We’re thrilled that Ad Hoc Fiction, our small press dedicated to the short short form, is publishing Going Short a guide to writing flash fiction by Nancy Stohlman, well-known flash fiction writer, editor and teacher from the USA who was a judge for the Bath Flash Awards in 2019. Going Short is a marvellous guide to writing and perfecting flash fiction, acclaimed by fellow flash fiction experts Kathy Fish, Randall Brown and James Thomas and it distills Nancy’s many years of experience as a writer and teacher. It’s definitely a guide to add to your library if you are a beginner to flash, an experienced flash fiction writer or a creative writing teacher. Everyone interested in short or longer form prose will gain from reading this book which is immensely practical and engaging, like Nancy’s teaching style in general.
Pre-order now via Paypal or any card (from August 31st to October 14th) here from Ad Hoc Fiction with free worldwide shipping. Going Short is also available for pre-order as an ebook from Kindle and Kobo and will be available in hard copy from Amazon as well as on the Ad Hoc Fiction bookshop on 15th October.
The book covers all topics of interest to flash fiction writers from defining the form, getting started, sculpting drafts, building collections, flash novellas and novels and we particularly like the fact that it is written in short flash-fiction-like-chapters with titles that draw you in immediately. Here’s a few tasters: Found Forms: Literary Squatters;Flash Myth #1: Smaller Is Easier; Flash Myth #2: Readers Have Short Attention Spans;Flash Myth #3: Bigger Is Better;I Was a Flash Fraud; High-Wire Flips and Narrative Contortions; Bribing the Muse: The All-Night Diner of Inspiration..
We love the cover image too by artist and writer Janice Leagra.
Going Short also contains 100 great prompts from FlashNano, the month of Flash prompts Nancy founded and has offered each November for many years. Read more about Flash Nano in our interview with her about it from a few years back. And it’s great that publication day for Going Short is just a couple of weeks before this year’s Flash Nano begins so writers can have it by their sides when they are writing new drafts.
Nancy ran very popular workshops at our 2018 and 2019 Flash Fiction Festivals and was due to come and run workshops at this year’s cancelled-due-to-Covid festival where Going Short was due to be launched. You could have had conversations there with her about it, but if you pre-order the book before Oct 15 you get exclusive free access to the private ‘Going Short Virtual Book Club’ with Nancy Stohlman from Oct 15-31! The Book Club will be an asynchronous (no Zoom!) gathering space moderated by Nancy to continue the conversations and share insights from the book. Get free access when you pre-order before October 15!
