TECH: Make Your Fiction Flash (moldy oldie) 493 words

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original Posting Aug. 26, 2015

Writer's Digest, October 2002, pages 20-21 and 47, have an article by Geoff Fuller and Pamelyn Casto with the title Make Your Fiction Flash. It's all about turning personal anecdotes into riveting short stories. I already posted the sidebar a little while ago under the title TECH: Creativity Starter (A Moldy Oldie!) (you can find it over here http://writercises.livejournal.com/359555.html) Now, let's take a look at what they suggest.

First, they point out that people tell stories -- anecdotes, gossip, and so forth everywhere! The problem is turning those little snippets into good flash fiction. A short short story of 100 to 2000 words.

So what's the problem? Well, if you write down those bits and pieces, they usually aren't complete stories. They're anecdotes, journal entries, just not finished. Good flash fiction is short, but it's also interesting to readers who are strangers.

So, first step. Extend the boundaries. Both of the story and frequently of the readers. You want your readers to be involved in the story, to be thinking about it.

"Good flash fiction gives us stories that are set apart from the everyday fare to which we're accustomed. Readers want something extra that takes them out of the ordinariness and into the realm of meaningful fiction."

1. Put your "I" out. Experience is rich, but watch out for first-person narrative traps. Remember, we're not just looking for a personal anecdote, but for a larger expansive story. Start by changing "I" to third person. You don't have to tell it the way it really happened. "Fiction doesn't require you to report facts." Look at the situation again, and see what the right number of characters, the real conflict, the focus, the issue, the stakes really are. Turn your particular story into a universal story.
2. Don't tell all. Create mystery by leaving things ambiguous and unanswered. Try leaving motivations unstated, the setting less clear, and look for moments when the conflict could go either way. Don't be unclear -- you don't want to simply baffle readers. But giving them the fun of figuring out the puzzle?
3. Find the Aha moment. Mystery almost always has an aha. Anecdotes need dramatic epiphanies, a sudden understanding of the larger issue, the stakes, the characters. Readers need to discover that things are not what they thought they were. Now, it could be the character, the character and the reader, or only the reader who has the epiphany.
4. Take up literary shorthand. Use myths, fairy tales, and all the other literature to provide elements that you can use in your stories. Characters from established literature, or perhaps patterns or plots.

Mix it up. Use one or more of these techniques, and make your flash fiction something that the reader really enjoys.

There you go. That gossip at the backyard barbecue, the story everyone is laughing about at the swimming pool, whatever you like. Take that story, and make it FLASH!

TECH: Write Every Day? What?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original Posting Aug. 29, 2015

Over here

http://madgeniusclub.com/2015/08/28/post/

kiltedave ponders getting his own writing habits restarted (or rebuilt) with the impact of a new baby, and another on the way. He mentioned the advice often given to write every day.

In the comments, Sam asked does it matter what kind of writing?

Which prompted me to post this rather long-winded response, in which I probably knocked the soapbox over trying to explain what I was talking about. Anyway... What do you think? Should you write every day? If you do, what kind of writing is that? Do blog posts, papers for courses, and similar writings do it, or do you need something else? Heck, do exchanges like this talking about writing count?

Write every day? What does that mean to you?

tink

Is all writing valuable? Somewhat....

Sorry, you caught me on a slack day, and I'm likely to drivel on too long about this one.

Write every day. Do the pomodoro 20 minute sprint. Write hanging from the ceiling, or as one creative diva of Japan supposedly advised, while holding your breath underwater (he claims this increased his creativity a lot!). Do this, that, or the other...

What I think we're all saying is that you need to set up some habits to keep you grinding out words. That may be a daily quota, a daily period of time, or something else. Perhaps you need checklists, character sheets, and all kinds of scaffolding. The trick here is that most writing -- even short stories and flash fiction, even those dratted little 100 word drabbles or whatever they are called -- takes time. Time to get your head in the write spot, time to organize your thinking, time to make that translation or conversion to words on paper (or screen), time to review/revise/rewrite. And the thing that keeps you going through that thicket, across the hours and days and weeks, is your habit, your system, your ways of working.

I think what I would recommend for you is to think about what you consider writing. Take it apart. What are the steps, what is the process in your mind? Now, where do you feel strong, and where do you feel weak? You may want to do some practice, some exercises, even some reading to help build up those weaker areas. How do you lay out the process?

I know some people who spend a chunk of time planning, outlining, doing character sheets and all that, and then dive in and write, write, write intensely for a concentrated time. They also take a break after that focused period. Other people do better with a regular rhythm, morning pages (see Writing from the Right Side of Your Brain, if I remember right), or perhaps a dedicated writing time. That's the write every day style.

Think about the way that you write. Think about the things that help you be productive. Lay those out, and consider the best way to fit them into your life now, and for the next... six months or so. Yes, taking classes, having babies, and other life events may well mean that your schedule isn't like another writers. BUT do try to do things to feed that flame of creation that is inside you. That may mean going to the art museum, spending an hour with a painting, and then writing one blog entry. Or it may mean deciding to do NaNoWriMo this November. Or as my writing group knows, commit to writing one short story every week for six weeks (an exercise based on the premise that doing something for a month or so helps to build a habit -- so we chose six weeks as our goal, and every now and then, several of the members write a short story every week. Good exercise!).

Write every day. That's a guideline, which matches something that quite a few of us have noticed -- we need to spill the words on a regular basis to keep the habit strong. What kind of writing? That depends on you, more than anything else. I will say that I think if you want to do fiction writing, than you may want to make sure you do that on a regular basis -- it really isn't quite the same as writing papers for classes, blog postings, and so forth. Dreaming that setting and characters into place, then walking through a scene and showing your reader the actions, the dialogue, and the thoughts, creating that scene-sequel sequence, and putting all that into words that a reader can follow - it's a skill, and like most skills, the best way to keep it well-tuned is practice, practice, practice (which looks a lot like write every day -- or at least write regularly).

One more point, while I'm blathering. Let's say you decide that doing a 30 minute sprint every day is what you need to practice right now. And you set into doing that! But in a month, you may need to reconsider, because 30 minutes seems too short. Or maybe you notice you're having trouble with humor, and want to add something to tackle that. DO IT! This is your practice, your schedule, and you get to change the goals as you work your writing muscles. You may decide to write romance for a while -- and then decide to chuck it, because you really don't like it. That's fine. Don't set up your system and decide that you are locked into it forever. In fact, you're likely to find you gain a lot quickly from your practice, then it gets to be a easy but a grind, and you need to consider how to improve from your current plateau. Just keep those goals growing, and see how far you can go!

Too long, didn't read? Okay, try this. If you want to be a writer, you need to build the skills and habit of writing -- of the type you want to create. So take a long hard look at the habits and skills you want to build, then decide the best ways to learn, exercise, and practice those skills. Then set your schedule, whether it's write every day or whatever. And take a look after you've been doing it for a while -- you may need to reset the goals as you get into your rhythm.

Good luck!