I’ve put on the crock pot with boneless beef chucks, diced carrots, diced green peppers, beef stock and garlic. I’m ready to take my shower and then take my walk to Pittsburgh’s “Little Italy” to pick up some toiletries; but I thought I’d leave you with a new flash fiction story to read.
Flash fiction is culture. Flash fiction is education. Flash fiction is entertainment. For the writers in the reading audience read first for entertainment and then again looking for tension, story movement, use of dialogue for characterization and backstory and the use of concrete sense details that appeal to sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch.
Writing the very short story is a challenge but contains its own rewards. I hope you enjoy Sex Videos. I’ll be back later for more blogging.
The micro-fiction writer must turn thoughts into words into characters into a significant event with closure.
Words on a piece of paper or on a computer screen are the projections of thoughts. The words give the thoughts order so that a reader will be able to make sense of the writer’s thoughts.
Each character takes on a different thought pattern of the writer, usually thought patterns that are at some level of conflict (tension) with each other.
Because the writer is writing a very short story this conflict is captured at a significant moment when there will be some movement in the conflict that has not occurred before; and since this is flash fiction the movement will be slight but definitely there.
The end of the movement will bring some sort of resolution to the conflict (tension).
Last night was the first time I saw On The Waterfront. I got a tape from the Carnegie Library here in Pittsburgh and the movie stands up to the hype. A young Marlon Brando stars as Terry Malloy, an uneducated dock worker and ex-professional boxer who stands up to the corrupt union leadership. The film won eight Academy Awards in 1954 and Brando’s performance popularized the “intense, gritty virtues of Method acting” that influenced a generation of actors.
Good movies have a lot to teach writers about “show don’t tell.” Just like a flim a writer has to write in scenes to give characters a chance to directly interact the way they do in Woman, Wife and Lover, Love Hurts and Girls Kissing Girls.
Who’s a serious writer? Someone who wants to get published. And even if you don’t want to get published you still want to be a better writer, don’t you? Sure, you could pay $100 to join an online flash fiction workshop. Or you could read the writing articles at the Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette for free. How do you know that the articles on the Gazette are worth reading?
Well, read Tainted Love, Money and the American Writer or Girls Gone Wild. If you think these stories are well written you should definitely read the articles in the sidebar on the right under “More Flash Articles” to find out how they were written.
What a sports town Pittsburgh is. I still follow the Pirates. Those bums. But Pittsburghers love a winner and the Penguins are winners. It would be great if the Penguins could bring home the Stanley Cup this year to go with the Steelers Superbowl trophy. Come to think of it the Pirates won the World Series the same year the Steelers won the Superbowl.
Well, Penguin paraphenalia went on sale this morning. And I’d like to do my part in celebrating the Penguins trip to the final. Since I’m a writer I’d like to dedicate Girls Gone Wild and The Last Nude Photos to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Full marriage rights for same-sex couples in California was put on hold yesterday when the California Supreme Court upheld the ban on same-sex marriage.
I really believe that same-sex marriage will become the law in the United States simply because the majority of voters under 30 support it. That may not happen for several years. Still, marriage between a man and a woman is unique. There is no way of getting around it. Two men or two women cannot procreate. It can be argued that procreation is at the very heart of the responsibilities and rights of marriage. So, how can the union of two men or two women be called marriage? Procreation is at the heart of the legal basis of the American family.
True Love (A Very Short Story)
This Man and This Woman in Love (A Very Short Story)
Kissing To Be Clever
May 31, 2009 — pittsburghflashfictiongazette“Kissing To Be Clever” is the title of a Culture Club album. I was a big fan of Boy George and the band. Of course “Do You Really Won’t To Hurt Me” and “Time” were my favorites.
Just a little while ago I was sitting in Del’s Italian Restaurant in Pittsburgh’s “Little Italy” and the bar had the music station on one of the televisions. All the other televisions were mute and Culture Club came on and it wash “Do You Really Won’t To Hurt Me” from the Kissing To Be Clever album. And I thought Kissing To Be Clever would be a great title for a flash fiction story. So, I’m trying to come up with a short story with that title. Whatever it takes. For a writer writing fiction this is normal.
I hope you’ve enjoyed your Sunday. I think this is all the blogging I’ll be doing for today. I bought a six pack of beer after having several beers at Del’s and I’m feeling kind of mellow. Be sure to check out the new story Sex Videos. It’s all about sexuality, marriage, love, sex videos and friendship.