Meet NUNUM's Contributor: Jeffrey-Michael Kane

NUNUM

Blending Flash Fiction & Art

Interview with ​Jeffrey-Michael Kane

What writer(s) or which book(s) influenced your decision to become a writer?
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This will strike most as odd, and many will not even understand the reference, but John-Boy Walton was the first “writer” that made me almost obsessed with becoming and identifying as a writer. I was already a notebook user, even at that young-age, and the fact that an older “person” was equally attached to writing things down and carrying his notebook everywhere, was something that was very mentoring to me. I am sure you did not see that coming.

Is there a writer who has influenced your current writing style?
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There are six…depending on the genre.  For fiction, Claire Keegan and William Maxwell. For essays: John McPhee and Joan Didion. For hybrid works, Olga Tokarczuk and Maggie Nelson.

Why write flash?

Writing flash fiction forces you to compress and, most importantly, to trust your reader. 

You do not have the word count for unnecessary dialog. You do not have the dialog to explain things to your reader. You do not have the word count to build a plot.  You have to come in hot, stay briefly in the piece, and then get out. Drop the reader right smack in the thick of it, then leave the reader to finish the work…don’t pull them by the nose to a neat and tidy ending. Lastly, make sure every word, and certainly every sentence, is load-bearing and/or doing something to propel the story. 

If a word ends in “ing” (adj.) or “ly” (adv.) you probably should cut it. Use contractions almost always…saves a word. Use em dashes and semi-colons…saves predicate words.

What advice would you give someone who is just starting to send their work out to journals?

Do not let perfect be the enemy of good.  

What this means is to not allow the praise of others to influence where you send a piece. For example, if a teacher or a friend tells you of one of your first or early works: “this pieces is good enough for Granta”. Don’t take the bait. Don’t start believing the press reports of others. Send it to a more entry-level journal willing to work with you on the piece. Land some there. That’s good. Accept “good”.  Then move up a notch. Lather, rinse, and repeat as you climb the ladder. Granta is at the apex…it will take a long time and 1,000 rejections to get there.  Lastly, do not send your creative writing exercises from your high school or undergraduate courses. They were just that: exercises. You’ll not get these accepted, especially if you accidentally fail to strip off: “Dr. Johnson, English 303, MWF 8:00 to 9:00 AM.”

J.M.C. Kane is a writer and environmental attorney in New Orleans. Kane is the author of Quiet Brilliance: What Employers Miss About Neurodivergent Talent and How to See It (CollectiveInk U.K.), a celebrated nonfiction work on cognitive patterning and inclusion in the workplace. His prose has appeared in Smokelong Quarterly, Eleventh Hour Literary, and other publications.

NUNUM

Blending Flash Fiction & Art