Friday, May 7, 2010

Writing

She was always drawn to fire. What was it about that? Maybe the scar on her arm from the burn could offer an explanation. Or, the way she jumped when she heard the hiss of propane.

“Are you coming up for dinner?” He yelled to her. She didn’t hear him. The heat of it all was calming. Today, like always, the flame mesmerized her. It carried her away.




That explains it for me. I don't know that my writing is any good but I wanted to try it. The genre' is a form called Flash Fiction. If you'd like to see some from a person who is good at it try Janel Gradowski. Just do the "click thing" on her name and it will take you to her blog....Janel's Jumbles. I met Janel a long time ago. She's a friend, an author for many publications of bead patterns (which she teaches), an all around great person, and now a flash fiction writer. Hey, when you got it - flaunt it! Her blog is full of fun things. not just fiction - as if that wasn't enough.

And just incase you are new to this flash fiction stuff here is some Winkepeadia info on the topic and some places where you can use that New York minute and read some.


"Wink" explanation of Flash Fiction:


Flash fiction is fiction of extreme brevity. There is no widely accepted definition of the length of the category. Some self-described markets for flash fiction impose caps as low as 300, while others consider stories as long as 1000 words to be flash fiction.

The term "flash fiction" may have originated from a 1992 anthology of that title. As the editors said in their introduction, their definition of a "flash fiction" was a story that would fit on two facing pages of a typical digest-sized literary magazine, or about 750 words.

Flash fiction differs from a vignette in that the flash-fiction might contain the classic story elements: protagonist, conflict, obstacles or complications, and resolution. However, unlike the case with a traditional short story, the limited word length often forces some of these elements to remain unwritten, that is, hinted at or implied in the written storyline. This principle, taken to the extreme, is illustrated in a possibly apocryphal story about a six-word flash allegedly penned by Ernest Hemingway: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."


Some Zines to read the fiction or interesting fiction facts:

Flash Fiction

Writing World

Vestral Review

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I love your flash! Maybe more of a flash memoir than fiction? :)

Thanks for the shout out!

Sharon Driscoll said...

Yes, it occurred to me it didn't quite fit the fiction category. Thank goodness for having an expert on board. Now I know there are things like flash memoirs. What you do is very cool Janel. It captures so very quickly how I feel sometimes and leaves such latitude for everyone to fill in their own blanks. I'm thinking of the bathtub flash. BRAVO to you - you deserved the shout.

Now everyone go and look at Janel's....and try a flash.