Originally Published in Revolver. Read here.

She was at the billiards hall, playing video poker at the bar. I could tell she was a mermaid right away, something about the silvery sheen of her skin or the way her hair tangled like blond seaweed.

You look familiar I said as I sat down. Do we know each other?

She rolled her eyes and avoided my gaze, slammed a bright blue drink and muttered, I’m not from around here.

But as soon as I heard her salty voice, I knew. The summer before I’d been sitting out among the crags of a rocky islet off the coast of France, watching the tidepools, the waves crash blue and white foam against dark brown rocks. The Sirens were clustered just out of reach, their heads bobbing with the moving sea and I became so instantly enamored that I didn’t even think about how quickly my own head would crack open on the rocks if I tried to swim out there. An old crabber yelled at me to stop as I threw myself into the swirling waters, kicking against the current. They were floating with the waves, watching me approach. They lowered their eyelids and puckered their strawberry lips at me, and each time I was within reach of one she would slip away. Finally I managed to seize one and grip her tight. She thrashed like a beautiful trout as I dragged her back to the shore, my senses maddened by her slippery vanilla skin, her sharp scales cutting me as she flailed and writhed against me. She was crying, a piercing wail that would drive dogs mad, and the old crabber had stopped and was watching me in disbelief, and the closer we got to the shore the more limp and heavy she became until she surrendered completely, caught. I drug her up through the pebbly shallows and laid her at the edge of the water where her tail would stay wet. She curled away from me and avoided my gaze, much as she was doing now. Her gills were moving slowly, beautiful and doomed, as the horizon swallowed the sun and the sea became a sound only.

You were the one in France, I finally said.

I’m not a mermaid anymore, in case you’re wondering, she answered, and she ordered another shot and turned her stool away from me.

So…I’m starting a new series called “Ask A Flash Fiction Editor.” You can send me your flash fiction stories in progress and in exchange for getting a free professional edit from me, I will use your story as an example of how to create effective flash pieces for a public that is still trying to wrap their head around the form. So if you are interested message me privately with your work.  Or if you have another question that would be relevant, I’m open. For efficacy, flash stories in the shorter, 500-word range preferred. Great for getting flash fiction stories ready for the F-Bomb readings…

Happy Writing!

Contact me with your stories and/or questions at: nancystohlman@gmail.cm

Need a little mid-winter inspiration? Try one of these flash fiction prompts:

1: Write a story in which something transforms into something else.

2: Write a true story that is so ___________(insert adjective here) that no one would believe it’s true. But it is.

3: Find a story you’ve written that isn’t quite working. Chop it down to exactly 100 words. Give it a new title.

4: Write a story that is based in or uses elements of mythology–any mythology from any culture or time period.

5: Bibliomancy–open the dictionary to any random page, place your finger on any random word and poof! That is the title (or part of the title) of your next story.

6: Write a story from the point of view of someone much older than you.

7: Write a story about or featuring a body part. (Heads out of the gutters, people, there are other body parts!)

8: Write a secret, preferably one you think no one could relate to.

9: Write a story in which something important is lost.

10: Use a dream or pieces of a dream to create a surreal, alter-reality story.

11: Find a story of yours that’s not quite working. WITHOUT rereading it (this is key), rewrite it from scratch, letting it morph as necessary. Then compare the two and blend to taste.

12: Write a story that begins with, and consists mostly of, dialogue.

13: Write a story that deals with or includes some aspect of a taboo.

14: Write a story that has happened to you but write it from another person’s point of view.

15: Write a story that involves a reoccurring and/or deep dark fear.

16: Write a story that’s happened to someone else, but write it as if it happened to you.

17: Write a story that has some reference to a current event.

18: Write a story that involves an animal.

19: Write a story in which you spill a secret, yours or someone else’s. Disguise as necessary.

20: Write a story that takes place in an empty landscape.

21: Rewrite a scene from history.

22: Write a story that involves time travel.

23: Write a story that contains at least three of these elements: body lice, gasoline, a Hostess product, a childhood hero, an outdated slang expression, a song title or your favorite flavor.

24: Write a story that contains elements of a real holiday memory.

25: Write a story that takes place over breakfast.

26: Write a story that includes a humiliation, real or invented.

27: Write a story that involves a celebrity.

28: Write a story in which the impossible is now possible.

29: Revisit a story you’ve written. Count the words. Now reduce the word count by half.

30:  Write a story with a theme of “The End.”

Thanks to Carolyn Zaikowski for inviting me into this writerly conversation! Read about her new book, A Child Is Being Killed, forthcoming in June from Aqueous Books.

And now, without further adieu:

TEN INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR THE NEXT BIG THING

What is your working title of your book?

The Monster Opera and Other Bible Stories
Where did the idea come from for the book?

Originally The Monster Opera and my flash fiction stories were separate projects, but once I started writing I realized they were all part of one single manuscript.

THE MONSTER OPERA: I remember very clearly the day I accidentally found Gertrude Stein’s libretto to Four Saints in Three Acts. I was already a fan of opera, but surprisingly I’d never really thought about the libretto of an opera (the written “script”)—which might seem weird since I’m writer! But when I started reading her libretto—and it was pure opera AND pure Stein—I became totally inspired. There is a quote by Susan Sontag, and I’m paraphrasing here, about the novel and opera being the two most antiquated forms, the forms that have evolved the least over their lifetimes, and since I was already a novelist I decided to write a story that met in the cross section between the two. So The Monster Opera is neither and both and ultimately asks the question, “Who owns a story?”

I’m also lucky to be in creative partnership with Nick Busheff, who is an amazing composer. He’s taught me a lot about opera and classical structures and he scored the first 15 pages for a live reading/performance about a year ago.

AND OTHER BIBLE STORIES: The absurdist world of the flash fiction stories that precede the opera came only recently. Having spent a lot of time immersed in the world of flash fiction thanks to my involvement with Fast Forward Press, I originally I thought I was collecting my previously written/ published flash fiction stories for a separate story collection, but soon I found the flash stories were taking me into an entirely new, surreal direction and ultimately hooking up with The Monster Opera.
What genre does your book fall under?

Absurdist. Surrealist. Experimental. Genre-bending. Flash Fiction. Collections. Opera Librettos. It is a collection of 29 flash fictions and one flash opera, which is a story using the form of an opera libretto.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

None. Dear God, no. (Although Bernadette Peters might make a good Magdelena in a staged version.)
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

“Twenty-nine absurdist flash fictions and one flash opera.”
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Depends how you count.  The short answer is one year for each section, with an additional year in between to break down and question if I should really be a writer.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I adore the story collections of George Saunders and Lydia Davis. The Monster Opera was of course inspired by the opera libretto, Four Saints in Three Acts by Gertrude Stein, as well classic books like Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Well, as I said I thought for a long time that these were separate projects. I owe much of the synthesis and the big picture shift to fellow writer Rob Geisen, who was working on a poetry manuscript at the same time. We spent much of the summer in a writing dialogue, and both of our manuscripts grew in unexpected ways from the cross-pollination. So I guess you could say I was inspired by poetry!

Nancy Stohlman~January 17, 2013

Next week, look for exciting interviews by:

David Wagner, talking about his new science fiction manuscript, What Marvoulous Things Await to Be Seen.

Bryan Jansing, talking about his new non-fiction book, A Guide to the Microbreweries of Italy.

Nate Jordon, talking about his new chapbook, Vinnie Palmieri.