Each Friday, writers post on twitter a link to a short-short story they’ve written, marked with the tag #FridayFlash. On July 30, I didn’t post anything for #FridayFlash, because I was still recovering from my life blowing apart (although I did start on a story). Most of my time and mental energy has been taken up with a new software contract I’m on. But I’m hoping to do some serious writing in August.

#FridayFlash Favorites for July 30

There were 111 stories (including the 85 that made it onto the official #FridayFlash Report for July 30). Of all those, here are my 7 favorites, listed in no particular order.

• “Two-Week Notice” by Michelle Frank — What we’re willing to leave, in order to obtain autonomy.

• “Something In The Attic” by Icy Sedgwick — A little girl, an attic, and the quest for forbidden knowledge.

• “Contact” by Neil Shurley — Yeah, when we say “evidence” of alien life, this is what we mean.

• “Why I’m Overweight” by G.P. Ching — We all think our parents are obsolete, and we can’t imagine ever sympathizing with them. It’s part of the curse of youth.

• “To Third” by “soco” — Don’t know why he was “not completely satisfied with it.” I thought he wonderfully told us the story of why humans strive.

• “Goblins” by Monica Marier — Attack of the night faeries; a funny and touching tale.

• “The Kitmvat Ritual” by Lauren Cude — We all need to be part of something bigger than just ourselves.

Note: To be selected as one of my #FridayFlash Favorites, the post must be a genuine flash story, not a chapter in a longer piece, a series of one-paragraph vignettes, or anything else. It should have a beginning (conflict), a middle (thickening), and an end (resolution). Not necessarily a happy ending (though I do enjoy happy endings), but whatever conflict the story introduces at the beginning, it must resolve at the end. No fair building up suspense and then stopping in the middle of the story, just so you don’t have to figure out how to save the hero in 1,000 words or less; that’s cheating. The story should also be a single scene, because multi-scene flash usually does too much “telling” and doesn’t “show” enough to engage me in the story. (And scene divisions stop the flow, which is usually a bad idea in flash.) While I do browse Twitter for #FridayFlash posts, the best way to get me to read yours is to put it on the #FridayFlash Collector. I judge posted stories according to my own preferences; your mileage may vary.

Till next week, and…

Keep writing!
-TimK