My Five Available Short Story Collections

May is Short Story Month so for the last five days of the month, I am promoting the five short story collections I have available:

 

30 Flash Horror Stories

 

Shadows

 

Monsters & Mayhem

 

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Vengeance from Beyond

 

I didn’t include The Worst Thing You Ever Did because it is currently unavailable. That will change later this year.

 

And because I have another short story collection coming out next month, this is the only time I can do this!

 

Maybe by next May, there will be 10 short story collections to promote? Who knows!

 

Anyway, without further ado, here are my five short story collections for the last five days of Short Story Month.

 

30 Flash Horror Stories

 

 

A mysterious sign only one man can see...trick-or-treaters getting more trick than a treat...and ghosts that never rest. These are just a few of the thirty flash fiction horror and Halloween stories awaiting you within the pages of this book. Read these stories at your own risk!

 

Buy link

 

Shadows

 

 

What sort of horrors lurk in the shadows What monsters are waiting to attack?

 

Shadows is a collection of 20 flash fictior stories bringing our worst nightmares to life.

 

From Halloween scares to Christmas creepers, these terrifying tales will take you into worlds of fright.

 

Shadows offers stories of ghosts, zombies demons and werewolves. But not all monsters are creatures of the imagination Be careful who you trust; within these pages are people just as monstrous.

 

Buy link

 

Monsters & Mayhem

 

 

Beware of the monsters who will strike at every turn! They are on a rampage through neighborhoods, hiding on top of roofs, or lurking within your dreams just waiting to materialize. Beware the scary creatures that could tear you from limb to limb or steal you away into the night! These seven flash and micro fiction stories offer new tales of monsters and the destruction they leave in their wake.

 

Buy link

 

 

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The best kind of revenge is the kind that no one would expect.

 

Ten girls have been tormented by people who thought it was okay to hurt them. They never expected them to fight back.

 

But they do.

 

Not only do they fight back, but they delight in freeing their inner monsters on anyone who hurts them.

 

Ten girls who have been wronged. Who have been forced to conform. Who have been laughed at one too many times.

 

These girls find the power within themselves to fight back and get their revenge. And make their tormentors pay.

 

Buy link

 

 

Vengeance from Beyond

 

 

 

Halloween is a time when the veil is at its thinnest between the living and the dead.

 

When a vengeful spirit makes contact with forensic psychologist, Essie Histor, the floodgates open for other ghosts to come through as well.

 

As Essie moves from one case to another, she realizes that if a ghost is set on revenge, nothing can stop it from making sure its attackers are delivered vengeance from beyond.

 

Buy link

I Almost Gave Up On My Story

Some months ago, I was added to a writer’s group chat for an anthology call. The anthology’s theme piqued my interest, so I stayed in the group. I was absolutely down for writing a story for this anthology.

 

The problem was, I couldn’t figure out a story!

 

But I know that creativity comes to us in waves, so I decided to sit tight until I had an idea for a story.

 

Sure enough, one morning, I woke up with a story in my head. And it was perfect for this theme!

 

So I went to the computer and typed it up. My next problem was that I didn’t have the idea for the WHOLE story. Just some of it. So, after I typed up what was in my head, I couldn’t figure out where to go next.

 

I really wanted to write the rest of this story, because it was interesting, so I didn’t let this go. I spent my time doing research on the mythology surrounding the creature in my story. I also tried to figure out a FREAKING NAME for this thing! And I also worked on worldbuilding for this story, since it had elements of fantasy.

 

Even still, after all that, the rest of the story remained a mystery.

 

So I decided to let it rest for a few days. Maybe something would come to me eventually.

 

But as several days passed, I grew frustrated.

 

So, I did more research, this time on writing these particular kinds of stories. I also chatted with my oldest about it, since he is also a writer and we tend to talk about writing. We threw around some ideas, he offered suggestions, and I decided I should just focus on the worldbuilding in the story while trying to figure out the rest of the story.

 

But as the deadline for submissions to the anthology drew closer, I still couldn’t figure out the rest of my story.

 

I opened the group chat on my phone, my finger hovering over the tiny keyboard as I read messages already in the chat. I was ready to tell them I was withdrawing from this anthology because “my story is shit.” But something made me pause. I had a feeling that there was hope for this story yet.

