Tag Archives: Flash Fiction

Flash Fiction Challenge #2

Shall we go again? Feeling warmed up, limber and ready for action?

OK, 250 words please. TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY words only.

Your prompt? No one should feel this happy…

Points to remember –

Make every word count. Carefully chosen details can convey more than long descriptions. Make your title pull its weight!

Post your piece with title and your name/pen name in the comments section

If you would like to offer feedback to other writer’s – do so respectfully.

Make sure I can contact you at the end of the challenge if you’d like your work promoted here.

Deadline for posts is the 21st of JUNE

Flash Fiction Challenge…

All right then! Just back from teaching a course in Flash Fiction and it was so productive and interesting as a tool in developing as a writer that I thought it might be fun (and helpful) to run a challenge..

Here’s how it works –

The challenge is open to all

I’ll post a prompt and a word limit every two days, participants can then post their stories (1 per person per prompt!) in the comments section

Feel free to comment on the stories and offer CONSTRUCTIVE and helpful feedback

At the end, I’ll choose 5 writers to publish their pieces here on my site (and will promote them like crazy!)

You in??

Athens!

Just back from the glorious heat of Athens… a city dense with history and current political strife… In contrast, I was teaching a Flash Fiction course for KWS and the British Council, a style of literature that relies on brevity, and a light touch. I was spoilt by a week of great students, visits to the Acropolis, Poseidon’s Temple in Sounio and Aegina. I feasted, I read, I wrote, I walked… more to come from the writing… and discussed Flash Fiction.

Here are my top tips for writing Flash or Micro Fiction –

Every word counts.. so choose carefully, make every word pull its weight, either by suggestion, connotation or by cutting qualifiers or excessive adjectives/descriptors.

Begin mid-scene, in media res, with action or dialogue. Hit the ground running.

Don’t end on a punchline or revelation, unless you’re writing a joke… let the story unfold, meander and reveal itself in the mind of your reader…

Your title should add to the narrative.

Details are key; reveal character, place, emotional dynamics etc by using carefully chosen details that are evocative, remember it’s all about connotation.

All the above also applies to longer fiction!