aaronpicture[1]When I started writing seriously a few years ago, the novel was, in my mind, the pinnacle of fiction.  Flash fiction sat at the other end of the writing spectrum, the wasteland of lazy writers without much to say.  I wrote that first novel, edited it countless times, and failed.  The process held value; my manuscript did not.  Since then, I have written two more short novels for young adults and I am working on a third.  Along the way, I fell in love with flash.

I have always had a passion for words.  As an undergraduate student, I found myself at a crossroads.  Teaching was the family curse, but what subject would I study?  Math and science seem too clean, too perfect.  History, while fascinating, is an adventure to discover what actually happened.  English—especially literature—is an adventure in what is possible.

But words are difficult.  Too often, I find myself struggling for just the right phrase to make the jumbled mess in my brain make sense to another person.  As a high school teacher, I try to make sense of the curriculum, school expectations, and the future for my students. 

Words are difficult, but mighty, and flash allows words to share the spotlight with all other elements of fiction.  In longer works, the words sometimes move aside for characters, conflict, and plot.  Sure, no story lives without words, but a reader can lose sight of them when they are strung together 100,000 strong, just as the beauty of a single tree can be lost in the forest. 

In flash, each word counts.  A story of 500 words only has so much wiggle room.  I welcome the challenge of trimming a flash piece to fit a market’s guidelines.  Two words too long?  Time to revisit the verbs and nouns, making sure they deliver as much impact as possible.

I primarily write dark fantasy and horror.  Readers come to a horror story with certain expectations, and some are quite jaded about trick endings and long, drawn out narratives.  Flash fiction can free a writer to grab the reader with powerful language and force them to an inevitable, horrifying conclusion.   It is a quick jab in the gut, a jolt to remind weary readers that they do love stories.

For this writer, flash reminds me why I love words.

 

Aaron currently resides in Lawrence, Kansas with his wife, two sons and a tattooed rabbit, enjoying every mood swing in the Midwest weather. His flash fiction has appeared in Every Day Fiction, 10Flash, Northern Haunts, Everyday Weirdness, and on various bathroom walls.  Stop by his blog and read the free Friday flash.