Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette

What do I mean by “deep”?  I mean, does your story resonate?  Do the characters act like real people?  Does the reader get the feeling that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts?  Do you allow the reader to contribute to the creation of the story by letting the reader fill in the blanks?  Is the story a “visual” experience for the reader?

Whew!  That’s a lot.

An Amateur Does Her First Porn Video

And there’s plenty more.  But there is no way that the Old Soldier can explain in a little, short blog post what it has taken him over 50 years to figure out for himself.

So, let me give you five short tips to get your creative writing juices to flow.  I said your “creative writing” juices.  Let’s keep it clean.  No, this is not a family magazine, but how do you think families are made?

Ha ha ha ha.  The Old Soldier made a funny.  All right class.  Settle down.  Settle down.  Let’s continue.

1)  Each one of your major characters should have a different agenda.

2)  Your dialogue should characterize the speaker and at the same time efficiently move the story to its resolution.

3)  Explain as little as possible which means you have to get your characters inter-acting as soon as possible.

4)  Explaining (exposition) is summation; but description and dialogue are action.  Know the difference between exposition and action.

5)  Take out a free subscription or follow the Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette and I’ll tell you some more.

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Occupy Pittsburgh (Photo credit: karathepirate)

Hello hello hello, all my brother and sister bloggers, readers, writers and my Flash Fiction Fanatics.  And a special shout-out to the students of the University of Pittsburgh.

I went for a walk earlier today.  It is beautiful outside, sunny in the 40s.  I walked down to the campus and picked up The Pitt News.  I would like to quote from an article about Occupy Pittsburgh that was on the front page of this student newspaper.

Jackie Smith, a sociology professor at Pitt involved with Occupy Pittsburgh, said that while the loss of camps might negatively affect the movement, she is hopeful for the future and thinks the eviction could be beneficial in the long run.

“The camp actually required a lot of energy and focus to defend.  This kept many people from thinking about the long-term vision of building a movement that can resonate with and connect to the needs of more diverse groups in our community.”

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This is the Old Soldier reporting from Pittsburgh.

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