This post is part of a series of readings and activities that I am using
in a Creative Writing camp for middle school and high school students.
We're examining Flash Fiction, what makes it work, and how to write
them.
We're going to start by reading and examining "long" flash fiction.
Stories of 1000-1500 words, and as the week goes on, we're going to get
shorter and shorter, until by day 4 we are looking at 6 word stories and
Twitter Tales.
Day one started with the longest flash fiction, day two we went shorter, and now, on day three? Shorter still! We're going to be writing and reading stories that are only 100-300 words long. While anything under 1500 can be considered flash, you may hear some people make the distinction of calling this length of fiction "micro fiction."
When writing this short, you have even less time to tell the story. You may find that starting in the climax or in the middle of something works best. David Gaffney, toted as "one of very few contemporary British writers who have mastered the very short form" in The Best British Short Stories 2013, suggests that when going this short you should end the story in the middle, and the rest is resolution.
He says it best himself. So, here is his advice: David Gaffney on writing good micro fiction.
Here are some of his stories:
"Cica Lights" 151 words.
"Happy Place" Words and pictures.
Update: We liked "Cica Lights" because the details given about the character and his reactions to details about other characters (the boy who wore the uniform on nonuniform day for instance) are so immediately telling that the character comes to life immediately. "Happy Place" establishes a funny idea and uses picture to fill in interesting blanks (see the picture of items he wouldn't normally buy). In both cases, the characters are so interesting or so real so fast, we feel we know them, even though we only know what we need to know about them.
Yesterday, we read stories by people in your age group. Here are some more, only shorter.
The Guardian: Flash Fiction By Kids, for Kids
Update: You can see how they took Gaffney's advice. "Friends Forever" combines this moment of very real characters with a title that is doing its job -- it is working to make the point of the story (the amusing and the serious) come through.
The above stories are all short, but what happens when we cap the word count at 100? This type of micro fiction is called a drabble. A drabble is 100 words long. Some will give leeway to a few words over and under, but purist stick the 100 mark exactly.
With drabbles, the full story arc gets even more compressed, and many of them become something more like brief insights into the character and their relationships. While drabbles can give a beginning, middle, and end, they almost always focus on the turning point exclusively, or end up crossing that line into prose poetry. Remember the advice from Day Two: You can leave your readings wanting to know more, but you should never lead them needing to know more. They shouldn't feel lost.
When you're finished reading them though, there is usually a sense that you learned something. Or the feeling of, hey there's a story there somewhere!
Here's a few examples:
"The Toad" by Meg Pokrass
The Meteorologists by William Reagan. This one was inspired by the picture that is posted with it. It also works as a metaphor for the the couple's relationship. Every single word in this piece is symbolic and fits perfects, telling us what Tara Masih calls the scene's "one deep truth."
"The Word Unheeded" by Michael Brookes. This one tells a little more of a complete story.
Note how the turn/twist comes at the 68th word -- essentially taking Gaffney's advice. The end isn't really the end and we are given time to adjust after.
Tara Masih is a published author and creator of The Rose Metal Press Field Guid to Writing Flash Fiction. Here is what she has to say about the benefit of writing Flash Fiction, even this short, and even if you intend to write longer works later:
How to Write a Drabble.
Day Three Activity:
Taking the advice of the authors above, try to write a drabble (100 word story) on ONE of the following topics:
A) Revenge B) Love C) A surprise D) Based on this picture.
Day Three Challenge:
Still have your version of "The Timekeeper?" Try to write a 100-300 word story that tells the same story. For this to work, it is likely best to read the original, but then to start writing from scratch without looking at it. Use only what you remember. If you don't remember it, it likely wasn't that important.
Onward to Day Four!
Day one started with the longest flash fiction, day two we went shorter, and now, on day three? Shorter still! We're going to be writing and reading stories that are only 100-300 words long. While anything under 1500 can be considered flash, you may hear some people make the distinction of calling this length of fiction "micro fiction."
