Writing flash fiction takes skill, precision and – perhaps more than anything – hard work and dedication. When done well, these micro-stories can throw the reader in and out of the human condition in profound and unpredictable ways.
Some have said flash fiction stories are a part of our social media age, our insta-lifestyles, our shortened attention spans, our handheld devices, our micro-making of everything. Yet, in a world preciously short of big ideas, we could do with some of the big ideas contained within these short tales. And we could do with more
Nothing in the Rulebook caught up with one of these writers willing to put pen to paper to bring these short tales – and their ideas – to us.
K.M. Elkes’s short fiction has won (or been placed) in a number of international writing competitions including the Manchester Fiction Prize, The Fish Publishing Flash Prize, the Bridport Prize and the PinDrop Prize, as well as appearing in more than 30 anthologies. His work has also been published in literary magazines such as Unthology, The Lonely Crowd, Structo and Litro. A flash fiction collection All That Is Between Us will be published in paperback by AdHoc Fiction in 2019. He is a short story tutor for Comma Press and his work has also been used on schools and college curriculum in USA and Hong Kong.
Elkes lives and works in the West Country, UK. A recipient of an Arts Council England award, he is currently working on a debut short story collection and a novel. As a writer with a rural working class upbringing, his work often reflects marginalised voices and liminal places.
INTERVIEWER
Tell me about yourself, where you live and your background/lifestyle
ELKES
In summary – writer, teacher, musician, traveller, ginger, potty-mouth. Not always in that order. I currently live in Bristol, but my background is rural working-class Shropshire.
INTERVIEWER
Is writing your first love, or do you have another passion?
ELKES
Writing is one of the things, like making music, that I cannot not do. It’s more complicated than love or passion.
INTERVIEWER
Who inspires you?
ELKES
Single-minded people – I’m too ‘jack of all trades, master of none’, so I draw inspiration from writers, particularly women or those from less privileged backgrounds, who have had the singleness of vision to succeed against the odds.
And pole vaulters – their sport is rife with symbolism.
INTERVIEWER
Who were your early teachers?
ELKES
I went to a tiny rural primary school in Shropshire that had about 30 children and two teachers. It was stuck in a 1930s time warp – two classrooms, no inside toilets, dinners delivered lukewarm on the back of a van. But that school and those teachers instilled a hunger for reading in me that has been the catalyst for many things.
INTERVIEWER
What draws you to flash fiction?
ELKES
As a form based around concision, it combines poetry’s attention to language and rhythm with the prose tools of plot, characterisation, dialogue etc. Within that there are infinite colours, moods and stories, so what’s not to like?
INTERVIEWER
One of the joys of English is that, while its huge vocabulary can be deployed in mesmerising Joycean arpeggios, it can just as easily concentrate its meaning in a few well chosen words. In the age of Twitter, why do you think so many people are increasingly attracted to the brevity of short, flash or ‘micro’ fiction?
ELKES
I’m not a fan of the notion that people have short attention spans so they are attracted to shorter forms. Just because something is short doesn’t mean it requires less concentration and effort to read. I would hope more people are attracted to the form because they recognise it can produce genuinely good writing. The rise of social media and digital platforms for writing has no doubt helped.
INTERVIEWER
What do you think a story needs in order for it to be a story?
ELKES
Movement. Not necessarily plot, but a sense that something has changed.
INTERVIEWER
How easy do you find it to move between different writing forms/mediums – can you balance writing a novel with crafting flash fiction or short stories?
ELKES
Transitioning between different forms is not difficult. Writers who claim otherwise are probably just procrastinating. In fact, changing forms is a good way to give the kaleidoscope a shake to find new ideas. What is difficult, sometimes, is the act of writing itself, whatever the form.
INTERVIEWER
How do you maintain your motivation for writing?
ELKES
By reflecting at length on the fact that I don’t have motivation to carry out just about any other form of gainful employment.
Also by dreaming of the day when I can walk into a bookshop and find a section devoted just to short fiction, rather than having to play ‘hunt the collections’ among the general fiction…
INTERVIEWER
Do you feel writers should feel any ethical responsibility in their roles?
ELKES
I don’t think it is ethical for a writer to create ethical responsibilities for other writers – they need to deal with their own shit.
Having said that it grinds my gears when well-established writers phone it in for cash. Such as when novelists supply distinctly average ‘been-in-the-bottom-drawer-awhile’ pieces for occasional short story specials in newspapers or magazines. In this case, maybe the ethical motto should be: ‘Do your best or don’t bother’.
INTERVIEWER
Do you have a specific audience in mind when you write?
ELKES
No. Except that maybe the fantastic audience who came to a live literary event I did in Bath last year and laughed like drains at my funny stuff and emoted all over my sad pieces. They can come and sit in the room while I’m writing (if they bring their own chairs).
INTERVIEWER
What are your thoughts on some of the general trends within the writing industry (if we can call it thus)? Is there anything in particular you see as being potentially future-defining?
ELKES
The trend to encourage more diversity in writing and publishing is something I would like to see continuing. As someone from a working-class background, I know there are barriers still in place. But I also know I have to check what privileges I have as a white male. Even those at the epicentre of the white, male, middle-class, London-dominated and Oxbridge educated system must acknowledge there’s a better way. Done right, I think more diversity would mean more readers, more books sold, a more robust industry.
Another big challenge is how writers, whose average income from books continues to decline, can earn enough to keep creating. There is an unrealistic expectation in society that creative work should merely be another form of free content.
INTERVIEWER
Could you tell us a little about some of the future projects you’re working on?
ELKES
I’m editing a collection of flash fiction called All That Is Between Us which will be published by Ad Hoc Fiction in Spring 2019. I’m also working on finishing a short story collection and starting a novel.
INTERVIEWER
What are your 5-10 top tips for writers of flash fiction?
ELKES
- Give yourself permission to write crap, then use that freedom to write well.
- Read lots of short fiction in collections and online to learn more about what works and what doesn’t
- Don’t grab at the first idea for a story, let things brew for just a little while longer.
- Write hot, edit cold
- Ignore lists of top tips for short fiction writers and write whatever feels risky and surprises you.
INTERVIEWER
Could you write us a story in 6 words?
ELKES
Instagram and Twitter allow this: #Thewomandreamedofstrollingdampwintermeadowswithherlatehusbandbefore wakingtofindherloverwashingherfeet
nothing in the rulebook 