Monday Guest @ FlashFiction.Net: Ethel Rohan on Getting G-E-N-U-I-N-E

Frankly, I stumbled into flash fiction and staggered around for a time. Despite writing many short stories and a couple of novel manuscripts over the past several years, it was only some ten months ago that I really came on the online publishing scene, placing short stories with Prick Of The Spindle, Identity Theory, and Miranda Literary Magazine.

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Next came "Iron For The Soul" published in Word Riot. Through Word Riot I became familiar with the works of such immensely talented flash writers as Elaine Chiew, Tai Dong Huai, Bonnie ZoBell, and many more, all publishing in the magazine around the same time as I.

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Their work led me to Smokelong Quarterly, opening the flash floodgates and introducing me to a plethora of fantastic flash writers. Thus my flash writing education began in earnest, and "mistakes were made." At first, I didn't give online literary magazines or flash fiction the care and respect they deserved. Initially, I saw online publishing as a means to an end, padding for my bio before going on to submit to more "prestigious" print journals, and saw flash fiction as a way to write short, "easier" work and get published fast. Not.

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Once I discovered Duotrope Digest, I toppled into the deep end of flash and online publishing. Like someone possessed, I churned out shorts and submitted to countless magazines. I quickly became addicted to the fast responses and fleeting high of acceptances. I wrote and submitted voraciously, and wasn't revising my own work or reading others' nearly enough. The obsession gnawed at me, and left me anxious. What was I doing? Was it about the work or getting publishing? Was I selling out? Grabbing at quantity over quality?

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The rush of acceptances slowed. I received more and more rejections. I was still saving my "best" work for the print journals and sending out "lesser" work to the online journals, underestimating just how good the work needed to be to get into these often outstanding e-zines. Thankfully, I came to know the grace, wisdom, and raw power of the works of such women writers as Kim Chinquee, Myfawny Collins, Katrina Denza, Kathy Fish, Roxane Gay, Mary Miller, Meg Pokrass, Rachel Yoder, and on and on. I stepped back and realized that I still didn't know what exactly flash was. I didn't yet get just what made flash, at its best, that spine-tingling experience to read.

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I did know that I wanted to write like the above-mentioned women and many others. I wanted my work to do to other readers what their work did to me. I started to read at least two issues of every magazine I submitted to. I read every story I could get my hands on written by my favorite flash writers. I followed my favorite writers' blogs and websites, studied their writing, what they were reading, and where they were publishing. I became more disciplined, letting my work sit even after it felt "finished," and then returned to it after a break, re-seeing, and where necessary revising again.

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What did I learn? That flash is acute selection, a knockout, writing as if each letter is inked in gold. I came to genuinely love reading, studying, and writing flash. In time, the acceptances resumed and brought a new sense of joy. I felt more authentic as a flash writer, a genuine player in this vibrant, innovative, and incredibly gifted community. I found I could enter into dialogue with fellow flash writers and editors with an honesty and confidence that I'd never before possessed. I felt an integral part of things and by then knew enough to feel humbled and blessed to be able to think of myself as a viable player in it all.

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I'm still finding my way and am not always comfortable with the stories I write. However, I'm bolstered by the belief that I have a unique voice and an earnest desire to illuminate the human condition in my work. "Genuine" is now my mantra. I feel most safe, most at peace, when I return to the truth of myself: striving to live a life of benefit, to be as honest as I can, and to tell the best stories I can. That's as much, I think, as any of us can hope to do.

My Nine Writing Rules 

Get reading, writing, revising, and real.
Ego just gets in the way.
Never turn on myself.
Understand that the work comes through me; it's not me. Allow it.
Invest in other writers, editors, and magazines; we're all in this together.
Nothing matters but the work. It has to be about the work.
Embrace criticism and disappointment as fully as the praise and joy.

About the Author

Ethel Rohan's flash and short fiction have appeared in or are forthcoming from over seventy online and print journals, most recently Monkeybicycle and (So New) Necessary Fiction. Read her blog here.