----------Interview by Renee Roberson
WOW: Congratulations, Rachel, and welcome! “Belly Full of Stones” explores family dynamics and the impending loss of a loved one. How did you first get the idea to write about this topic?
Rachel: "Belly Full of Stones" is a story from a novella-in-flash that I spent quite a bit of time dreaming up and writing a while back, which I recently opened again to see if I still liked it! In the novella, the main character has always had a difficult relationship with both of her parents, but especially her father, the parent who ends up surviving in the story. I think a lot has been written about making peace with a dying parent, but less so with what you do with all the anger and hurt when the two people with a difficult relationship are suffering a loss at the same time. I really wanted "Belly Full of Stones" to explore that dynamic, and to imagine this challenging parent in a different light, if only for the space of one piece of flash. As a parent myself, I am painfully aware of how easy it is to get it wrong, even when you are trying to get it right, so I really wanted there to be some nuance to the story, something to show that the story you are telling yourself can look completely different with the slightest perspective shift, and that you can find small pockets of peace and understanding even in the midst of big losses, and even if you can't forgive completely.
WOW: In addition to this entry, you’ve had numerous short stories published. What is your process for finding good markets to submit your work?
Rachel: That's a great question. When I first started submitting stories, I would just send them off to magazines or online publications that I liked, hoping one of them would publish me. But I also read a lot, so as I got more and more into flash fiction, I found myself reading all the publications that publish flash. The more I read, the more I get to know the aesthetic of a particular publication, and the better I now am at matching a particular story to the publication that will be best for it. That said, I still get plenty of rejections from places that I thought would be a perfect match, so in part it really is just being resilient and playing a numbers game of sending out my very best work and then polishing it and sending it out again if it's rejected. It's best not to be too precious about rejections, as I think I probably average 9-10 rejections for every acceptance now, and I think that's a really good number - that ratio used to be much worse!
WOW: One of your published pieces, "What She Would Rather Tell a Stranger,” appeared in Reader’s Digest as part of a 100-word story competition. Did you find it difficult to pare down an idea to such a brief word count?
Rachel: Yes! But that's why flash is fun. It's all about trying to figure out how much you can leave out of the story and still expect the reader to fill in with their own imagination. Can I imply things without having to say them outright? Can I maybe even make my readers fill the gaps with their own ideas? And having good editors helps. That particular story I ran by a good writing friend of mine, Fiona McKay, and she helped me to cut it from its original 130-something words down to the precise 100-word requirement. Writing is a team sport!
WOW: It really is! What advice would you give a writer just starting to explore the craft of flash fiction regarding finding story ideas?
Rachel: The lovely thing about flash is that you can get your ideas from anywhere. They don't have to be enough ideas to sustain multiple plots and sub-plots, and 300 pages of exposition, so this is a big question, but I guess I would say two things:
1. Find other writers to support you and to share your work with. They don't have to live down the street from you - all of my best writer friends are people I've met online. I started doing flash during the pandemic when Writer's HQ had a weekly challenge called Flash Face-Off. I met so many amazing writers there. We were writing to themed prompts every week, and it was inspiring to see what other writers were doing and it really helped me to figure out what worked, what didn't, and why. I think they still do a monthly flash challenge at WHQ - my schedule is, unfortunately, not what it used to be, so I haven't joined in a while, but any way of finding writer friends to bounce ideas off of is a good idea.
2. Remember that flash is small, so the ideas don't have to be huge. They can be, as very big themes are often tackled in tiny stories, but sometimes the best ones are also very simple. A tiny, but universal, thought that you have, that you have always wondered if other people feel, too. One of my favourite of my own stories, "Flight Reflex," published in Smokelong Quarterly, was based almost entirely around a conversation I actually had with my 6-year-old, where he said something silly, and I made it into a real story.
WOW: We’d love to hear about some of your favorite authors.
Rachel: Oh, no! Does anyone really know how to answer this? I have such a huge number of favourite authors out there in the world! I love, and have always loved, Gabriel Garcia Marquez for his magical realism which is both beautiful and brutal at the same time. Leone Ross is also an absolute marvel to me. Recently, I have been working my way through Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels, and am really enjoying them. For flash, I am in absolute awe of Jo Gatford, Kim Magowan, and obviously, Kathy Fish. That is not even mentioning all the amazing writers I have had the pleasure of workshopping stories with. I could talk about this all day, but I'll leave it there for now.
Thank you for the lovely and thought-provoking questions, Renee, and I look forward to hopefully speaking with you again in the future.
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