When writing this short, you have even less time to tell the story. You may find that starting in the climax or in the middle of something works best. David Gaffney, toted as "one of very few contemporary British writers who have mastered the very short form" in The Best British Short Stories 2013, suggests that when going this short you should end the story in the middle, and the rest is resolution.
He says it best himself. So, here is his advice: David Gaffney on writing good micro fiction.
Here are some of his stories:
"Cica Lights" 151 words.
"Happy Place" Words and pictures.
Update: We liked "Cica Lights" because the details given about the character and his reactions to details about other characters (the boy who wore the uniform on nonuniform day for instance) are so immediately telling that the character comes to life immediately. "Happy Place" establishes a funny idea and uses picture to fill in interesting blanks (see the picture of items he wouldn't normally buy). In both cases, the characters are so interesting or so real so fast, we feel we know them, even though we only know what we need to know about them.
Yesterday, we read stories by people in your age group. Here are some more, only shorter.
The Guardian: Flash Fiction By Kids, for Kids
Update: You can see how they took Gaffney's advice. "Friends Forever" combines this moment of very real characters with a title that is doing its job -- it is working to make the point of the story (the amusing and the serious) come through.
The above stories are all short, but what happens when we cap the word count at 100? This type of micro fiction is called a drabble. A drabble is 100 words long. Some will give leeway to a few words over and under, but purist stick the 100 mark exactly.
With drabbles, the full story arc gets even more compressed, and many of them become something more like brief insights into the character and their relationships. While drabbles can give a beginning, middle, and end, they almost always focus on the turning point exclusively, or end up crossing that line into prose poetry. Remember the advice from Day Two: You can leave your readings wanting to know more, but you should never lead them needing to know more. They shouldn't feel lost.
When you're finished reading them though, there is usually a sense that you learned something. Or the feeling of, hey there's a story there somewhere!
Here's a few examples:
"The Toad" by Meg Pokrass
The Meteorologists by William Reagan. This one was inspired by the picture that is posted with it. It also works as a metaphor for the the couple's relationship. Every single word in this piece is symbolic and fits perfects, telling us what Tara Masih calls the scene's "one deep truth."
"The Word Unheeded" by Michael Brookes. This one tells a little more of a complete story.
Note how the turn/twist comes at the 68th word -- essentially taking Gaffney's advice. The end isn't really the end and we are given time to adjust after.
Tara Masih is a published author and creator of The Rose Metal Press Field Guid to Writing Flash Fiction. Here is what she has to say about the benefit of writing Flash Fiction, even this short, and even if you intend to write longer works later:
"I was taught to write in vignettes. I had a visionary high-school teacher in the late seventies, early eighties. Kathy Collins. She in turn was taught by poet Elizabeth Graves. We were encouraged to always get to the heart of a scene, to find those moments in life that deeply affected us in some way. Collins would then ask us to string together the vignettes (or fragments, as she called them) to create a fuller story. No one I’m aware of wrote in this way at that time. Now, I think it’s pretty standard practice in the literary world. That microscopic attention to one deep truth in a scene led me to writing flash fiction (when it got its name) as opposed to fragments." -- Tara MasihAnd what she has learned about living life from writing flash fiction:
To not care what others think. If they think you are in pursuit of something inferior, but you love it, keep at it. Success comes from passion. And the ability to focus on small details. I think being able to do that allows you to enjoy life in the moment.-- Tara MasihFinally, here is some advice from Drablr, an online hub for writing and sharing drabbles:
How to Write a Drabble.
Day Three Activity:
Taking the advice of the authors above, try to write a drabble (100 word story) on ONE of the following topics:
A) Revenge B) Love C) A surprise D) Based on this picture.
Day Three Challenge:
Still have your version of "The Timekeeper?" Try to write a 100-300 word story that tells the same story. For this to work, it is likely best to read the original, but then to start writing from scratch without looking at it. Use only what you remember. If you don't remember it, it likely wasn't that important.
Onward to Day Four!
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