January 2025

Ten stories picked by Finnian Burnett

Finnian Burnett lives in small town British Columbia. They write about intersections of identity—mental health, gender identity, and body positivity. Finnian is a 2023 Canada Council for the Arts grant recipient, a 2023 CBC finalist, and a 2024 Pushcart Nominee. Finnian has two flash collections, The Clothes Make the Man and The Price of Cookies. They are a frequent presenter and keynote speaker at literary conferences. Finnian is represented by Stacey Kondla of The Rights Factory.

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/finnwritesstuff.bsky.social

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/finnianburnett/

Website: https://finnburnett.com/

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If you aren’t familiar with their work, here’s one of their pieces to start things off:

How to Erase Indelible Ink From The Skin of Your Arms (Finnian Burnett | Off Topic Publishing)

Why I like it (MK): this is a poem that could easily read as flash; I love how it sits in the hinterland between the two forms. The build of character and emotion is brilliant, wonderfully underpinned by the creative imagery and the use of repeating motifs.

It Never Matter What Happened at Home (Sumitra Singam | Forge Lit Mag)

Why I like it (FB): I love the flow of this piece, the breathlessness, the way dialogue is incorporated into the overall narrative. It’s sad, hopeful, poignant, and even though there’s a great loss, there’s a way forward, too.

PROMPT: Start a story with “It never mattered…”

Let’s Sing All the Swear Words We Know (Anita Goveas | Lost Balloon)

Why I like it: This is a lyrical journey through a life from infancy to early adulthood. I love the almost sing-song quality of the second person repetition and the use of second person to pull me into the life of the narrator.

Elevator Pitch for a Dystopian Young Adult Novel (Sage Tyrtle | Tiny Molecules)

Why I like it: I’m always a fan of a good hermit crab and this story in the form of an elevator pitch doesn’t disappoint. I love the subversion of societal expectations, the removal of the male “heroes” to the background, and the “phalanx of girls” fighting oppression. I often quote the last line of this story in my daily life.

The Burial of Mrs. Charles D. Jackson (Barbara Diggs | Bath Flash Fiction Award)

Why I like it: This story is luscious with visceral details—the way certain fabrics move around a body, the smell of food, the gathering of women around a widow. The unraveling of the title’s double-meaning leaves me with such a feeling a joyful vindication.

Obit (Rebecca Harrison | Crow & Cross Keys)

Why I like it: I share this story in my creative writing classes more than any other story. It has so many levels—so much to discuss. On a craft level, I love the way the author breaks the fourth wall to address the reader. “Who among us hasn’t tried?” Tiny details stand out and some of the word choices are brilliant. On the surface, it’s just an obituary, but on a deeper level, it’s an indictment of the way society treats creatives while they are alive. Pure brilliance.

Prompt: Write a piece lauding someone—an obituary or a speech giving someone an award.

Let’s Say (Julia Stayer | SmokeLong Quarterly)

Why I like it: Stream-of-consciousness, layer upon layer, and a crushing story showing that traumatic events are often traumatic on all sides.

The Flavours We’ll Lose (Brecht De Poortere | Reflex Press)

Why I like it: This gorgeous dystopian story gives us a relationship in the middle of tough times. The small dips into world-building and the horrors of epic climate disaster, and in the middle of this, a small child having a birthday and a mother who wants to make it special.

I’ve stashed an envelope with five $100 bills, for the day you call (Cole Beauchamp | MoonPark Review)

Why I like it: I was fully invested in this love that can’t be, in the hope of the characters overcoming the challenges, in the story under the story, the things left unsaid. My heart hurt after reading this story and I couldn’t stop thinking about it for a long time.

Prompt: Two people, deeply in love, can’t be together for some reason. How do they keep the feelings alive?

Blood Flows Slower Than Water (Jo Gatford | Flash 500)

Why I like it: It’s hard to pick just one story by Jo Gatford to love the best. I chose this one because of the richness of the language—it flows like menstrual blood and doesn’t shy away from talking about the genuine power of women and their bodies.

I Married A Taxidermist (Jude Higgins | Flash Flood)

Why I like it: The rich detail, the absolute understated tone of the entire story, the absurdity, and the last line which made me laugh out loud with its double meaning.

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What did you think of these choices? Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments - have you found a new favourite piece? Did you try out one of the prompts?

Next month’s selection will be chosen by L Mari Harris and will be appearing (fingers crossed) on the 18th February.

Opportunities to work with Matt

Glorious Words

How do we choose the right words to sharpen up our prose? How do we make our writing unique without it becoming obscure? Is the road to hell really paved with adverbs? This flash fiction course explores language in all its guts and glory, focussing on unique images, concision versus specificity and how to create original tone.

• 31st March - 13th April 2025

• Specificity | Imagery | Tone | Miscellany.

• Online, fully asynchronous course and workshop.

• Pay-what-you-can pricing. £105 recommended.

Editing

NOVEL / NOVELLA EDITING: First steps review, structural review, line edit, proof edit, submission review

EDITING FOR COLLECTIONS: structural overview report, line edit, proof edit

SHORT FICTION EDITING: Structural review, line edit, detailed edit, proof edit