Tips for writing Flash Fiction
1. Select a story idea with a limited scope. A moment in time. Flash fiction focuses on the moment of change, realization, or final action. 2. Keep the cast of characters small (one, two, or three). 3. Titles matter. 4. Use any point of view and tense (just be consistent!) 5. Start your story in the middle of the action (close to the inciting incident). Robert Olen Butler says in From Where Dreams Come that "plot comes from the character's trying to get something, to achieve something, wanting, desiring, longing." Let the readers know what that is as early as possible. Tips for writing short pieces 1. Eliminate adjectives and adverbs. 2. Cut "____ said" after dialogue. 3. Use active voice- not passive. (Active: The dog ate my homework. Passive: My homework was eaten by the dog) 4. Cut the backstory. 5.Use a few, well-chosen details. 6.Avoid unnecessary filler words: just, seems, apparently, kind of, rather, sort of, somewhat, appears, very, really, only, that, stuff, things. Examples (these are 100 words- I'm giving you an extra 25!): Nicholas Was... By Neil Gaiman older than sin, and his beard could grow no whiter. He wanted to die. The dwarfish natives of the Arctic caverns did not speak his language, but conversed in their own, twittering tongue, conducted incomprehensible rituals, when they were not actually working in the factories. Once every year they forced him, sobbing and protesting, into Endless Night. During the journey he would stand near every child in the world, leave one of the dwarves' invisible gifts by its bedside. The children slept, frozen into time. He envied Prometheus and Loki, Sisyphus and Judas. His punishment was harsher. Ho. Ho. Ho. Comments are closed.
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April 2020
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