by Michael A. Kechula (Author)
Flash fiction consists of writing an entire story in a thousand words or less. This constraint imposes significant restrictions on what the writer can do, but written right, flash fiction tales can pack power way out of proportion to their length. The tricks and techniques needed to write effective flash fiction, though, are different from those used for novel-length, or even traditional short stories. Until now, these tricks and techniques had to be learned the hard way...through the path of rejection. Author and editor Michael A. Kechula has written and sold hundreds of genre flash fiction stories, edited a flash fiction magazine, and mentored many flash fiction writers on their path to publication. He's taken the insights he's gained through years of effort and the many thousands of flash fiction stories he's edited and judged, and distilled them into one volume: WRITING GENRE FLASH FICTION THE MINIMALIST WAY. In this self-study guide, Kechula takes the writer through the definition of flash and genre fiction, gives some useful starting points for coming up with story ideas, shows where the usual rules of fiction may need to be reversed (e.g., in flash fiction, we tell, not show), and provides powerful insight into making every word count...and into eliminating those words that don't pull their weight.
Author Biography
In 1978, Michael A. Kechula received an Outstanding Achievement Award from the IBM Corporation for his innovative approach in developing online, self-study training courses for employees of IBM and Fortune 500 companies. Two of his IBM-published technical reports on training methods were selected by the US Department of Education for inclusion on their ERIC system (Educational Resources Information Center), the world's largest digital library of education literature. In 1992, he was named IBM's premier developer of self-study books and self-study online courses in the Western United States. Since switching to fiction in 2002, over 450 of his flash fiction stories have been published by 134 magazines and 41 anthologies in Australia, Canada, England, India, Scotland, and United States. He's won 1st prize in 12 writing contests and 2nd prize in 8 others. He's won Editor's Choice awards 4 times. His flash fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart prize. He's taught dozens of novelists and short story writers how to write flash fiction and micro-fiction. Kechula has been Flash Fiction Submissions Editor for 5 online and print magazines and is the moderator of FlashXer, a Yahoo writing site that focuses on developing flash and micro-fiction for publication.
Number of Pages: 128
Dimensions: 0.27 x 10 x 8 IN
Publication Date: January 17, 2011
