Woman As Art
Explanation, better known as exposition, is a useful and necessary device in every flash fiction writer’s tool box. What you don’t want to do is to explain too much. When you explain too much, what you are really doing is spoon-feeding the reader.
And that’s no fun for the reader.
Flash fiction is so short that you need the story to be fun for the reader, because the reader has to help you complete the story. And to get the reader to help you complete the story, you have to make reading the story fun.
How do you make reading the story fun?
One way is to make the story a stream of revelation. Which means the less you have to explain the better. And this means you present much of the story in real-time. You the writer must use all your skills to paint a moving picture that tells the story. Concentrate on what your characters say and do.
Reader of novels (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
If the moving picture that you create engages the imagination of your reader, he or she will complete the story, adding all the necessary things that you had to imply. Revelation lets the reader “discovery” what is going on.
This is why in the writing of the flash fiction story, revelation is usually, not always, but usually better than explanation.
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Memory
The writer listened
He heard voices calling him
He wrote them all down
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Be sure to check the front page for the latest updates. The Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette is an online magazine of serious writing and brazen sexuality. This is the Old Soldier reporting from Pittsburgh.
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How Is A Writer Just Like A Farmer?
Writers Hall of Fame 2012 (Photo credit: UNR Knowledge Center)
You are your greatest asset. A writer can do a great many things to improve as a writer, but it takes work. It takes commitment. It takes study, a love of reading and it takes time.
Think of your talent as a bag of seeds. Think of yourself as a small farmer who wants to add to your regular job by selling the things that you grow on your little farm. You’re not good at growing everything, just certain things.
Then you have to find those customers who either want or need what you grow.
A writer has to do exactly the same thing that our imaginary small farmer has to do. There are no short cuts. There will be a lot of false starts. But eventually, your little farm will be a going concern. And you will get the satisfaction of owning your own little business.
Writer, embrace your talent today.
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The Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette is here to help you succeed as a writer. Be sure to check the front page for the latest updates.
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