Writing is a constant state of discovery. I’ve recently found
two new ways to express the writer part of me: Flash fiction and cat poetry.
I’ve wanted to learn to write flash fiction from
the day I first heard the term and had to look it up on Google to find out what
it was. Since it takes me longer to write short fiction than an entire
full-length book, I couldn’t imagine the process of conveying any sort of
attention-grabbing tale in under 1000 words.
Flash fiction isn’t a new thing, having roots that go back
to pre-history in the form of fables and parables. These extremely short works
began reinventing themselves as they regained popularity a few decades ago with
names like the “short-short story” and “sudden fiction”. As flash fiction evolved, it split even
further into sub-genres. Flash, itself, got shorter, and dribble (the 50-word story), drabble
(the 100-word story), 140-character stories known as twitterature, as well as the impossible-to-imagine six-word-story came about. I’ve read
successful examples of all but still had no clue how the writers came up
with their work.
When in doubt, learn from those who know. I took a
workshop in flash fiction and this is what I found out:
FF “implies” a larger story.
FF is about giving the reader hints.
FF is about characters.
Describe parts instead of the whole.
Chose a universal theme.
Condense the story by picking the right words.
*FF can be a useful tool in blurb writing and even
advertising.
The six-word-story was my nemesis, but apparently it’s
all about hint. It’s a picture, a
still life. It should evoke the imagination of the reader to fill in the blanks
however they see fit. Here are my first attempts:
Anxiety. Short of breath. Not again!
Sign reads “Lost cat”. Heartbreak. Hope.
Six words? Give me a break!
What are some of your six-word-stories? I’d love to read
them in the comment section.
And I haven’t forgotten about cat poetry. More on that
next time.
Check out more by Mollie Hunt, Cat Writer at:
Happy reading!
Mollie, I love to write short-short fiction for fun. I have a jar of writing prompts my great-niece and I would use. We would pull out a prompt and write a story less than a page in length inspired by the prompt.
ReplyDelete"Writer's Digest" has a yearly short-short story contest I used to enter every year. Although I never won, it was so much fun to write those stories.
I enjoyed reading your post, Mollie. All the best to you.
Thanks, Sarah. For me, beginning a short story is something akin to work. It's fun when I get going though.
Delete"If I had more time, I'd have written a shorter letter." (attributed in various versions to Winston Churchill, Mark Twain, George Tullie, Blaise Pascal, George Bernard Shaw, Goethe, Voltaire, and Ben Franklin)
ReplyDeleteMy point is, writing short works takes a certain mindset and practice that you hone to a fine skill. I've written two Christmas stories, each with 2000 words, (micro-stories), and I spent an inordinate amount of time whittling down my natural writing verbosity. lol
A six-word story? Hmmm... My brain went into Haiku mode every time I came up with an idea. lol I'll ponder this. If I come up with something, I'll pop back in and post it.
I really love Haiku. I have to veer away from anything poetry-related to come up with a story though. My inclination is to write a poem instead.
Delete