Welcome to the second of 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 until 15 February 2025.
This week, Diane Simmons chats with Rebecca Field, one of this year's NFFD Microfiction Competition Judges, about favourite authors, childhood reading lists, her advice for those entering the Microfiction Competition, and more....
DS: You’ve twice been Highly Commended in the NFFD Micro Fiction Competition and I wondered if you particularly enjoy writing to a limit of 100 words? Do you have any tips for entrants to the competition? Or things to avoid?
RF: In answer to the first part of this question, I would have to say that I do find micros really tricky to write and it wasn’t a length I was initially drawn to. Having some success in this competition has encouraged me to try writing them more often and I am always amazed by the winning entries, how much story can be packed into so few words. In general I prefer to write slightly longer flash pieces, however I love to support the UK National Flash Fiction Day events and so I enjoy the challenge of writing micros and entering each year if possible.
I think in terms of tips for entrants, many of these will have been discussed in detail elsewhere and by previous judges so I won’t try to cover too many here. The importance of the title for a micro is often mentioned and I think this is a very important one, as well as the sense of it being a complete story. I also like to see humour in flash and so this is definitely something I would be looking out for, but a micro that is purely a joke with a punchline or an anecdote rather than a story would also be something to avoid.
DS: Is there a book or story from your childhood that makes your heart leap a little when you think about it? Has your taste changed? For instance, if you were a fan of a particular type of novel as a child, is that something you still enjoy?
RF: This is a tough question, so many come to mind! Stereotypically for a writer, I was one of those children who spent a lot of time in libraries and bookshops, reading a lot of different books from a young age. Some early favourites were things like Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton, Frances Hodgson Burnett, and Gerald Durrell, then later stuff like Judy Blume mixed in with sci-fi stuff like John Wyndham, Orson Scott Card and Douglas Adams, all sorts really. I think that today I don’t read as much sci-fi as I did as a teen but I definitely like something perhaps with a speculative or dystopian angle that’s also well written, people like Emily St John Mandel, David Mitchell, Margaret Atwood, and Murakami are favourites I would keep coming back to. I of course now also read a lot of short fiction collections which wasn’t something I did as a child.
DS: If you could spend a day with one author (living or dead), who would you choose?
RF: George Saunders. He just seems to be such a nice chap and a great teacher. I would hope for some of his genius to rub off on me. I love his Story Club newsletters on Substack, though it can be tough trying to keep up with reading all the great stories and newsletters that are out there.
DS: Do you play music while you write — and, if so, do you have a favourite piece or artist?
RF: Occasionally I might play some light classical music, but in general I prefer quiet when writing and find that less distracting.
DS: Do you only write flash or are there any other forms that you enjoy writing?
RF: I mainly write flash but recently have been working more on a few short stories I’ve been tinkering with for quite some time. They seem to take forever to finish and I feel much more out of my depth with them than I do with shorter pieces, so much more space to mess things up! I also have a half-written novella in flash that is currently lying dormant but may be resurrected at some stage.
Rebecca Field is a short fiction writer from Derbyshire, UK. Her work has appeared in several NFFD anthologies and she has twice been highly commended in the NFFD micro competition. She has also been published online by The Phare, Ghost Parachute, Fictive Dream, Gone Lawn, Tiny Molecules, Milk Candy Review and Ellipsis Zine among others. Tweets at @RebeccaFwrites.