Five Questions with 7th Annual NANO Prize Judge Amber Sparks
Sophie Rosenblum: What do you look for in flash fiction? Who are some of your favorite flash writers?
Amber Sparks: I like flash that acts like a story, not a vignette. The more you can pack in (not into the piece but into the spaces under the piece) the better. Nothing makes me happier than truly epic flash. I would say rather than list specific writers, look to the Wigleaf Top 50 for the last few years – that’s really the showplace for fantastic short fiction and I think just about every story there is a gem.
SR: How do you start writing? Do you use writing prompts? If so, what are some that you might recommend?
AS: I’m usually busy most minutes of the day, so when I have a thought – when something strikes 
me – I just grab a pen and paper or my phone’s notes and start writing. And weekends I usually try to reserve a block of time to do my writing – a few hours at least. I don’t use prompts but if I’m really stuck I do sometimes grab a book of poetry and just start randomly flipping to different pages to find a line that resonates. I don’t steal it, but I’ll use it for inspiration – to kind of kick my piece in the butt and make it do something different.
SR: What advice do you have for the writers out there who have yet to publish their first story?
AS: Just keep writing and keep reading – and the reading part is actually more important than the writing part, probably. I read a lot more than I write, and that’s how I learn to write better. It takes so long, so be patient! I was actively sending out stuff for probably five years before I actually got something published. (Which, by the way, was a really good thing, because the stuff I was sending in at the beginning, submitting, was really terrible. Thank god no one published it.)
SR: You mention on your website that Batman is your favorite superhero. How and when did you make that decision?
AS: Ha, I think that actively happened in 1989, which was a seminal year for me largely because of the Tim Burton film that came out that year. But I think anyone who reads my writing could guess Batman would be my favorite. (I like dark.) Superman and Spider Man are just too good, too moral. Batman is completely nuts, really. And I like that he doesn’t have any special powers – he’s just rich and nuts. My kind of character.
SR: What can we look forward to from Amber Sparks?
AS: Well, I’ve got a baby coming out in a month – and then a book baby in January of next year, a new short story collection coming out from Liveright/Norton. It’s called The Unfinished World and Other Stories, and it even has some flash in it – I have no idea how I got away with that.