 

So I closed the chat and went on to doing other things.

 

Meanwhile, I have been reading a science fiction novel. I was impressed by the author’s worldbuilding in this story. It made me think about ideas for worldbuilding with my own story.

 

And the more I explored my story’s “world,” the stronger my story grew. And the easier it was for me to figure out the rest of the story!

 

Soon, I had ideas on what should happen next in the story. I grabbed my phone, opened the notes app, and furiously started typing.

 

And even as I managed to finish writing the rest of my story, I couldn’t figure out a name for my creature. (Yes, I have done research on naming fantasy creatures as well.) I came up empty by borrowing words from languages, so I started to play around with ideas in mythology, since my creature is mythical and there are actually creatures just like this in other world mythologies.

 

Well, that ended up being another rabbit hole I went down. I explored what my creature represented in Australian mythology, Greek mythology and Egyptian mythology. Soon I had a list of words and names and decided to just combine two or three words to make one.

 

I didn’t want my creature’s name to be long, complicated, or unpronounceable. I kept this in mind as I created a word.

 

Let me just say that I love to play word games, Scrabble, Boggle, anagrams, etc. You name it. This came in handy as I worked on creating a name for my creature.

 

I took three words from Greek mythology which represented my creature’s themes (since my characters had Greek names) and got to work. Soon I had a word I was happy with. The problem? A business already had that name. ARGH! So I tried again, Googling my word each time. After many attempts, and double checks that this word didn’t already exist, I had my creature’s name. Yay!

 

Now that I had a name for this thing, I could get back to writing this story. I ended up revising what I wrote last night and also added more information to the myth surrounding the creature in that story’s world.

 

Then I was DONE! YAY!

 

I even texted my son, “I FINISHED MY STORY!!!!!” Yes, I was very excited about this. My story was FINALLY complete and I was very happy with it!

 

I submitted my story right before the deadline. Now I am excited to share this story with everyone. I’m so glad I didn’t give up on it!

 

Wasteful Writing?

This week found me busy revising two things: A novelette and a short story. The short story ended up taking all week for me to revise, because it ended up being a lot longer than the first draft. It also ended up being something entirely different than the first draft! Part of the revision process was to do research on my story’s main symbol, which is a tree. My research helped me to “flesh out” the story and have everything happening with that tree make sense.

 

The novelette I revised also ended up being a lot longer than its first draft. There were times during the revision process when I couldn’t figure things out. When this happens, I usually step away from the writing and do other things while I try to figure that out. In this case, I went on a drive with my son. At one stop, I was suddenly inspired, so I whipped out my phone and started writing in the Notes app. After we got home, I transferred what I wrote to the story file, but I noticed that what I’d written could be better. I fixed it up and was satisfied with it enough to move on.

 

In both cases, I started to wonder: Was the time I spent writing those first drafts wasted? And did I waste my efforts in writing something that ended up being terrible?

 

In both cases, I believe the answer is no.

 

If you want to write something, you have to start somewhere – even if it’s a first draft that will ultimately never see the light of day. (How many first drafts actually get published?) Also, it’s important to write anything you feel could be USEFUL to your WIP, even if you feel the writing sucks.

 

The point is to write. Plant the seeds of your idea by getting it down onto paper, then “water” it by revising it so that it can grow into something wonderful. Something you can be proud of.

 

Even if you don’t use something you wrote in your final draft, it’s still something that helped you to keep your focus on the work at hand and stay connected to your writing process. Any writing is better than no writing at all, and it is definitely not a waste of time if you manage to get the words onto the page instead of keeping them in your head.

 

And while I’m on the subject of writing, here is a quote from the August 23, 2024 issue of C. Hope Clark’s newsletter, FundsforWriters: “As writers, we are an endless supply of words. Each line we write improves us. And the more we have to practice at our craft, the better we get.”

 

A Head Full of Stories: 30 Flash Horror Stories Celebrates Halloween and All Things Spooky

 

When I gave myself the task of putting together a collection of 30 horror flash fiction stories in less than a month (because that’s how much I love myself), at first I thought I couldn’t do it. I even tried to get out of it, hoping I could change the cover I already had for this book to read “10” instead of “30.” Because ten was totally doable! But I wasn’t able to do that, so I was stuck with thirty.

