What does a writer do for pure enjoyment? For a palate cleanser? To get past a block?

For me, the answer to all three is Flash Fiction! Or at least, my version of it, which ranges from a few hundred words to several thousand. (And on a few memorable occasions, which evolves into entire novels. Or a series…)

I love writing commercial novels and novellas, but there’s also pressure involved. Will it all make sense and hold together? Is it interesting and engaging? Will readers enjoy it? Is it as polished and proofread as it needs to be? Did I make any stupid mistakes? Is it worth the money I’m asking people to pay?

When that process starts to be stressful, there are a hundred other things I could do to unwind. But writing has been my escape since I was able to put pencil to paper (back in the Pliocene era when I was a kid.)

So these days, I write short fiction. This stuff is unedited, no guarantees, sometimes a scene, sometimes a full story, just to remind myself how much fun it is to let my imagination go. The other benefit is clearing out the giant pen of plot bunnies lurking in my head. Sometimes a short story is enough to make a story idea let go. (Sometimes it just encourages them. One free short became my novel Alec; another turned into the entire Necromancer series.)

The question then is, what to do with them. A few became free works on Amazon (including Like the Taste of Summer) These days, I put the new stories up on my Facebook group – Kaje’s Conversation Corner. The tradition has evolved into my “Sunday Stories,” with a new short piece almost every week. (And sometimes I also do a really short flash fic for Jeff Baker’s Friday Flash Fics group as well, if I’m inspired by the prompt.) Some of my stuff also ends up on a free story collective I share with a bunch of M/M authors, moderated by Fiona Glass – The RoM/Mantic Reads zine. Check out the fun twice a week.

I’ve had folks suggest my stories could be worth a Patreon, but you know what? Then I’m back to “Is this worth what readers are paying me to read it?” And that’s pressure again. With the FB group, if I don’t want to write one week, I’m not obliged to.

So here’s a glass raised to everyone who loves the fun of flash fiction. And if you’re someone who likes to read the short stuff, click either of the links and join me (and/or Jeff or the RoM/Mantic crew.) Writing is many things, but for me, at its most fundamental heart, it’s a joy.

– Kaje Harper