Stay at Home Festival - Writing Flash Fiction

Flash Fiction Workshop

What is flash fiction… 

The guidelines for the Smokelong Quarterly advise:

•       language that surprises

•       narratives that strive toward something other than a final punch line or twist

•       pieces that add up to something, oftentimes (but not necessarily always) meaning or emotional resonance

•       honest work that feels as if it has far more purpose than a writer wanting to write a story

 http://www.smokelong.com/submissions/guidelines/

What makes great flash fiction:

•       How to write flash fiction:

•       Start in the middle.

•       Don’t use too many characters.

•       Make sure the ending isn’t at the end.

•       Sweat your title.

•       Make your last line ring like a bell.

•       Write long, then go short.

- David Gaffney, Stories in your pocket: how to write flash fiction, The Guardian

Different approaches: Hermit crab style

These stories, which make use of ready-made templates such as recipes, board-meeting minutes and shopping lists, are a great way for experimenting with form in short fiction.

https://www.hippocampusmagazine.com/2017/04/craft-4-new-ways-to-tell-your-stories-by-nicole-breit/

Examples: https://jellyfishreview.wordpress.com/2017/10/13/collective-nouns-for-humans-in-the-wild-by-kathy-fish/

Instructions:10 minutes

How to build a home

How to leave the country

How to tame a lion

How to become a writer

How to throw a party

How to spend your money

How to cook in a lockdown

How to live in self-isolation

How to talk to your father/ mother

Choose one and start free writing. Take note – while the instruction is given in future tense, the story will emerge as past tense…instruction is given in second person – produces a unique tone that becomes the focus of the story. 

- Adapted from Barrie Llewlyn's prompt in Teaching Creative Writing - ed Elaine Walker

HW Write a playlist for a character. What is the relationship of the playlist creator with this character? 
An example:

from Flash Fiction Festival Three (Ad Hoc Fiction, 2019)

Write the same incident from 3 different perspectives

A character arrives late to a party, not knowing that an old significant other is attending too. 

The relationship didn’t end well. The host introduces them to each other, unaware of 

their history. In 300 words or less, write the scene from three POVs: The late arriver, the ex 

and the host.

•The late arrive – 1st person POV

•The ex – 2^nd Person POV

• The host – 3^rd Person POV.

Smokelong Quarterly EllipsisZine Flashback Fiction Reflex Fiction Flash – The International Short Short Story Magazine Cabinet of Heed Lunate  Fictive Dream Lost Balloon Okay Donkey Spelk Storgy TSS Publishing VirtualZine X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine Zero Flash Train The Fiction Pool Ad Hoc Fiction Bare Fiction Pank Litro Flash Fiction Online F( r)iction Jellyfish Review You can follow me on Twitter: @susmitatweets Short Story in a Weekend course: https://www.profwritingacademy.com My favourite flash fiction (my own, I mean): https://www.ellipsiszine.com/a-lesson-in-shadow-puppetry-learnt-the-difficult-way-by-susmita-bhattacharya/ Hope you enjoyed the session! Have a lovely day :)

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