I had already mentioned in the previous post that flash fiction fits well into the busy life-styles of the modern lover of fiction, both writer and reader.
I'm sure there are many other reasons for reading and writing flash fiction than what I can come up with. And I'd be interested in anyone else's opinion as to why they like to read and/or write flash fiction.
On reason that I have taken to it is that my writing style is already sparse and concise. Even back in college, when I had people proof read my essays I'd get complaints that they couldn't skim because there was too much info and not enough fluff. With former critique partners, instead of being told to cut words, I was encouraged to add words to add depth. And when I would critique other people's work, I could always find ways to tighten and to say the same thing using less words.
So this is one reason flash fiction seems to be a good fit for me. I can concentrate on 300-400 hundred words and work on a system to get my point across in the sparse concise voice I already have, plus work on deepening it using a few tool and tricks that I've learned along the way.
Anyway, this, along with natural time constraints, is the reason I'm experimenting with flash fiction right now. I wonder why other people read and/or write flash fiction?
I may be the only one who feels this way, but in my opinion the ability to craft a complete story or thought-provoking vignette is an art form. When I was first introduced to the concept of flash fiction my thought was "How in the world do you tell a story in only a few hundred words?" and for a long time I couldn't do it. I found that studying strict form poetry like haiku and cinquain, where you have to fit what you're trying to say into a certain number of syllables, helped me understand flash fiction better.
ReplyDeleteHmmm... You have me thinking, Kaye. I may just have to write a post on this topic. : )
Good.
ReplyDeleteCause I'm really thinking about it too and thinking I still have a lot to figure out.
I'm thinking about how to do this.
But I also think I'm cheating.
I write my shorts with a big picture in mind. I look at the shorts as chapters to the big story. Are you also doing this, or are all yours stand alones?
Thinking about this some more (hey, I can't help it, look at the name of this blog) I really hope you DO write a post on this because I never though about coming at it from a poety aspect. Very interesting...
ReplyDelete