Yesterday, EQMM’s 80th Anniversary Issue (September/October 2021) went on sale. In it you’ll find Trey Dowell’s flash-fiction thriller “The Problem With Fish Markets.” (And yes, it’s possible to write a genuine international-intrigue thriller in one thousand words—though I might not have believed it before reading this story!) Trey recently won the Bethlehem Writer’s Workshop 2021 Short Story Award, judged by New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris (another frequent EQMM contributor). His short stories have also been nominated for Derringer Awards several times. Although Trey’s fictional range is wide—he’s written full-length novels as well as stories in several genres—in this post he talks about what’s involved in keeping a crime story—or any story— short. —Janet Hutchings

So, I’ve been hammering away at this whole “writing fiction” thing for about fifteen years now. I’ve had a modest amount of success (and a somewhat-less-modest amount of failure), but one of…