 

Thirty!

 

I actually threw a fit. I can’t write thirty flash fiction stories in less than a month! No way! Not with everything else I already have going on!

 

After I had that little outburst, I sat down to start writing it.

 

It helped that I decided to make these storis no more than 500 words each. With flash fiction, you have some flexibility. You can write drabbles, which are 100-word stories (I have written many), or flash, which is anywhere between 100-1000 word stories. (Anything less than 100 words are called micro fiction stories.) And while this word limit was helpful in giving me the confidence to be able to write the stories, it did present a challenge in its own right. I ended up having to cut a lot of words to get to 500! Some stories, though, ended up being less than 500 words.

 

And because these stories were so short, I wrote MANY of them on my phone.

 

I surprised myself with actually getting closer and closer to that number of thirty stories. I managed to get ideas for stories in a variety of ways.

 

One of the stories, “A Good Deed,” had been in my head for years.

 

The idea for “Spaghetti Face” came to me after I created a face out of spaghetti at dinner one night.

 

I got the idea for “What We Do in the Dark” after I noticed that, because of my frequent headaches, we often leave the lights off in the house anytime I’m dealing with them.

 

“Finding a Body” came to me one day after I was driving past a park and noticed a local crisis response unit there along with the police.

 

“The Scary Costume” is based on a poem I’d written that has the same story.

 

I used to work as a DSP supporting individuals with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities (I/DD) and while I loved that job, some days were a big challenge and those days would exhaust us and really test our patience. I got the idea for “A Bunch of Whiners” based on one particular coworker who I had a difficult time working with on top of the challenges associated with the job (I even started calling him Lucifer!), and while the DSP in this story acts out, that never happened with this coworker. But I kept wondering, What would happen if he lost it? While I know what happens in the story would not happen in real life, for the purpose of fiction, I decided to add some plot twists.

 

“Departure Time” was inspired by an article I read in the newspaper.

 

“Killer Toes” is the result of a typo that came up on an iPad I used for my work as a DSP. (Don’t ask!) I saw that and thought, That could be a story title!

 

The idea for “Teacher Problems” came to me after my youngest said he didn’t want to attend Open House at his school.

 

Some of the stories, such as “Routines” and “Monday Coffee, are revisions of other drabbles or flash stories that never made the cut anywhere I submitted them to.

 

And something interesting happened with one story idea I got for this book. I created the cover for this book several months ago. I had not looked at it too much on the days leading up to publication, because I was focused on writing stories for it! One story idea that popped into my head included a floating white skull that was chasing people through a town. I was able to write the story and, later, when I looked at the cover again, I saw the white skull that was already on it! How very interesting I got the story idea with a floating white skull when the book cover has a white skull on it. Though the skull in the story is MUCH larger, floats, shines with a brilliant white light, and, well, eats people. Still, it works out. Very cool!  

 

And other stories – such as “Gore Galore” and “No Rest for the Wicked” – came to me as titles. I just took it from there.

 

Aside from all that, sometimes, I just had ideas for stories pop into my head, as was the case for “The Sign” and “Her Last Halloween.” An idea wasn’t enough to get me writing the story, though. I had to think about it! I had to work with that idea and figure out how to turn it into a story. Thankfully, I did manage to figure it out and get those stories written.

 

Some days, I wrote several stories, and others I only managed to write one or two stories. Then there was the odd day I wasn’t able to write any stories at all! (The horror!) But I did keep up with writing the stories. Every so often. I would count how many stories I had so far and plan out how many more to write.

 

When I started writing these stories, my intention was to make it a collection of horror stories (since horror and paranormal stories are my thing right now). But as I continued writing, some of the story ideas tied into Halloween and I also ended up writing stories that had elements of Halloween in them. I guess, since I’m writing these stories during October, that was bound to happen. (Halloween is my favorite holiday, so maybe that influenced the stories too.)

 

And while my focus with all this story-writing was to write 500-word stories, sometimes the stories I wrote were longer. Many were 1000 words. I decided to put THOSE stories into a different collection of flash fiction stories, which I plan to write at leisure!

 

Writing this story collection has been a fun challenge for me. It reminded me of the time I challenged myself to write a short story every week for one year – except this time, my stories were shorter, and I had to write them in one day instead of one week.

