Mastering Flash Fiction – with Windy Lynn Harris

In which Windy Lynn Harris shares her genius about how and why to write Flash Fiction

1:16 Flash art comes organically when being open.

6:58 Flash fiction: creative, short, under 500 words.

12:28 Be specific in short flash fiction writing.

13:05 Editing is essential for shorter pieces.

17:37 Essential aspect of storytelling, representing a moment.

19:32 Facing fear, mystery, and self-discovery.

23:27 Enjoy working on soliloquies and rants in writing.

26:56 Background, training influence the form of writing.

29:13 Accessing your authentic voice is essential.

33:08 Writers adapting to shorter work during pandemic.

36:51 Creativity can flourish without lofty goals.

41:05 Distraction in the world, set timer, create.

43:12 First book on writing short stories.

46:12 Strategic shorts can boost writing career prospects.

49:43 Writing needs community for support, progress, success.

54:27 Exciting prompts for daily creative writing in May.

Transcript available here

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Day 20 – Make it Flash by Julie Duffy

A moment of clarity, from Julie Duffy

The Prompt

Write a Flash Fiction story in 500 words, inspired by a vivid, or transformative, or reflective moment (like the one in the photo).

Tips

  • Have as vivid a moment as you can in mind as you start your story.
  • If you use this picture, brainstorm what happened in the moments before the the shutter clicked. Where are they going? Where have they been? What’s causing that facial expression? Is it sincere? Who’s taking the picture?
  • What happens the moment after the photo? Who cares about that? (Whose story is this?)
  • Whose voice will you tell it in? The photographer, writing it up later for the notes for his exhibition? The subject (first person, present tense? Told from the future). Some omniscient narrator? Will they be trustworthy or untrustworthy?
  • If you’re stuck on how to write a flash fiction story, listen to the episode of the StoryADay podcast with Windy Lynn Harris, where she shares 7 ways to approach flash.
  • If you’re not sure what makes a short story flash, check out these StoryADay Flash Fiction Essentials

If you share you story somewhere (and here’s why you might not want to) post a link here so we can come and read it.

Leave a comment to let us know what you wrote about today, and how it went!

Julie Duffy

Julie Duffy has always been verbose (something she often got in trouble for at school) which might explain why she is such a fan of the puzzle that is short fiction.

Join the discussion: what will you do with today’s prompt OR how did it go? Need support? Post here!

20

Here’s your next Game Piece. save the image and share on social media with #storyaday

Prefer paper crafts? Here’s the cut & paste version

Getting Unstuck with K. B. Carle Pt. II

It’s really nice to know that there is still an outlet or a form of writing that I can do and still keep a full-time job while doing it.

And it didn’t really bend my schedule too much. So that’s how I really started exploring Flash

-K. B. Carle

In the second part of my conversation with author KB Carle (listen to Part 1 here) we talk about what attracted her to Flash Fiction; the challenges of moving from short to novel-length fiction; how to get unstuck ; and how being a writer includes building your community

There’s a ton of practical tips (and resources) to keep you going in this week’s episode. Enjoy!

Need the transcript? Click here

RESOURCES

In Exchange for the Final Pudding Cup, We Offer Our Inner Thoughts, from The Offing (includes a Venn diagram)

Hello, My Name Is Marley in CRAFT Literary Magazine (this one has a word search!)

Vagabond Mannequin in Jellyfish Review (crossword clues as story!)

How We Survived , in Lost Balloon

Grace Q. Song‘s website

Christopher Gonzalez

Tommy Dean

Cathy Ulrich

Kathy Fish

Meghan Phillips

Best Small Fictions 2021

I Keep My Exoskeleton To Myself by M. Crane

Smokelong Quarterly

Five South

No Contact

Atlas & Alice

Atticus Review

Keep writing,

Julie

About KB Carle

K.B. Carle lives and writes outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her flash has been published in a variety of places including Lost Balloon, Five South Lit., The Rumpus, JMWW, and elsewhere. K.B.’s stories have been nominated for The Pushcart Prize, and her story, “Soba,” was included in the 2020 Best of the Net anthology. Her story, “A Lethal Woman,” will be included in the 2022 Best Small Fictions anthology. She can be found online at kbcarle.com or on Twitter @kbcarle.

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Day – 6 Flash Fiction Friday

Psst! If you’re getting tired and losing steam, pop over to the comments of yesterday’s Fun-Size Challenge, where people are working through the early parts of the Short Story Framework and getting excited about their ideas. It’s quite infectious.

Why not pull out the Short Story Framework and use it to help plan today’s story?

The Prompt

Write a flash fiction story that involves a flash of light

Tips

Realistically, most of the stories you write this month will be Flash Fiction in length (anything up to around 1200 words), but today I want you to focus on making it vivid, the way great flash should be.

Flash Fiction is about more than word count. It is deliberately taut, and yes, short. It should contain one or two vivid moments or images that stay with the reader long after they’ve gone.

Write your story of 1200 words today, and work on making it flash.

Read the StoryADay Flash Fiction Essentials if you need more inspiration.

FLASH FICTION FURTHER READING

Steve Almond, Stop

Erin Morgenstern, The Cat and The Fiddle

Ariel Berry, Useless Things

Naomi Kritzer, Paradox

Josh McColough, Meteor

Jennifer Wortman, Theories of the Point of View Shift in AC/DC’s ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’

Rachel Engelman, Joan of Arc Sits Naked In Her Dorm Room

Julie Duffy, The Girl Who Circumnavigated The Earth In An Act of Her Own Making

GO! Need support? Post here!

Bingo!

make sure you set your printer to print this at original size, not full-page!

Here’s your next Bingo Piece. Download the pic, print it out and paste it onto your bingo sheet. Then share a picture of it on social media with #storyadaybingo

StoryADay+NaNoWriMo Mashup Pt. II

Last year I got together with Marya Brennan, the director of NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers’ program to talk about short stories.

We had so much fun that we decided to do it again this year. This time we took a close look at Flash Fiction. Here’s a replay of the livestream.

If you have any young people in your life, they may want to enter the NaNoWriMo YWP’s Flash Fiction Contest, running now (closing date: May 31)

[Write On Wednesday] Alchemists

We’re all alchemists, here, turning an abundant resource (ideas) into something much more valuable (stories) and today i want you to include some alchemy in your story

Alchemists board game box cover

The Prompt

Write a flash fiction story in which a character transforms something seemingly worthless into something valuable

Tips

Continue reading “[Write On Wednesday] Alchemists”