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.
Opening Activity:
Using only what you have on you or within arm's reach , build your dream house.
Then, name it.
(See houses others have built as part of the Bored and Brilliant Challenge here.)
Done?
Do you like it? Would you have built it if I hadn't told you to? Would you have looked at those objects and thought about them creatively? If I'd taken you to Michael's with an unlimited budget, would you have built the same thing?
What does this have to do with flash fiction? It's a constraint.
One of the best things about writing is that we can write whatever we want, however we want. So why would we want to put a limitation on that with something as mundane as a word count?
Because constraints help us to think creatively. They help us to view everyday tools, in this case words, in ways that we never would have bothered. They help us create things we never would have otherwise. Good things. Useful things (perhaps unlike dollar bill houses.)
And in the case of flash fiction, we learn a lot about the power of words and how to bring characters to life along the way.
You may be a creative person in general. But, when working with a constraint -- trying to solve a problem (the basic foundation of most creative thinking) -- you challenge that big creative brain of yours to engineer new ideas, new perspectives.
In short, putting yourself within a simple box is the fastest way to learn how to think out of it.
Start by Reading. What's possible?
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.
There are plenty of famous and established flash stories available, some of which students may read or have already read in school, but to demonstrate the form is alive and well, we'll be looking at more recent pieces. All of these example stories were written within the last few years.
1500 Words or less:
These stories are from NYC Midnight's Short Story competition. This is a 1300 word story written in only 24 hours. The author was given a genre, a character, and theme.
"Relief" by Susannah Carlson: A heart warming and tragic Historical Fiction about a rescue.
1000 words or less for reading:
These are winners from NYC Midnight's Flash Fiction Challenge. Contestants are given a location, object, and genre. All must be used in a 1000 word story. Besides being good, a full story is told within these 1000 words. Sometimes when people attempt flash they end up describing a scene or offer what is really a prose poem. These don't make that mistake. All the words are doing something necessary. What is most extraordinary about the pieces below is that they were written and revised within 48 hours.
When you try to visit these stories you will be asked to subscribe. If you want to avoid subscribing, go to NYCMidnight.com, click "close" on the subscribe offer there. After that, you will be able to follow the links below without having to subscribe to read them. Not sure why this occurs. Subscription is free if you are interested, and involves occasionally getting emails about upcoming contents.
"Without Parallel" by Rachael Dunlop : A story in a world where everyone is born as a twin but only one ever survives.
"In It" by Vicent Dumont-Mackay: He has the thief, but they're both standing on thin ice.
Hoodlums by Lesley PJ Reaves: They didn't ask for a garden. They also didn't vandalize it. They were framed. What will they do now?
The Harvest by Shirley Chan: A horror story about a baker that comes to town, but this of course is not your average baker.
Three Minute Fiction (About 600 words):
The word count on these vary, but they can be read in 3 minutes on radio, so usually we hit closer to the 600 word mark. They are part of NPR's 3 Minute fiction contest. The contestants are asked to tell a story about something in particular.
"The Shirt" by Jennifer Anderson: A wife finds her husband's old hideous shirt and gives it exactly what it deserves.
"Litter" by Kalad Hovatter: What exactly is someone's soul, and what does it mean to give it away?
Important Components of Flash:
Flash must still be a story, not a prose poem. So how do we pull this off in so little time?
What makes it enjoyable?
Make it meaningful for the character. Include change. Make every word count. And have fun.
Day One Activity:
Writing a story of a 1000 -1500 words takes some time, even if the story is short. So, for today's practice we are going to take a 1004 word story written by someone else, and turn it into a 600-700 word story.
Rules:
1. The story must be shorter when you are finished. Aim for 600 words.
2. You can rewrite or delete/cut any part of it you want to. This may even mean ADDING things to the story that weren't there before or changing something in the plot. That's ok!
3. When finished, you must save your story WITH a copy of the original. This is meant to be an exercise in seeing what does and does not work, not an exercise in stealing someone else's work. Keeping a copy of the original will help remind us what the original looked like and which words were or were not our own. The comparison will also serve to help us determine what was and was not necessary in the story.
Instructions: Copy and paste the story from the following link into a word document. Rewrite/cut until the story is no longer than 700 words. When you are finished, compare it to the original and share with the class. Even though we're starting with someone else's story, the cut should have your stamp on it in some way.
The Time Keeper by John Holleman
Day One Update: Several students were able to cut the story down to under 700 words in less than half an hour. After this exercise we discussed how it is possible to cut words without cutting content. If you're writing flash right, most cutting should be of words, not necessarily content. (Though superficial content does often get cut.)
Head over to Day Two.
Opening Activity:
Using only what you have on you or within arm's reach , build your dream house.
Then, name it.
(See houses others have built as part of the Bored and Brilliant Challenge here.)
Done?