 

Writing flash fiction can be a fun writing exercise for some, but a challenge for others. It can especially be a challenge for the kind of writers who are purists for writing fiction, such as following the “rules” of fiction writing and writing the stories in the same way as writing a normal short story. But with flash fiction, some elements of fiction writing, such as description and characterization, must be sacrificed in order to meet word count limits. In some cases, I do throw in bits and pieces of character description, but for the most part, I leave what the characters look like up to the readers’ imagination.

 

Another thing I leave to the readers’ imagination are endings. Some stories have open endings, where the reader can decide what happens next.

 

If you have always wanted to write a story or would like to give flash fiction a try, then I hope the information shared here will give you a good idea on where to start. Ideas for stories are everywhere, and sometimes we have to twist thigs around a bit in order to make a story “work” or fit into the genre we are writing for, such as horror, fantasy or science fiction. It’s also a good idea to decide how long you want your flash fiction story to be. Remember, you can write a drabble, which is 50 or 100 words, or you can write a story of up to 1000 words. It is entirely your choice. Once you get better at writing flash fiction, you can experiment with different word counts and genres.

 

But flash writing is not limited to just fiction. There is also flash nonfiction. These are “mini essays” or mini stories of something that happened in real life.

 

You just may find that writing flash fiction can be addictive! I’m used to writing longer things, but being able to write a story in less than an hour is a very satisfying feeling. So satisfying that I tend to write many more!

 

The beauty of writing flash fiction is that it can be done really quickly. With just 50 or 100 words, you have written a story! So give it a try, if you feel so inclined. If you’re not sure about what to write or how to write flash, check out my list of writing books included at the back of this book. It includes some titles that can help you with the writing of flash fiction.

 

I hope some of these stories will inspire you with your own story ideas. You can also get ideas for things to write from your ow life – your experiences, your dreams and observations. A lot of the stories I write come from my own personal experiences and from dreams.

 

The thing I love about writing flash fiction is that it forces a writer to be careful with their word choice. When writing flash fiction, you only get so many words to write. In that limited space where you must deliver a story with dialogue, characterization, description, etc., you must also write tight. Choose your words carefully. Write “many” instead of “a lot.” Use the word “teased” instead of “made fun of.” Also, when you have to cut words in order to meet the word count limit, keep the most important stuff. If you must show that a character spoke with a “deep voice,” then find another word somewhere else to delete.

 

What can really help you in learning how to write flash fiction, though, is to read flash fiction. And lots of it! Look at how other writers tell their stories in 50, 100 or even 1000 words. Notice the words they choose and how they show the action happening.

 

If books are your thing for learning, then here are some titles that can help you get started:

 

·        The World in a Flash: How to Write Flash-Fiction by Calum Kerr

·        Writing Flash Fiction: How to Write Very Short Stories and Get Them Published by Carly Berg

·        FLASH!: Writing the Very Short Story by John Dufresne

·        The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction: Tips from Editors, Teachers, and Writers in the Field by Tara L. Masih

(Many thanks to Maria Elena Vogt for suggesting the first title)

 

My friend and fellow author, Ruth Burroughs, knows flash fiction writing well. Not only has Ruth taken a course in writing flash fiction, but she also wrote a book of flash fiction stories (which I really enjoyed reading!) called Michelangelo 2000 and other microstories: a collection of short science fiction stories

Here are some articles Ruth recommends to writers interested in writing flash fiction:

 

"A Crash Course in Flash Fiction: An Essential Reading List of Very ShortStories" by Laura I. Miller (via LitHub)

 

"10 Hands-On Tips For Writing Flash Fiction" by Maria Haskins (via the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association)

"Top 24 Websites for Flash Fiction" (via Bookfox)

 

I’m so glad I still buckled down to write these stories! Yes, some of the stories are revisions of old stories, and it added to the final count, but a majority of these stories are the result of me sitting down to write them. I did prepare myself for the possibility that I might not be able to write ALL 30 stories this month, but I was determined to accomplish that goal.

30 Flash Fiction Horror Stories is available as a free ebook, with the option to buy the print.

 

Here is the blurb:

 

Looking for something spooky to read for Halloween??

