes, it was about spreading the word, and I think that has happened, at least a little. New people are still coming along and saying 'what's this flash-fiction thing, then?' and getting involved, which is tremendously exciting. Something unexpected has also happened, which is that the Day brought together all the various flash writers who were working in isolation and a small community has been formed. All these people who thought they were alone now have colleagues, and considering the lonely nature of writing this is something I'm really proud of.

Next? Well, we have the second Flash-Fiction Day happening on 22nd June this year, and then we need to look to the future. In my personal campaign I am currently working with a publisher to produce 4 pamphlets of stories from flash365 and elsewhere which will also be released as a single collection. I'm also working on my novels (writing, editing, seeking publication), so really very busy.

MP: Thanks for your time, Calum, Blogtastic appreciates it.

Gloriae

OOOOOOOOOOOOOH TODAY IS SIMPLY GLORIOUS! The halls have got the chairs outside and music playing again and all is comparatively well. The scene brings to mind the song 'California Soul' coz it's very summery, lazily party-ish and most of all akin to the few retro hits being played outside.

It ain't all been lazing around today though, oh no! Had me fiction class this morning which focused on flash fiction (reet short stories in other words). One attempt of the single sentence bad boys I produced was "It turned out there was no inheritance after all." It kinda works because it allows the reader to fill in back story. You may think, 'maybe it was a crime story about someone killing for inheritance and there weren't none in the first place' or something similar. You like? I also produced a longer piece which I liked so much that, after some re-drafting, I'm gonna submit it to a short story competition. I could win a loada moolah, I could get published or I could be binned, but I like what I wrote so either one is good!

After said lesson, me and some mates went to the school sports bit to have a kick around. The 'multicourt' was priced at £16, so you can imagine us poor students said 'no thanks!!!' We went outside to the track and three of us thought 'yeah, why not have a race?' P. left early due to an ankle upset and I just managed to pip D. to the post, but he was wearing jeans and didn't pace himself anyways... A hollow victory but a victory nonetheless, and my testosterone is through the roof at such a male act lol.

Then I went food shopping. Here is my shopping list:

No, only joking I'm not that bad! Still ain't got no beer in me room, so I'm gonna make another trip in tomorrow and bring back a few thousand gallons or something... Watching Liverpool v Wigan tonight in the SU bar. We is playing away (like John Terry... Ok that joke be old now... Even still, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OtzURRG108&feature=related) and I reckon 2-1 to us like last time. More news on that to follow in a predictable fashion...

Finally, check out 'Thoughts of a Broken Clock' at http://thethoughtsofabrokenclock.blogspot.com/ This is a lovely lad who's on my course at uni, and you only have to read a little bit to agree he's an excellent writer. His writing has a lot of power and emotion in it, he uses imagery nicely and he's a darn good bloke to boot! Read it NOW.

Bye