By Rebecca Willman Gernon

If you are a novice writer, before you try to interest an agent in your great American novel, master the art of writing a short story. A short story, like a novel, must have a beginning, a middle, and an end. There needs to be a plot, and depending on the length, two or three characters who resolve an issue, solve a mystery, etc. 

A new trend is for shorter and shorter stories, often referred to as Flash Fiction. I expect this is due to the fact we have shorter attention spans, perhaps caused by being bombarded with phone calls, texts, social media, electronic games, news clips,  and so many other short events that we rarely spend time on just one activity. I believe this causes stress for many people, brain-circuit overload I call it, but that is a topic for another blog at another time.

While searching for a place to sell a flash fiction piece, I found Bookfox. What a great site. Here is an example of what you will find if you search “the best of bookfox.” Lists of Publishers:

• 30 Children’s Book Publishers Eager for Your Book
• Publishers of Short Story Collections
• 32 Publishers Seeking Novellas
• Best Christian Publishers
• Best Catholic Publishers

This is only one of the many resources available. No ads, no hype, just helpful lists.

I subscribe to this quote by  Mark Twain. Writing short is a good challenge, and I hope it results in publication for you. Every publication, whether you are paid for it or not, gives you an all important entry on your writing resume.

Keep writing and tell me your success stories.

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