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Very good flash fiction stories have been written in a burst of creative inspiration. Bam! First draft. Bam! Bam! A quick proofreading and off to the editor.
But if you are a writer and you want to understand how the flash fiction story works, take a week to write one. Not a little 200-worder, but a big, fat 900-worder.
First you need a good flash fiction idea. Maybe even do an outline. Then a first draft. This can take a couple of days. I don’t mean work on it all day long. I mean an hour there and an hour here. You know. Live your life. Just work on the story when you can. Then go over every word of the first draft until you get a second draft. Let that second draft rest for a day or so.
Then take a day to make sure that your grammar, punctuation and spelling are correct and that the story flows and you do not have too many characters or you are not telling a story that takes place over one month when it should really take place over one hour.
Then just let the story rest for a couple of days.
Then go back and read it again. If you are happy, send it off. Actually, you can send it to me. The submissions guidelines are at the top of the page.
That’s how you learn to write flash fiction. That’s how I learned to write flash fiction. And the great thing about this method is that after you have done it a few times, you can go back to writing flash fiction in creative bursts, because now you know what you’re doing.
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Filed under: Commentaries | Tagged: blog, blogging, characters, creative inspiration, editor, first draft, good flash fiction idea, good flash fiction stories, grammar, live your life, proofreading, punctuation, reading and writing friends, spelling, submissions guidelines, tip, word, work, write better flash fiction, writer | 3 Comments »
Proofreading Can Make Or Break Your Flash Fiction
Hello hello hello, my brother and sister flash fiction writers and wanna-be flash fiction writers. When I first started writing flash fiction I would proofread my stories to death. I would do an outline and then a first draft and a second draft and a third draft and even a fourth draft, proofreading each draft along the way.
Then there was the final proofreading of the completed story.
I sure am glad those days are over, but I did learn to write flash fiction. Now that I know what I’m doing, there are a lot fewer drafts and a lot less proofreading; but the main thing that I proofread now for is: No Unnecessary Words.
Proofreading can make or break your story.
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How’s everyone doing? The Old Soldier has a red potato, a piece of smoked sausage and a piece of onion boiling in the old crock pot. The fan is on and the windows are open and I’m getting a nice cross breeze in the living room where my workstation is.
If you are new to this blog, I want to welcome you to the most dynamic flash fiction blog on the internet. I know that’s an obnoxious claim, but you explore this site and I think you might agree with me.
And if you write flash fiction, there is a submissions tab at the top of the page. Read the guidelines and send me something.
Keep reading and keep writing.
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Filed under: Commentaries | Tagged: blog, crock pot, first draft, flash fiction blog, flash fiction words, flash fiction writers, guidelines, living room, old soldier, onion, outline, proofreading, red potato, smoked sausage, stories, submissions, think, workstation, writing | 1 Comment »