Tuesday’s #FridayFlash Favorites (for June 25)
Photo © 2008 deadrobot CC 2.0 BY NC SA
Each Friday, writers post on twitter a link to a short-short story they’ve written, marked with the tag #FridayFlash. This week, I reran a story I had written over a year ago, about a man who learns to find romance. This story breaks 5 of the 10 Flash-fiction rules that I usually follow, but it still works. (Just another demonstration that most rules are best used as tips to serve you, not strictures to bind you.)
Of the rest of the stories that were posted last Friday, here are my…
#FridayFlash Favorites for June 25
Of 109 stories posted Friday (including the 86 that made it onto the official #FridayFlash Report for June 25), here are my 9 favorites, listed in no particular order.
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How to Write a Character-Driven Flash Story Really Fast
Photo © 2008 wizetux CC 2.0 BY NC
A couple Fridays ago— This is just after my computer gave out, and I was behind schedule on everything. Come Friday morning, I had not started writing a story for #FridayFlash. I didn’t even have an idea.
So I used the following 5-step process to whip one together, in less than 3 hours from start to finish. That includes the raw story idea, characterization, plotting, and drafting and editing the story. And the result, which I entitled “Just A Bite of Coffee and Ice Cream,” actually turned out pretty good. It’s a story about a 19-year-old woman, muddling through a job at an ice-cream shop, while she’s coming to grips with a direction for her life.
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Crime Fiction: Ten Cliches to Avoid
Photo © 2008 Cayusa CC 2.0 BY NC
I’ve been wrestling with a lot of personal issues, and I haven’t had the time I usually do to write. So I pulled out this useful article by author William Meikle, as a guest post for today.
-TimK
Crime Fiction – Ten Cliches to Avoid
Crime fiction is big business at the moment, but there are certain situations that have been overplayed so much that they have become genre cliches and everybody knows what to expect next. Here are ten cliches you should try to avoid and thoughts on how to subvert the cliches if you do decide to use them.
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Tuesday’s #FridayFlash Favorites (for June 18)
Photo © 2005 Gisela Giardino CC 2.0 BY SA
Each Friday, writers post on twitter a link to a short-short story they’ve written, marked with the tag #FridayFlash. Mine this week I threw together at the last minute… and then I had partied on the weekend and got sick on Monday, so I couldn’t post Monday about the process I used. (Hold on— That didn’t come out quite right. I partied on the weekend, because Father’s Day and my birthday, both on the same day. And I think it was food poisoning that got me sick.) But I have the “How to Write a Character-Driven Flash Story Really Fast” post slated for next Monday (knock on wood).
Of the stories that were posted last Friday, however, here are my…
#FridayFlash Favorites for June 18
Out of 100 stories (of which 78 made it onto the official #FridayFlash Report for June 18), here are my 11 favorites, listed in no particular order.
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10 Flash Fiction Writing Tips
Photo © 2009 Race Gentry CC 2.0 BY SA
Every writer who writes flash has one of these lists, even if flash is not his area of expertise. Even if he doesn’t write it down, he keeps it in the back of his mind.
I tend to enjoy character-driven fiction, and I enjoy character-driven flash as well. You might think that flash offers too few words in which to develop good characters, but I believe that it is possible, if you focus your efforts.
Here’s my own list, which I keep in mind when I’m writing flash fiction and short-short stories:
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You only have room for one main character, so choose her well. What’s more, in a flash piece, this character has only one compelling need. Because flash fiction is about focus, all of her qualities focus themselves on supporting her single compelling need.
Examples of Alternative Conflict
I called it “alternative conflict” in Monday’s post, but a better monicker might be “problem-free conflict,” because it pops up over and over again in literature, TV, and film. Usually, it’s used alongside the more traditional character problems.
“But character problems cause conflict,” I hear you objecting. “How can you have conflict without character problems?”
Well, actually, this introduction itself is an example of problem-free conflict. But first, let’s look at a more obvious example.
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The Need for Better Writers’ T-Shirts
Photo © 2007 Mika Meskanen CC 2.0 BY NC
Okay, not all writer’s novelty T-shirts are that bad. Browsing the ones on CafePress, some of them are downright witty, such as “I write, therefore I am,” “I’m plotting against you,” and the always-applicable “Careful or you’ll end up in my novel.”
But some of the best writer’s T-shirts actually come from the filmmaking category:
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“Writing is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money.” -Jules Renard [which isn't true, but it sometimes feels true]
Not to mention a framed print that should be hanging next to every writer’s desk (not just screenwriters):
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Tuesday’s #FridayFlash Favorites (for June 11)
Photo © 2007 Matthew Sullivan CC 2.0 BY NC
Each Friday, writers post on twitter a link to a short-short story they’ve written, marked with the tag #FridayFlash. Mine this week was an experiment in conflict, a story about a character who thinks she’s dreaming the future. Of the others that were posted, here are my…
#FridayFlash Favorites for June 11
Out of 100 stories posted this week (of which 74 were listed on the #FridayFlash Collector), here are my 9 favorites, listed in no particular order.
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Exploring Alternative Conflict
Photo © 2007 Chantal Lyons CC 2.0 BY NC ND
My #FridayFlash short-short story, “Too Much Information,” this past week experimented with a different kind of conflict, something I’m calling “alternative conflict.” In reality, there are published stories out there, in prose and in TV and film, that already use conflict like this, so it really isn’t alternative. (It’s mainstream.) But the advice that you get as a novice writer frequently forbids you from exploring any but one form of conflict.
Traditional form dictates that you start with a character who has a problem, and that’s where the conflict in the story comes from. But in “Too Much Information,” the character has no problem. He (or she) explains that he has been dreaming the future, and he’s going to see if he can change the future by manipulating his dreams. Yes, he has a compelling need, to explore this dream phenomenon. But there’s no obstacle preventing him from meeting his need. Therefore, he has no problem. In fact, the entire story is about how he is meeting his need.
So then, if my character has no problem, how do I maintain the reader’s interest?
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10 Basic Character Needs
Photo © 2008 .craig CC 2.0 BY NC ND
They say that effective story characters have problems, because problems mean conflict, and conflict makes for an interesting story. True enough. (See Wednesday’s post for a better explanation.) But what they don’t usually tell you is that all problems come from character needs. Or more precisely, from characters not getting their needs met.
Like us, when a character’s needs are not met, she seeks to meet them. But there might be something preventing her from getting her needs met. For example, if a captor has sold her into slavery, that’s bound to ruin her day, because it interferes with her need for autonomy. Or maybe she simply doesn’t have the resources to meet her needs, as if a famine is making it difficult for everyone to find food. She may not possess skills she needs to meet her needs, for example, if she is lonely because she doesn’t know how to relate to others. And sometimes, as any real human would, she is bound to do things that she feels will meet her needs, but which really just create complications, such as when she turns to alcohol in a search for fulfillment.
You’ll also find that her needs are interrelated—as ours all are—and that she may seek to take action to fulfill two needs at once, or to satisfy one need at the expense of another. Or sometimes one need rebounds on another, such that if the one is not met, it will cause the character to perceive another also not being met. This interrelatedness can also thicken and complicate the plot. She drinks because she feels her life has no meaning (need #10 below), and as a result, she begins to lose intimacy with her husband (#5), which may affect her sense of accomplishment (#8), her sense of status (#9), and further decrease her sense of purpose (#10). Now she has four problems to deal with instead of just one.
If you’re having trouble finding a compelling conflict, start by choosing from one of the following 10 basic character needs.
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