Mini-Class: Flash Fiction - How to Tell Pint Sized Stories

1. A Stranger Comes to Town: - Welcome to Lesson One of my skill share course on flash fiction In this lesson will be - doing an overview of what flash fiction is and its presence throughout time. - And we'll start to look at a few examples of flash fiction when it's working really well. - What are the rules? - Personally, - as's faras creativity goes, - I'm against rules, - you know. - I find that it's when you're breaking rules that things get interesting. - That's where creativity comes from. - Flash fiction, - though there's only one rule, - and that is, - keep it short. - There's a lot of debate about what flash fiction really is, - you know? - Is it 1000 words? - Is it 500 words? - Is it short enough to fit in a tweet? - Safe to say, - flash fiction is generally a story that is under 1000 words. - And where did flash fiction come from? - How did it all start? - If you ask me, - it probably is prehistoric. - I mean, - you can you can just sort of imagine this, - you know, - Harry Behemoth named Grog, - sitting around this campfire, - telling these stories about this mammoth he's chasing and he just goes on and on and on - with this story. - Then At some point, - someone probably invented the words shut up on brevity evolved. - And then some woman named Bark told a story that actually got to the point. - It was short, - but it it stayed with everyone. - And that's a lot of what flash fiction conduce. - Oh, - you could take an expensive narrative and you can give it to your audience. - And while there while they hear the story while they experience the story while they read - the story, - it goes somewhere where they continue to experience it long after the story's been told. - One way to think about it is, - uh, - firstly, - you know, - he realized that you didn't have to run across the room with your fist extended just to - punch somebody, - you know, - he invented the one inch punch, - which was just all of his force in a very short movement. - Um, - it was devastating, - and it was quick. - But now we're talking about sort of like the history of things and how things came about. - We should talk about parables, - a stops, - fables, - for instance. - Those are flash fiction. - That's those air pieces of flash fiction that everyone understands. - One trick that ace up used was standing characters. - Now he had these sort of tropes. - The tortoise and the hare, - for instance. - It doesn't begin, - you know, - There was this tortoise, - and he grew up in Cleveland to a nice, - hard working family. - But then one day he moved out and started working in you shoe store, - trying to sell used sneakers to any hair who happened to come in. - I mean, - you know, - the Tortoise and Hare. - That's a very quick short story, - and it's it's a lot of, - you know, - time. - A lot of elaboration is saved because he knew the right characters to use, - he said. - Here's a tortoise. - Here's a hair. - We all know what the difference is between those two characters. - We all know what abilities they have. - There was no need for a sock to say the tortoise's slow. - The hair is fast. - He kind of you know, - he uses signals with his readers to kind of develop this relationship that allows readers - to move through the story faster but without losing any relevant information. - It's fine to be clever. - Remember that you're creating art. - You're not trying to tell a great one liner. - So your first reading tip uh, - You know, - there are plenty of books out there. - There are plenty of classes. - You could take entire MF a degrees to try and improve your craft to try and make you a - writer. - Um, - you know, - one of the hardest parts of writing, - no matter how good you are, - no matter how good people say you are, - no matter how good you think you are, - the hardest part of writing is writing. - There's a method which is kind of inelegantly called butt in chair. - Just get there and start working. - Um, - so butt in chair, - get there, - stay there for your reading list will be going over some of the materials that Aaron the - first lesson in your course packet. - Um, - that's a y f by Phil Clay Guerrillas by Ben Laurie Wings Also by Ben Laurie How things have - actually changed since we did secede from the United States by Ron Carlson and broke by Amy - Bender. - There's this saying about writing that there is only two types of stories. - Stranger comes to town and let's go on an adventure and let's go on adventures. - Actually, - just stranger comes to town from the opposite perspective. - Um, - it's cute It's also kind of confounding Lee True. - Um, - you know, - again, - don't subscribe to rules, - but this is a good won t just sort of consider on. - If you look at a lot of stories that are out there, - they will tend to follow either one of those to trajectories. - So for your first reading assignment, - what we're going to do is write. - A stranger comes to town type of story will do. - Let's go on an adventure. - In the next lesson, - you're gonna write your story in under 500 words. - You know, - 590 words is fine. - 580 words is also fine. - The title of your story does not count as part of your word count, - but obviously