Do you like it? Would you have built it if I hadn't told you to? Would you have looked at those objects and thought about them creatively? If I'd taken you to Michael's with an unlimited budget, would you have built the same thing?
What does this have to do with flash fiction? It's a constraint.
One of the best things about writing is that we can write whatever we want, however we want. So why would we want to put a limitation on that with something as mundane as a word count?
Because constraints help us to think creatively. They help us to view everyday tools, in this case words, in ways that we never would have bothered. They help us create things we never would have otherwise. Good things. Useful things (perhaps unlike dollar bill houses.)
And in the case of flash fiction, we learn a lot about the power of words and how to bring characters to life along the way.
You may be a creative person in general. But, when working with a constraint -- trying to solve a problem (the basic foundation of most creative thinking) -- you challenge that big creative brain of yours to engineer new ideas, new perspectives.
In short, putting yourself within a simple box is the fastest way to learn how to think out of it.
Start by Reading. What's possible?
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.
There are plenty of famous and established flash stories available, some of which students may read or have already read in school, but to demonstrate the form is alive and well, we'll be looking at more recent pieces. All of these example stories were written within the last few years.
1500 Words or less:
These stories are from NYC Midnight's Short Story competition. This is a 1300 word story written in only 24 hours. The author was given a genre, a character, and theme.
"Relief" by Susannah Carlson: A heart warming and tragic Historical Fiction about a rescue.
1000 words or less for reading:
These are winners from NYC Midnight's Flash Fiction Challenge. Contestants are given a location, object, and genre. All must be used in a 1000 word story. Besides being good, a full story is told within these 1000 words. Sometimes when people attempt flash they end up describing a scene or offer what is really a prose poem. These don't make that mistake. All the words are doing something necessary. What is most extraordinary about the pieces below is that they were written and revised within 48 hours.
When you try to visit these stories you will be asked to subscribe. If you want to avoid subscribing, go to NYCMidnight.com, click "close" on the subscribe offer there. After that, you will be able to follow the links below without having to subscribe to read them. Not sure why this occurs. Subscription is free if you are interested, and involves occasionally getting emails about upcoming contents.
"Without Parallel" by Rachael Dunlop : A story in a world where everyone is born as a twin but only one ever survives.
"In It" by Vicent Dumont-Mackay: He has the thief, but they're both standing on thin ice.
Hoodlums by Lesley PJ Reaves: They didn't ask for a garden. They also didn't vandalize it. They were framed. What will they do now?
The Harvest by Shirley Chan: A horror story about a baker that comes to town, but this of course is not your average baker.
Three Minute Fiction (About 600 words):
The word count on these vary, but they can be read in 3 minutes on radio, so usually we hit closer to the 600 word mark. They are part of NPR's 3 Minute fiction contest. The contestants are asked to tell a story about something in particular.
"The Shirt" by Jennifer Anderson: A wife finds her husband's old hideous shirt and gives it exactly what it deserves.
"Litter" by Kalad Hovatter: What exactly is someone's soul, and what does it mean to give it away?
Important Components of Flash:
Flash must still be a story, not a prose poem. So how do we pull this off in so little time?
- Usually by having the character change. This means that enough development needs to happen so that we appreciate the change in the character.
What makes it enjoyable?
- A good idea and tight prose. Every word must count. Every word should be doing a job. All styles can work, but words that aren't doing much have no place in short works. A novel can get away with describing a scene for as long as it wants or including side stories that perhaps aren't vital to the main story arch, but short fiction has no such luxury. There can be no distractions -- or the readers will feel like something is missing. And sections that repeat an already established idea, stand out like sore repetitive bruises.
Make it meaningful for the character. Include change. Make every word count. And have fun.
Day One Activity:
Practice in Cutting, or Turning a 1004 word story into a 600 word story.
Writing a story of a 1000 -1500 words takes some time, even if the story is short. So, for today's practice we are going to take a 1004 word story written by someone else, and turn it into a 600-700 word story.Rules:
1. The story must be shorter when you are finished. Aim for 600 words.
2. You can rewrite or delete/cut any part of it you want to. This may even mean ADDING things to the story that weren't there before or changing something in the plot. That's ok!
3. When finished, you must save your story WITH a copy of the original. This is meant to be an exercise in seeing what does and does not work, not an exercise in stealing someone else's work. Keeping a copy of the original will help remind us what the original looked like and which words were or were not our own. The comparison will also serve to help us determine what was and was not necessary in the story.
Instructions: Copy and paste the story from the following link into a word document. Rewrite/cut until the story is no longer than 700 words. When you are finished, compare it to the original and share with the class. Even though we're starting with someone else's story, the cut should have your stamp on it in some way.
The Time Keeper by John Holleman
Day One Update: Several students were able to cut the story down to under 700 words in less than half an hour. After this exercise we discussed how it is possible to cut words without cutting content. If you're writing flash right, most cutting should be of words, not necessarily content. (Though superficial content does often get cut.)
Head over to Day Two.
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