Why "On Becoming a Bird" is the AA Flash of the Week

Reviewed by Anonymous Author, Sue Williams. Illustration by Robinson Accola. Read "On Becoming a Bird" in Smokelong Quarterly here.

Emily Darrell makes becoming a bird seem both as troublesome as learning to be human and as spiritual as the otherworldly, all in less than 200 words. You thought flying was all about freedom? It's more than that, says Darrell. Highly recommended. -SW

Magic Eye

POST by Anonymous Author, SUE WILLIAMS (first published last fall, at WET INK).

I've often needed help seeing the hidden images in Magic Eye art. "Relax your sight," my friends used to say. I could best do this when they pointed out the edge of an image, or told me what it was -- but it was more fulfilling when I'd see the secret picture appear on my own.

Much of what we do as writers relies on a kind of Magic Eye. It's possible to work intuitively, not understanding the depth of the connections and symbols we weave into a piece of our work. An editor, particularly one who knows us well, can sometimes see more deeply into what we've written. When we feel they're right, the pattern rises to the surface.

A recent critique session with my writing group confirmed this. I received comments like, "Sue, you've already shown us this. Why are you now trying to tell us?" And when I look back at my story, along with their suggested edits, good God, they're right! The story is more enjoyable if the reader can view it freely, and, by allowing their vision to relax, see the truth leap out. The readers own the story. They don't just read it, they interpret it.

I also argue the Magic Eye relates to our state-of-mind while we're creating. The more relaxed and "in the flow" we are, the more active our intuition; this subconscious web of connections and symbols can rise to the surface easily, adding depth and hidden meaning beyond our full awareness.

Maybe if we lived our lives with a more relaxed vision our whole world would be richer, new images springing out. In fact sometimes, during this autumn month, when I gaze at the fall leaves, I feel like there's something behind them... seasons change, stories arrive.

Showcasing Henry Zaballos's Short Film of Stace Budzko's "How to Set a House on Fire"

"How to Set a House on Fire," by Anonymous Author, Stace Budzko, was first published by the Southeast Review, and was reprinted in Flash Fiction Forward, by Robert Shepard (W.W. Norton).  We proudly present Henry Zaballos's brilliant cinematic interpretation.  Enjoy.

Keeping Your Ass in the Chair

POST by Anonymous Author, CATHERINE ELCIK (originally posted at Bo-Bo Knows 11/08).

There's an old truism that successful writers know how to keep their asses in their chairs and write. I used to think this was pretty straightforward--the secret to writing as simple as finding the time to write. But there's a little more to it than that.

As I near the end of the rough draft of my novel, I'm finding that I paid so much attention to braiding the main storylines together that I failed to notice all the loose hairs I dropped along the way. I know that stray hairs are supposed to be tamed by the hairspray of revision, but you try ignoring a shrieking chorus of the what-about-mes and see how much progress you make! I would be galloping happily along and then--bam!--fallen tree. Sure, I could leap over it, but every time I tried that, the chorus only screeched all the louder: What about me?

These brain banshees made the nails on a chalkboard sound like Mozart.

These were the moments I most wanted to check Facebook, play with Bo-Bo, study Greek, clean the toilet, torture myself with articles about Sarah Palin, and just generally invent hours of distraction under the guise of letting the fiction problem percolate at the back of my brain. But detours cause delays, and every day I'm still--still, STILL--working on this (expletive deleted) rough draft, I'm in grave danger of inappropriate laughter (yesterday, I laughed at a student when he told me how bummed he was that the only win his team logged during the entire football season was the result of a forfeit).

So for the sake of my sanity and social niceties, I kept my ass in the chair and forced my fingers to keep moving on the keys. And then the weirdest thing happened. Out of the corner of my eye, a character I hadn't realized was even in on the present dilemma showed up on the screen in my head and started hauling off that tree (oh, just stay with me a minute because telling you what he was actually doing would make very little sense given that you haven't read a lick of my book). I started to describe what the character was doing, and soon the tree was gone, and I was back to galloping.

In her novel, "The Fiction Class," Susan Breen says writing description is "like watching a Polaroid picture develop--first come the blurry shadows of the central forms, and then the details emerge slowly."

Yeah. What she said.

But I will add this. Our job as writers, then, is to keep our asses in our chairs long enough that our Polaroids make themselves known to us. Because once those Polaroids appear, you're not going to want to move your ass until your fingers have done their keyboarding thing.

One We Love: This Won't Take But a Minute, Honey - a Chapbook by Steve Almond

POST by Anonymous Author, SUE WILLIAMS

A while back, Steve Almond gave a book launch for his self-published chapbook, This Won't Take But a Minute, Honey, in which he said we writers make a choice about whether to affect many folks in a small way, or a few in a deep way. His words touched on something we've felt for a long time -- smaller, deeper projects may never line our pockets, but they are rich in meaning and potential.

This Won't Take But a Minute, Honey, can be bought (or ordered) from Harvard Book Store, where their snazzy book machine births the slim, little booklets. If you're able to be there in person, it's a great process: you get to watch the machine in action. At the end, a member of staff passes you your own copy warm from the press -- and boy, these small books are a pleasure to handle.

Steve's book contains two sections: the first is a set of enticing flash fictions, the second super-short essays on the writer's craft. Here are a few quotes from each to whet your appetite:

FLASH FICTIONS:

"Because she was a tough girl from the Jersey shore she spoke most eloquently by injuring others..." The opening of Death Song

"When I was young, mother used to dance naked on her marriage bed with a sweaty bosom while papa was away on trips. The nanny took me onto her lap and whispered red secrets and the world rushed at me like pollen..." The opening of Young Body Dream

ESSAYS ON THE CRAFT OF WRITING:

"...readers are drawn to stories not because of your dazzling prose, but because they wish to immerse themselves in a world of danger. More precisely, in the heart of a particular character on the brink of emotional tumult..." From 4. The Only 2 Qs About Which the R Truly Gives an S

"Plot is the mechanism by which your protagonist is forced up against her deepest fears and/or desires." That's actually the whole of, 17. A Quick Definition of Plot

"Enough with the arrogance of metaphor. Place your trust in precise details. Place your trust in verbs." From 24. Metaphors Almost Always Suck

One of the great beauties of chapbooks is their smallness, and though This Won't Take But a Minute, Honey contains only 80 pages, every flash packs one hell of a punch. When faced with big book deals, it's easy for a writer (and reader, indeed) to ignore the smaller projects they love and throw themselves into the big stuff. But by publishing this tiny book in addition to his larger works, Steve Almond reminds us that the whispers matter.

We doff our hats to you, sir.

Check out Steve's new book Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life, here.