Welcome to the next in our series of interviews with this year's National Flash Fiction Day Anthology editors and Microfiction Competition judges! Submissions for the Anthology and Microfiction Competition are open from 1 December 2021 to 15 February 2022.
This week, Diane Simmons chats with Tracy Fells, one of this year's judges for the 2022 NFFD Microfiction Competition, about cake, humour, and attempting microfiction for the first time....
Diane: Your novella-in-flash Hairy on the Inside was published by Ad Hoc Fiction a few months ago and reviewers have commentated on the humour in the novella. Do you enjoy writing funny flash?
Tracy: Dramatic pause … Yes.
I guess you need more? Yes, I love writing, or attempting to write, funny flash (and short stories too). I personally feel there’s a need for more humour in fiction, and particularly flash which can focus on the gloomy/darker side of life. Balancing comedy with pathos that make readers both laugh and think, or cry, is a tough gig to pull off well. Laughing out loud is like chocolate for your soul.
Diane: Have you always written fiction? If not, can you remember what inspired you to start?
Tracy: As soon as I could write I started writing fiction, so that would be around age five. My stories and poems were often read out by the teacher to the class and when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up I said “a writer” … There was a brief interlude when I changed that to “showjumper” during my pony mad phase but as my family were working class with no spare cash for a pony I soon returned to writing as my dream career.
Diane: You’re a very successful flash and short story writer with numerous prizes to your name and you’ve been Highly Commended twice in the National Flash Fiction Day Micro Fiction Competition. Do you have any tips for people who would like to attempt a micro, perhaps for the first time?
Tracy:
- If you already write flash fiction then take an existing story and edit/cut it right down. Try cutting sentences from the beginning and end, see what it does to the story. It’s liberating to see how much you can take out and still have a working story, which can create a powerful impact.
- Write straight into Word (or programme of choice) with one eye on the word total and stop when you hit 100 words. Then see what you’ve got and what could go (probably a lot!). I always write short fiction with one eye on the word counter so I can estimate when I should be hitting the middle or climax of a story.
- Experiment. Have fun. Go wild and off-piste. Aim to surprise yourself with what you can write in 100 words. Do that then you will surprise the reader too! Honestly, if you only have to write 100 words what have you got to lose?
Diane: I know that cake plays a huge part in your writing process. Do you have a favourite cake?
Tracy: How long have we got? I love all cake but my absolute favourite is caramel sponge with caramel butter cream, plastered with butterscotch icing and teardrops of toffee. Salivating yet?
Diane: If you could choose three writers to have round for dinner (or cake), who would they be?
Tracy: Jane Austen for afternoon tea and cake, just the two of us because she’s dead and could be a little embarrassed to dine with others. I’m convinced she had a wicked sense of humour and would be a joy to chat with over cake.
I’d love to invite round Kate Atkinson (Jackson Brodie series, Life After Life, and a wonderful short story writer) and Emily St John Mandel (Station Eleven, The Glass Hotel). There would be copious amounts of cocktails, wine and bubbly, mainly for me as I’d be too tongue-tied to attempt conversation. With their character rich novels and complex storytelling the dinner would be more of a thank you, as their writing sets a standard I can only aspire to one day achieving.
Tracy Fells was the 2017 Regional Winner (Europe and Canada) for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Her short fiction has been widely published in print journals and online, including: Granta, Brittle Star, Reflex Fiction, Popshot Quarterly, Firewords, Funny Pearls and the Bath Flash Fiction Award anthologies (2019 & 2020). She has been shortlisted for the Bridport and Fish Flash Fiction prizes, placed in the Reflex Fiction competition and Highly Commended in the NFFD Microfiction competition (2016 & 2020). In 2016 she was awarded an MA with Distinction in Creative Writing from Chichester University. She is a regular reader for several large short story competitions and leads writing workshops on short fiction. Tracy also writes novels and was a finalist in the 2018 Richard & Judy ‘Search for a Bestseller’ competition. Her debut novella-in-flash Hairy on the Inside was published by Ad Hoc Fiction in 2021. She tweets as @theliterarypig.