Aeryn Rudel's Blog, page 20

My New & Improved Flash Fiction Formula

I write a lot of flash fiction, and I’ve been lucky enough to publish a good amount of it. In fact, I recently published and entire anthology. The Molotov Cocktail collected 40 of my best flashes in a collection titled Night Walk & Other Dark Paths. But how do I write flash fiction? And more importantly, how do I write flash fiction that folks occasionally want to publish? Well, I have a formula, and it used to be three rules (which I covered a couple of years ago), but has now expanded to four....

Night Walk Wednesday: Far Shores and Ancient Graves

Welcome to Night Walk Wednesday, where I talk about the submission journey of a story from my flash fiction anthology Night Walk & Other Dark Paths. This week’s tale is “Far Shores and Ancient Graves.”

How it Started

Another one-hour flash fiction success story, “Far Shores and Ancient Graves” is maybe one my favorite flash pieces. I remember the prompt for this one because, well, I posted it. Here it is:

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Pretty simple and pretty grim, but boy did it get the ol’ imagination fired up. My mind im...

A Week of Writing: 5/10/21 to 5/16/21

Another week in the books. Here’s how I did.

Words to Write By

This week’s quote is one I’ve used before, but it’s a fun one, so I’m going to use it again.

“Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.”

— Mark Twain

You’d be surprised at how effective this is. Here are some examples pulled from one of my works in progress where I’ve done the very/damn swap.

The expertise to operate a ship of that kind mus...

Night Walk Wednesday: Small Evil

Welcome to Night Walk Wednesday, where I talk about the submission journey of a story from my flash fiction anthology Night Walk & Other Dark Paths. This week’s tale is “Small Evil.”

How it Started

If you’ve read previous installments in this series, you can probably guess where this story came from. Yep, a one-hour flash fiction writing exercise. The prompt for this one was a little different, though. Usually, the prompts are photos, but this time it was a short phrase, “One upon a time I was s...

Weeks of Writing: 4/26/21 to 5/9/21

Catching up the last two weeks of winterly endeavors. Here’s how I did.

Words to Write By

This week’s quote comes from Ray Bradbury.

“Just write every day of your life. Read intensely. Then see what happens. Most of my friends who are put on that diet have very pleasant careers.”

~ Ray Bradbury

I like this one because it gives me a goal to shoot for. I try to write every day, and for the most part, I’m successful. Now, to me, writing isn’t just writing narrative fiction. I do that a lot, but ke...

My Ever-Elusive Muse or Writing When I Don’t Want To

A topic I see come up a fair bit in writerly circles is the question of whether you should write only when you’re in the mood, i.e., feeling inspired, creative, and so on. Some writers do only write when their muses are sitting on their shoulders and whispering into their ears. I think that’s a perfectly reasonable approach, and it clearly works for a lot of people. It’s not for me, though. The reason is simple. If I waited for the right writing mood, I’d never write. Getting started is the most...

Night Walk Wednesday: Time Waits for One Man

Welcome to another installment of Night Walk Wednesday, where I’ll talk about the submission journey of a story from my flash fiction anthology Night Walk & Other Dark Paths. This week’s story is “Time Waits for One Man.”

How it Started

This is yet another story crafted in an hour during a flash-fiction writing exercise. I remember the prompt for this one too. It was a shattered clock. That got me thinking about stopped clocks, and then stopped time, and then immortality. The story that eventual...

Submission Statement: April 2021

April is a wrap. Here’s how I did.

April 2021 Report CardSubmissions Sent: 6Rejections: 8Acceptances: 2Publications: 3Further Consideration: 0

I would have liked to have sent a few more submissions in April, but six ain’t too bad, and I ended the month with 32 subs for the year. I need to pick up the pace a bit in May if I want to stay on track for 100 subs, but I’ve already sent 4 this month, so I’m off to a good start. What I did get a lot of in April was rejections. I had a bunch of su...

Rejection Letter Rundown: The Reprint Rejection

Been a while since I talked about the specific types of rejections a writer might receive, but here’s one that falls into kind of a unique category: the reprint rejection. It’s unique because it’s a story you know at least one editor/publisher liked enough to publish, so you might have more confidence when you send it out. Past success, however, does not guarantee future success, and the reprint rejection is yet another reminder of this writerly reality.

Here are some examples of reprint rejecti...

Night Walk Wednesday: The Night, Forever, and Us

Welcome to Night Walk Wednesday, where I talk about the submission journey of a story from my flash fiction anthology Night Walk & Other Dark Paths. This week’s story is “The Night, Forever, and Us.”

How it Started

For once, this story did NOT start out in a one-hour flash fiction writing exercise. This is one of the few times, at least with flash, where I just had an idea I wanted to explore out of the blue, and then, you know, did that. I jammed out a first draft pretty quick, and then turned ...