What is Flash Fiction?
3 Qawl 164 B.E. - Sunday, November 25, 2007 about 3:29 PM PST
One of my 101 Things to do in 1001 Days is to write a Flash Fiction story everyday. This brings up the question "What is flash fiction?" The website http://www.writefromhome.com/writingtradearticles/197.htm defines Flash Fiction as a story of 500 words or less. Since this type of story contains all the elements that a longer story or novel does, you have to incorporate those elements quickly and compactly. This is sometimes difficult and sometimes easy.
Writing flash fiction is fun. I have found that it focuses your attention on the elements and nutshell descriptions. Long descriptions use words that aren't available in this type of writing. This means that sometimes you have to presume that the reader knows a little about the surroundings. For instance, if you are writing a story about turkeys you have to believe that the reader has some idea of what a hen house, poultry enclosure or barnyard look like.
Writing flash fiction helps improve your technique. When writing conversations the word "said" can't be used all the time. If you have to indicate who is talking then use the character's name with some sort of action that carries the plot along. For anyone who has never written flash fiction, I suggest trying it. Do not give up if your first attempt exceeds the word limit. Simply rewrite. Remember it is easier to cut then to add words later.
One of my 101 Things to do in 1001 Days is to write a Flash Fiction story everyday. This brings up the question "What is flash fiction?" The website http://www.writefromhome.com/writingtradearticles/197.htm defines Flash Fiction as a story of 500 words or less. Since this type of story contains all the elements that a longer story or novel does, you have to incorporate those elements quickly and compactly. This is sometimes difficult and sometimes easy.
Writing flash fiction is fun. I have found that it focuses your attention on the elements and nutshell descriptions. Long descriptions use words that aren't available in this type of writing. This means that sometimes you have to presume that the reader knows a little about the surroundings. For instance, if you are writing a story about turkeys you have to believe that the reader has some idea of what a hen house, poultry enclosure or barnyard look like.
Writing flash fiction helps improve your technique. When writing conversations the word "said" can't be used all the time. If you have to indicate who is talking then use the character's name with some sort of action that carries the plot along. For anyone who has never written flash fiction, I suggest trying it. Do not give up if your first attempt exceeds the word limit. Simply rewrite. Remember it is easier to cut then to add words later.
Labels: creative writing, flash fiction, plot, Writing
1 Comments:
that sounds interesting. I'll give it a try.
How are you making money bloggin, btw? Just curious.
How's your mom? Tell her I said, HI!
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