don't cheat and write a 500 word title. - Andi, - try and double up the length of your story. - You might find that as you write this, - it's easier to not watch the word count. - As those numbers start ticking up, - you just try and keep it brief, - and you might wind up in 1000 word story, - and then you can start trimming the fat down, - Uh, - but do what you can and try and get that stranger to town in 500 words or less 2. Let's Go on an Adventure: - welcome to your second lesson in this part of your skill. - She, - of course. - What? - We're gonna be focusing on his distillation. - How did you get such an expensive idea to fit into such a small space? - Faulkner, - This Pulitzer Prize winning novelist considers himself a failed poet now, - too badly, - very badly. - Paraphrase Faulkner, - which is probably the only way that you could do it. - Every novelist is a failed short story writer, - and every short story writer is a failed poet. - Flash fiction. - It kind of fits right in between short story and home but flash fiction. - You know it isn't a poem with a plot. - And flash fiction also isn't just a short story with a bunch of its words turned out, - it's its own form. - It is a work of art into some type of art. - So in the last lesson, - we talked a little bit about using stock images and troops. - Ben Laurie's story wings. - All we know in the 1st 19 words is there's a man, - there's a woman and they get married and that's not it. - That is, - though, - an entire lifetime right there. - I mean, - the man has existed before. - The woman has existed before. - They have this courtship and they get married, - and now they're living together. - Come work 20 in those opening lines, - there's no epic romance. - There's no room for it, - but it's also it's I hinted. - The words of flat words is very basic and simple. - 24 hour suspicions were then sort of confirmed. - Some time goes by, - you know, - in any relationship you don't want to just feel like time. - It's going by that There has been nothing to say between the time with marriage, - wedding and a year, - two years a month. - I mean, - the fact that he is leaving out those details kind of suggest to the reader that this - relationship is it really so happy by using those flat words by using a certain tone to - reflect what's happening in your story, - you can convey a lot of information. - Another trick that bin Lorries using is the way that he names his characters, - he says the men, - and then later she becomes his life. - There's an Israeli writer, - contemporaries with writer named Alex Epstein on. - He employs similar tactics in his micro fiction. - Um, - we're talking stories that you could write on the back of it. - Postage stamp. - A lot of times, - Alex Epstein will use these sort of stock characters that he knows his reader is familiar - with right about dissidents, - or write a story starring Romeo Juliet. - He does this because he knows that when he drops those names, - you recognize them and you could pick them up and say, - OK, - so Romeo and Juliet, - I know the relationship that's going on here. - I could pick up this story and he's just kind of killing me. - Teoh understand This is the type of story, - these detective characters, - and it doesn't have to be characters that exist before you know, - you might say, - a landscaper or a student or something like that, - where it's it's just a very carefully defined type of person that people will then bring - their own definitions to. - We're talking about distillation here, - and really, - you know, - it's it's about refinement on keeping things close to the story, - keeping the extra things out. - You'll probably do that while you're writing fiction. - You did it in here and your exercise, - but you write a story realized not everything needs to be there. - In fact, - not everyone that's in your story needs to be there. - A lot can also be done with gestures. - There's there's a an old there's an old trope of writing show. - Don't tell which if you're taking a reading workshop, - you'll you'll hear and say to death. - But it's true. - A lot of times with flash fiction, - you're really focusing on a moment you're focusing on the scene or sometimes an idea once, - once you're in your chair, - once your desk, - there are a few ways that can help you stay there. - That can help you. - You motivated. - I read with my dog by my side. - You know, - some people listen to music. - Some people find it distracting. - Other people drink. - There's there's a method of setting a page count horses ready flash fiction. - Just a word Count where you say I'm gonna write X number of pages of your words a day. - If you're reading examples, - I'd like you to look at some work by Alex Epstein. - For my next illusion, - I will use wings and also seven stories for this assignment. - You're going to write Let's go on adventure story. - Only this time it's gonna be 300 words. - Look 3. Another Stranger Comes to Town: - Welcome back to your skill share course. - In this lesson, - we're gonna be talking about alchemy on. - By that I really mean this sort of. - The way the story comes together, - that sort of magic process that transforms words on paper into something in the