Kaj Tanaka walks us through the inspiration, construction, and revision of his 200 word story, Volleyball. This story appeared in issue 9.1 of NANO FICTION.

http://nanofiction.org/category/issues

Kaj Tanaka's stories have been featured in Longform, selected for Wigleaf’s Best (Very) Short Fictions, and nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He is the nonfiction editor for BULL Magazine. He lives in Houston. Find him at kajtanaka.com.

Maggie Su explains the whys and hows of fighting for the lines you love, the importance of believing in your own intention, and what radical self-love can look like. "Egg Alien" was originally published in Smokelong Quarterly. Read it here: http://www.smokelong.com/egg-alien/

Maggie Su is a recent Indiana University MFA graduate whose work has appeared or is forthcoming in Mid-American Review, The Offing, The Journal, Green Mountains Review, New Flash Fiction Review, SmokeLong Quarterly, and elsewhere. She serves as fiction editor for Indiana Review and staff reader for Ploughshares. You can follow her @litmagreject.

What does it mean to be the one crawling through the doggy door? Amanda Malone gives the low-down on her flash story, "Someday Baby, You Ain't Gonna Worry About Me Anymore," originally published in Wyvern Lit. Other topics include: southern grit-lit, accents, and brevity in fiction.

Read the story: http://www.wyvernlit.com/four/amanda-malone/

A born and raised New Yorker, Amanda Malone learned to love the South after living in Georgia for nine years and is slowly coming around on the Midwest. She is currently a third year candidate at the MFA program at Minnesota State University, Mankato and a graduate instructor of composition. Her work has appeared in Wyvern Lit, CHEAP POP and Luna Luna Magazine, among others.

Dennis Herbert talks about his story, "Everybody is Waiting," originally published by The Airgonaut in October of 2016. Dennis talks about influences as varied as childhood, Jurassic Park, the 1988 classic The Great Outdoors, and graduating from his MFA program.

Read the story here:

https://theairgonautblog.wordpress.com/2016/10/01/everybody-is-waiting/

Dennis Scott Herbert is a winner of the Toy Wilson Blethen Fine Arts award and is very dangerous. His work has appeared in Paper Darts, Squalorly, the Minnesota Review, Smokelong Quarterly, and Hobart among others. Catch him at upcoming reading at Dogstar Books, Lancaster PA Oct 19th

Writer Meghan Phillips talks about how a goal to write more poetry, plus a Kathy Fish workshop, plus memories of hormones came together to make her flash fiction story, ANGEL PEACHES BABY HONEY SWEETIE PIE SUGAR, published last year by WhiskeyPaper.

Read her story ANGEL PEACHES BABY HONEY SWEETIE PIE SUGAR over at Whiskey Paper! http://www.whiskeypaper.com/whiskeypaper/angel-peaches-baby-honey-sweetie-pie-sugar-by-meghan-phillips

Meghan Phillips is the fiction editor for Third Point Press and an associate editor for SmokeLong Quarterly. You can find her writing at meghan-phillips.com and her deep thoughts about dad rock on Twitter @mcarphil. She lives in Lancaster, PA.

Writer Tyrese Coleman talks hip-hop, metaphors, and how a trick ending doesn't cut it in flash. We go in depth about her story, "They Reminisce Over You," originally published in Hobart.

Read the story here: http://www.hobartpulp.com/web_features/they-reminsce-over-you

Tyrese L. Coleman is a writer, wife, mother, attorney, essayist, and fictionist. She is also the fiction editor for District Lit, and an associate editor at SmokeLong Quarterly. A 2016 Kimbilio Fiction Fellow, her flash pieces have appeared in several publications, including PANK, Brevity, Tahoma Literary Review, upstreet, Hobart, and listed in Wigleaf's Top 50 (very) short fictions. She also leads flash writing workshops for the Writer's Center in Bethesda, MD. Contact her at tyresecoleman.com or on Twitter @tylachelleco.

This episode was produced by Tyler Barton. The music was also produced by Tyler Barton, under his musical moniker, yungpamp.

Poet and essayist Michael Torres talks through his flash CNF, "Short Stories," originally published in Paper Darts.

Read it: www.paperdarts.org/literary-magazi…1/short-stories

This episode was produced by Tyler Barton. The music was also produced by Tyler Barton, under his musical moniker, yungpamp.

In this episode, Kara Vernor gives us a detailed look at how her flash story, "Don Johnson is Not Your Man" came into being.

Read it: wigleaf.com/201208dj.htm

Buy the book it appears in: www.splitlippress.com/because-i-want…you-a-pop-song

Kara Vernor’s fiction chapbook, Because I Wanted to Write You a Pop Song, is available from Split Lip Press. She has received scholarships from the Elizabeth George Foundation and Mendocino Coast Writer’s Conference, and her work has been included in Wigleaf’s Top 50 Very Short Fictions, the Best Small Fictions finalists, and Outpost 19’s Golden State 2017 anthology.

This episode was produced by Tyler Barton. The music was also produced by Tyler Barton, under his musical moniker, yungpamp.

**this is the pilot episode, and at the time I made it, I was calling the show "Story Exploder," which is why the intro and outro contain that name**

Pete Stevens gives us the scoop on his beautiful character-study of a story, "The Carnival Man"(Knee Jerk Magazine, February 2016).

Read it: kneejerkmag.com/2016/02/the-carni…-by-pete-stevens/

Pete Stevens is the fiction editor at Squalorly. His work has appeared or is forthcoming at Copper Nickel, SmokeLong Quarterly, Beecher's, Yemassee, Word Riot, and Gigantic Sequins, among others. Currently, he is teaching and living in Minnesota. He can be found online at petestevensfiction.com.

This episode was produced by Tyler Barton. The music was also produced by Tyler Barton, under his musical moniker, yungpamp.