 

Look no further than 30 Flash Horror Stories!

A flash fiction story collection full of spine-tingling thrills and chills!

 

A mysterious sign only one man can see…trick-or-treaters getting more trick than a treat…and ghosts that never rest. These are just a few of the thirty flash fiction horror and Halloween stories awaiting you within the pages of this book. Read these stories at your own risk!

 

Download your free copy here

 

If you prefer, you can buy a copy for just 99 cents here

Link for Kindle here

 

Link for the print coming soon!

Celebrate Short Fiction Day

 

Today is Celebrate Short Fiction Day. I love short fiction. They are little stories I can enjoy reading while waiting for someone or just to pass the time. Some short stories I read can be pretty long and take some time for me to get through, but I can usually read a short story in a day.

 

The types of short stories I read varies. It can be flash fiction or just a regular short story posted on the Internet. I used to read the stories on Creepy Pasta, but there are other sites featuring short stories too. I used to be subscribed to Dark Animus and the stories in that mag were really good. I also read Cemetery Dance whenever possible. I am subscribed to Underland Arcana, a magazine that publishes short stories, and I also grab an anthology of stories to read anytime I can. I am actually currently reading an anthology of stories, in fact – Books of Horror Community Anthology, Volume One. It is VERY good.

 

I read all kinds of short stories – horror, mystery, suspense, romance, sci-fi and thrillers. I prefer horror, sci-fi and mystery, but I like to mix up what I read.

 

Not only do I read short stories, though, but I write them too. I didn’t start out writing my stories, though. As a child, I told lots of stories. My family moved around a lot when I was growing up and I often told stories to pass the time in the car. At some point, I was encouraged to start writing my stories down. Not only this, but friends encouraged me to submit my stories for publication. I didn’t take that leap until my teens. Unfortunately, I got A LOT of rejections, and it was a long time before one of my short stories was finally accepted for publication. It was a nonpaying market, but I was still happy. I was thrilled when the day finally arrived that I sold a short story. That was a huge moment for me.

 

I still send stories out for publication every once in a while. It depends on if I have a story that is right for that particular market.

 

I mainly write horror stories but I also write sci-fi and fantasy. I tried my hand at noir once, which was fun, and even gave fanfic a try. I also write stories for children.

 

I have been known to write short stories in one sitting, but it usually takes me a week to write a story. However, one of the most recent stories I wrote took several weeks to write – I’d say about 3 or 4 weeks. It was a long story, too – coming in at 54 pages. The length of time it takes for me to write a story varies, though. The reason why that particular story was so long was because it had 12 scenes, and I wrote it a scene at a time. With flash fiction, I can get it done quick. Some of the more complicated stories require a little more time.

 

The fun thing I like about writing short stories is that I can take on writing challenges with them. 

 

One year, I wrote a short story for every week of the year. That was definitely challenging but also fun. I was surprised at how fast ideas for stories came to me. I spent all week working on one story at a time. You can read about how I did that challenge here.

 

Another year, I tried to do a word count challenge with the short stories. Unfortunately, I never completed it. I do plan to take up this challenge again another year. If you want to know more about what this particular challenge is all about, you will be able to read about it in an ebook I plan to write next year.

 

In addition to reading and writing short fiction, I have also reviewed collections of short fiction. That’s something I hope to get published someday, myself. In fact, I recently proposed a series of short fiction collections to one of my publishers. She liked the idea and I sent her the first collection of stories. I am pretty eager to hear back on if it will be accepted or not. It’s a series of five collections and each one will be published as an ebook then, after all five are out, they will all be published together in one big print book. All of the stories fit a particular theme, all of them are horror, and one of them are prequel stories of characters in a novel I wrote. So I am pretty excited about it. I definitely look forward to the day I will finally have my own short story collection published too.

 

For now, I am happy to read them, as well as any other short stories published on- and offline.

 

Short stories can be small doses of entertainment as well as a great way to pass the time. Some writers are known for their short stories rather than for other works, and it’s awesome to see short stories being turned into longer works such as novels or even movies. I am so glad we have short stories to read and I’m even happier there is a special day set aside to appreciate short fiction. Humans have been telling stories for a very long time and I hope we will continue to tell our stories, write our stories, and share them for all to read.