So, there I was sitting in the Houston airport, waiting for my plane. (It was several years ago, before the COVID times). There were a few real Texan dudes sitting nearby with boxes for their cowboy hats. In between, getting up and buying some teriyaki chicken for lunch, I had this nagging feeling.
It was a feeling I had been living with for some time. I so badly wanted to write a flash fiction piece (less than 1,000 words). I followed Aeryn Rudel and other flash writers. They had done it. Why couldn’t I just put one together? How could something so short be so daunting?
The answer: I struggle writing short. Most have the opposite problem, they struggle writing novels and longer pieces. But I feel best with no word counts, few guidelines, derelict warnings signs. I thrive on letting the imagination unwind on those long, lonely stretches of cerebral desert, those desolate moonlit places with no fences in sight. A place as big as all Texas, one might say. It’s just the way I am built, I guess.
But there was an idea that had been kicking around in my head for months. A tale about a sentient story. A story with thoughts, feelings, an identity. And better yet, one that was alive, after its own fashion. One that could reproduce, travel, change, and ultimately die—just like any living thing. But all that hadn’t coalesced into a story, despite my best efforts.
And then all of a sudden…Maybe it was the teriyaki chicken, the hat boxes, the flitting billboard with the flight departures…It all clicked. I would write a story written from the point of view of the sentient story, from the moment it was discovered by someone and just take it from there. I put down my chicken, booted up my laptop (a writer, like a photographer should always have the tools of his trade handy), and a story fell out. When I wrote “THE END” it ended up at just under 1,000 words.
And that’s how it happened. Soon as I was done, we started boarding. But I had the first draft of a flash fiction piece to take with me on the plane ride home.
Now, “So, You Found Me,” is out on the Amazon Kindle store. It was my first piece of flash fiction and first appeared in Between Worlds magazine in January 2017. Apparently, the mag folded recently, so I’m excited to be reintroducing this little piece to the world.
The story also features great new cover art from Die Welle Design:
What’s more, I’m doing a giveaway to celebrate its release! It’s free today and the next few days (Nov. 2-4) on the Kindle store.
Here’s a little snippet to pique your interest:
…The wise and foolish alike agree I’m the one being read. That I’m the passive one, you the active. But don’t be so sure. Who’s to say the reverse is not true?
IMPORTANT NOTE: You don’t need a Kindle device to read the story. All you need is the Kindle App downloaded onto your PC, Mac, or phone (or even onto your Kindle, if you have one!) If you have an Internet connection and a device, you should be able to download and read this story anywhere in the world.
And if you do get it, please, please, please leave a short review (good, bad or indifferent) when you’re done with it on Amazon or Goodreads!
Thanks and see you next time.
,DJ
Inside the Writer's Mind 