Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Flash Fiction and Me: Small Magic

Here's the real truth:

I owe any writing chops I have to flash fiction.  Flash fiction taught me the power of the right word at the right time. It taught me how to edit, how to cut, how to tweak to fit the most impact in the fewest number of words. Striving to "get it right" in a piece of flash did more for my writing craft than any novel, story, or blog entry I've penned over the last five years.

Quite simply, flash fiction is magic.

Anyone wishing to be a writer should--no must write a little flash.

I've collected 71 of my flash stories in one e-book*:


Stories reprinted in Small Magic represent some of my very best. Several have been reprinted in The Best of Every Day Fiction (volumes Two and Three). Several stories are award winners. Some of them will make the reader cringe, cry, or laugh. A few will do all three.

(You might notice the cover on Amazon is different... I haven't had a chance to update it yet.)

*a paperback version is in the works (stay tuned)


7 comments:

Cate Gardner said...

I love that cover.

James Everington said...

Excellent. I thought the one in These Darkened Streets (about the guy knocking down a house) was brilliant. Last line was just a knock-out.

Aaron Polson said...

Cate - I thought you might. The font is so... over the top?

James - "The Thing about a Haunting"? That was a fun little piece.

James Everington said...

Yeah that one. I think you posted it on here too didn't you?

Aaron Polson said...

James - It was Every Day Fiction, I believe.

Katey said...

Another gorgeous cover, another book for the digital shelf. Glad to see this out in the world!

In other news, I finally figured out why I've been so late getting to your blog for the last two months... it stopped showing up on my RSS feed. So I went and changed it and now voila. Geez, I'm technologically pathetic...

Yay, I have The Aaron Feed back!

Chris White said...

I have to agree with you here, flash fiction is probably one of the best ways to improve your writing. I'm ten times the writer I used to be.
Also, how the fuck else am I supposed to stay sane and get all these damned voices outta my head while I'm supposed to be writing my novelty? *they won't leave me alone*