My story, The New Kid, is a fictionalized version of something that happened during my junior high school years (grades 7-9). The wisdom I gained from that time stayed with me, becoming one of those story ideas that would not go away. (even after 40 years!) The first version had to be just 100 words, so tweaking it until it was “just right” proved to be a frustrating experience. Fortunately, I had writer-friends willing to help.
The story is perfect for a flash fiction piece in that it does not require a lot of background or character development. So, even after the 100-word restriction was gone, I found that adding more text just took away from the story, and it ended up with 108 words.
My writing has been called compact and powerful. I tend to believe that less is better, and try to write clear and concise. Even my forthcoming novel, Lucky John, is less than 75,000 words.
I guess that makes me a minimalist writer.
I’m cool with that.
‘The New Kid’ by Desiree R. Kannel features in Tall Tales & Short Stories Volume One.