reader's - mind, - something of substance and of meaning. - It's it's where sort of the art happens. - It's where story happens. - In his introduction to Glenn Way West Cots, - the Pilgrim Hawk accepted in our magazine recommended reading, - Pulitzer Prize winner of Michael Cunningham talks a little bit about that magic process of - alchemy. - Uh, - he dares readers to go ahead, - simulate life using only ink and paper. - Take the same words that are available in the dictionary to anyone who can read and arrange - them so strategically that they simultaneously illuminate and deepen the mystery of human - existence. - Michael was talking about novels, - but that same process applies to poetry. - It applies to plays. - It applies to all art really on, - and it certainly applies to flash fiction. - You know what goes on when you write a story, - and somehow someone has connected with it. - Michael was talking about novelists. - Novelist somehow use ink and paper to create a life, - they essentially create something out of nothing. - Flash fiction writers create something out of even less I'll accepting, - deconstructs an entire life in just a few sentences and then allows the reader to recreate - , - to reassemble that life and to add their own experience to it. - And that's that's sort of where the alchemy really begins. - Its when you as the reader look at those words, - you look at those sentences and you create a life out of them. - When Alex says that there's a man leaving his apartment, - he doesn't tell us that he's a man wearing khakis. - Doesn't waste time telling us what he's wearing, - where he's going. - He just gives you those bare details, - and you fill it in and you fill in the rest. - Um, - you know, - it's It's a great thing to know, - especially when you're writing flash fiction, - that the reader will join you, - that you can give them a scenario and the reader will fill in the blanks. - Once they do that, - when you give them that opportunity, - they also become hooked. - They become a participant because they're creating this vision with you. - We've talked about some little aphorisms of the writing world. - You know, - these show don't tell policies that come up in every workshop. - Um, - here's another one, - E. - M. - Forster is often quoted as saying, - Uh, - the King died and then the queen died is a story. - The king died and the queen died of grief is plot we sympathize with with this situation, - you know, - we become connected and invested in that story very quickly because of our willingness to - experience those feelings with other people. - There's another trope of writing, - which is Kill your darlings with flash fiction. - We are trying to be precise. - We're trying to be very effective with everything. - But there is also another approach. - You know, - you can write the more poetic type of flash fiction, - and in that case, - and don't don't kill your darlings. - Devastate us with your darlings. - In a mi vendors story broke. - There's there's great examples of it. - He met a woman with eyes so black they woke up nocturnal mammals. - I mean, - that's that's a beautiful line, - and that sticks with you. - You don't have the room to wander. - You don't have space for preamble. - Similarly, - with you know where to start. - You want to end early, - so start late and early. - It's It's a little bit like being the interesting person at a party. - You know, - you get there after it started and you leave before things get boring on before you've run - out of things to say for the end of your final lesson, - Here's one more writing tip for you. - Ah, - lot of people treat the brain as a muscle on. - They train it to right. - The more you write, - the stronger that muscle becomes, - the more accustomed it is to being used on. - The best way to do that is to write all the time as faras reading examples. - Then we looked at some specific writers and some specific stories. - Uh, - but I'd like you now to kind of find your own on. - The best way to do that is to look at some publishers and magazines that are producing this - kind of work. - 3 a.m. Vestal smoke, - long electric literature and recommended reading. - We should also look a gigantic magazine. - Nano fiction diagram has some interesting stuff. - Um, - and McSweeney's Internet tendency is also a great resource for their assignment. - We're gonna flip it back to stranger comes to town, - and we're also going to reduce it this time to the size of a tweet. - So you're gonna write your story? - The stranger comes to town story as a tweet. - You're gonna include the hashtag make our mark and then share it onto Twitter with the rest - of the skill share and station to station community together with other station to station - artists. - I'll be judging those tweets for inclusion in a time capsule. - So I'm really looking forward to seeing what you come up with. - Don't forget to share your stories with the community to leave feedback for your other - classmates and collaborate with them and, - you know, - have have fun with this. - You really focus on on creating a piece of flash fiction that resonates that lives beyond - that word. - Count on, - and we'll stay with the reader and with you for a long time.