Woman As Art
Pittsburgh got more snow yesterday. It’s around noon. I’m going to post this and then go to one of my favorite bars. The Steelers have a 1:00 p.m. game today, but the game is meaningless. They lost last weekend and that was their last chance to make it to the playoffs.
Well, it’s been a good year for the Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette. Readership went from around 5,000 views in January to over 30,000 views today for December.
*****
Now, what can I tell you about this old story of mine? I’ve always been a big fan of Ernest Hemingway. His writing style has had a great impact on my own writing style. Oh, I can’t write like Hemingway, but believe me sometimes I have tried to and I guess this story is one of those times that I tried to.
I published this story on this blog on 1 November 2008.
*****
The Hemingway Hero
It was night and the rain came down hard on the twinkling lights of the Steel City. The young man stood in his briefs at the window as shadows danced about the unlit bedroom of his off-campus apartment on the eighteenth floor of a steel and glass building. He watched the rain and the lights as the young woman slept in the bed behind him. Both were graduate students. In the morning she was returning to a university on the west coast.
The young woman stirred. “Sweetie,” she said. “What on earth are you doing?”
“Trying to get use to living without you.”
Ernest Hemingway Writing at Campsite in Kenya – NARA – 192655 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
She was silent a long time. The bedroom was filled with the sound of the falling rain. She said, “Come back to bed. Come back to bed and I’ll try to make it better.”
“Better? That won’t make it better. That’ll only make it worse.”
“Not even better for a little while?”
He watched the rain and the lights of the city. When he graduated he would teach in the city. He would live in the city. She would live on the west coast.
“Well,” he said, “maybe for a little while.”
He knew nothing could ever make it better, not even for a little while. He turned and approached the bed anyway. It was the brave thing to do.
Related articles
- Flash Fiction Is Life At 1,000 Words A Pop (pittsburghflashfictiongazette.com)
Filed under: The Sunday Flash Fiction Story | Tagged: Ernest Hemingway, graduate students, off-campus apartment, Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette, rain, Steel City, The Steelers, The Sunday Flash Fiction Story, young woman | Leave a Comment »
Flash Fiction Rule #1
Image via Wikipedia
For those of you interested in writing flash fiction, this suggestion will definitely help.
Hello, Pitt Panthers and my Flash Fiction Fanatics. How many of you are writers? How many of you who are writers have thought about writing flash fiction. Well, as you can see there are all kinds of flash fiction stories on this blog. There are love stories, stories about husbands and wives and boyfriends and girlfriends and stories about lesbians and stories about war, college, orgies and gang bangs.
As a graduate student, I taught undergraduates at the University of Pittsburgh from 2004 – 2006. I had a definite teaching philosophy. Looking back, there are a few things that I would have changed but I think my basic approach was the right one: keep it simple.
Even though I tried to get across the nuances of the “show don’t tell” technique of writing fiction I tried to do it in a straight forward, clear way.
So, if you write flash fiction or are thinking about trying to write flash fiction keep this in mind: A flash fiction story captures a significant moment in time.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Be sure to check out the Sexy Stories tab at the top of the page.
Rate this:
Filed under: Commentaries | Tagged: boyfriends, college, flash fiction, Flash Fiction Fanatics, gang bangs, girlfriends, graduate students, husbands, lesbians, love stories, orgies, Pitt Panthers, sex stories, sexy stories, show don't tell, think, thought, undergraduates, University of Pittsburgh, war, wives, Writers, Writing Flash Fiction | Leave a Comment »