I started small with fiction, first writing short stories and flash fiction (usually defined as under 1,000 words). This helped me get the rhythm of a story, practice dialogue in short bursts, and understand how a story arc works.
While my goal has always been to write novels, I’ve come to love the short story form as well. There’s a different skill involved in a shorter piece – sometimes I believe it takes greater talent to write a thousand-word story than an 80,000-word book. Done well, a short work can have a punch that stuns the reader.
I continued to write short stories even while I worked on my novels and have had a number of them published. Once I found a publisher, though, I focused all my writing on longer fiction. I believe having short stories published gave me credibility as a writer, and helped me find a publisher willing to take on my books.
A few years ago a fellow writer and I started a literary journal to help other writers get their works published and build a credible resume. We’ve been amazed at the reception the journal has received around the world – we have writers sending stories from Argentina to New Zealand, Africa to the U.S. The talent is phenomenal.
While I’d love to spend 100 percent of my time writing novels, I really do love the Potato Soup Journal project. It’s truly a labor of love.
Potato Soup Journal is primarily an online journal, with a new work published nearly every day, but we also publish a paperback and ebook “best-of” edition once a year. Our most recent edition releases this week – the best of all the stories published in 2021.
We now have several associate editors to read and judge the dozens of submissions that flow in each week. All of us volunteer our time, with a common goal to promote good writing and offer more opportunities for publication for other writers. As submission volume has increased, we’ve become choosier about which stories to accept. Only a small fraction of submissions make it into the book. The volume of more than sixty stories is something the authors (and we) can be proud of.
The books are available now. If you’re a writer interested in short stories, it’s free to submit. If you enjoy reading them, the site is free to view. Book proceeds go to support annual costs of the site. We invite you to take a look!
ebook: https://amzn.to/3JJl7Rt
paperback: https://amzn.to/33IEGtJ
1 comment:
Writing short stories is harder than full-length novels. It's almost like poetry, every word has to do double/triple duty. Until I joined the now-defunct group blog Roses of Prose, I hadn't written a short story since high school. Every December, we each wrote a short story (5-7k words). That was hard enough, but we had to begin our story with the same sentence. Challenging, but fun. I admire what you and your friends have done with the journal. Best wishes to you all.
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