When I read Hemingway, Raymond Carver, F. Scott Fitzgerald or John O’Hara I read to learn. Or I should say, first I read for entertainment and then I re-read to learn. I read the work of these authors over and over again. I’ve read many other writers, too; but I come back to the work of these writers because their work is the standard that I measure my own writing against.
You no doubt have your own favorite writers. Use them to measure your work against. Writing better means reading better, reading to learn.
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What’s Your Philosophy Of Writing?
Do you really want your writing to be unique? If you do, what is your philosophy of writing? If you don’t have one, let me suggest that you figure out a personal philosophy of writing. If you cannot state in a few sentences your philosophy of writing you probably are not projecting a consistent literary style. And if you don’t have a consistent literary style, your writing will not seem unique to a reading audience.
I write flash fiction the way I do because I try to adhere to a conscious literary philosophy.
Compressionism is the use of words to paint a picture that tells a story.
What is your philosophy of writing?
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Once again, let me encourage you to use your life as a source of inspiration for your flash fiction, micro fiction, mini fiction, postcard fiction, very short stories, short shorts and hint fiction.
Of course you can make things up but if you use your imagination your personal life is a wealth of raw material to form into short stories by your imaginative fire. Find the many small and large significant events in your life. Then just let flash fiction give these events form.
A flash fiction story captures a significant moment in time. A flash fiction story is a significant event with closure. Closure can point to a change in direction, a summation or a realization. The basic form of all short stories is the setup, the buildup and the resolution.
Here are a few links that may help you out.
Short Story Ideas That Work
Creative Writing and The Short Short Story
Ideas for Creative Writing
What’s Your Fiction Writing Style?
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Writing: How To Write Better Very Short Fiction
Image by marklarson via Flickr
What is very short fiction? It goes by many names: flash fiction, very short stories, micro-fiction, mini-fiction, postcard fiction and the Old Soldier has a label too, snap fiction.
The Old Soldier is sure a few labels were missed; but they all have one thing in common. They really are short stories, not sketches and not vignettes but short stories.
Sketches and vignettes have no narrative movement. You start at point A and you end at point A. In a very short piece of fiction you start at point A and you end up somewhere else. It could be at point D or C or even B but there is movement.
There are lots of examples of very short fiction on this blog.
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The Female Orgasm: Writing About Public Sex
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