Jo Nestor, retired adult educator, won the Leitrim Guardian Literary Award 2020. Her workhas been published in the FISH Anthology 2024 with an Honorary Mention. Her flash fictionhas also been published in A Word in Your Ear – Roscommon New Writing Anthology 2019-2023; the mental health charity Havin’ a Laugh’s Little Book of Inspiration 2020; as well asseveral editions of the broadsheet Autumn Leaves. Jo’s book reviews are available online at writing.ie She chooses to live in hope.
Can you tell us a bit about your relationship with flash? Why it appeals and what frustrates you?
My relationship with flash fiction is up close and intimate! Let’s face it, most of my published work has been in this genre. What appeals to me about flash is the challenge to convey a good story using few, but essential words. Every word must earn its place, so the frustration for me is the balancing act between choosing the right words and creating a good story. That said, I do love the discipline of the process very much.
In terms of construction/technique, how is flash fiction different, in your view, from other genres – in particular poetry (including prose poems) and the short story?
The construction of flash fiction is tight and specific. Compared to short stories where there’s more wriggle room, the word count for flash is usually between 300 and 700 words. I heard the editor of The Roscommon Herald say about flash fiction, “Be brief, be brilliant, be gone,” and that’s stuck with me as a format and goal that I strive towards with my writing.
Last year, I wrote a flash piece in the second person. Having written it in the third person for so many drafts, this was very much an intuitive last-minute-dot-com decision before submitting it to a literary competition. What transpired was that the competition judge, Michelle Elvy, noted what she called ‘the intimate second-person storytelling’ in her comments and awarded my piece an Honorary Mention.
Subsequently, I had the good fortune to be in the audience for a Q and A with Ballymena writer Jan Carson, so I asked her about a short story she’d written in the second person, and why. She said, “It makes the reader complicit.” The moral of that story is be brave, experiment, and have fun with your writing. Who knows, it might just pay off.
Fundamentally, for you what makes a flash piece successful?
For a flash piece to be successful, I think it must have an impact on the reader, and I read a lot, so I tend to write for readers. It helps if there’s a ‘call back’, as in the end links with the beginning. To quote the award-winning English flash fiction writer, David Gaffney, the title and first line are ‘hugely important’, and the last line must ‘ring like a bell’. But at its core, flash fiction must have a message, a learning, an ‘ah-ha’ moment.
David features in Issue 5 of Splonk, so do check out that interview.
Here’s a YouTube link to his 12-minute masterclass on flash fiction, and it’s well worth a watch:
What flashers do you admire and why? Are there any specific pieces that you found compelling?
There are so many fantastic writers out there, but when I react out loud at the end, I know the writer has hit the nail on the head. Here are two examples: ‘All They Will Call You’ by John Mulligan (Autumn Leaves, 2022) and ‘The President Issues a Non-Binding Resolution’ by Tania Hershman (Splonk, Issue 11).
I would encourage readers to seek out broadsheets and journals such as The Cormorant, Splonk, and Autumn Leaves, to read exceptional flash fiction by writers from all across the world.
Anthologies, too, such as FISH and Roscommon New Writing are similarly excellent.
Look further afield, too, and read work by writers of different ethnicities to yours; it’s always enlightening and worthwhile.
What flash piece of your own are you most proud of? Where can we read it (if it’s available)?
Asking which of my flash pieces I’m most proud of is like asking who is my favourite child!
I do have two pieces I’m especially proud of and I’ve read them several times in public. Both have been well received, with strangers approaching me after readings saying lovely things, so I know the impact of those flash pieces. That wasn’t a driving force when I wrote them, by the way, but it came later as positive confirmation that I’d written something of worth in less than 300 words.
My flash fiction piece ‘Jack’ is published online in a flipbook and here’s the link: Roscommon New Writing Anthologies
My other ‘baby’ is ‘Coming of Age’ which was published in this year’s FISH Anthology. It’s available free on request from libraries nationwide, or it can be purchased from bookshops, or directly from FISH Publishing: Fish Anthology 2024