How Can Flash Fiction Make You A Better Writer?

Posted on January 10, 2013 by pittsburghflashfictiongazette
Old Soldier

Old Soldier (Photo credit: mark_the_legend_foster)

I have no doubt that writing flash fiction can make you a better writer.  Hi, it’s the Old Soldier, that’s me, offering some insights on flash fiction as excellent training for a writer who wants to be a better writer.

Because of the particular demands of flash fiction, a writer who diligently studies flash fiction will become acutely aware of the necessity of several things.

  1. No unnecessary words
  2. Precision of language
  3. Getting immediately into the main action
  4. The importance of implying what is not directly stated
  5. Being made more aware of the importance of the reader in the creative process

A flash fiction story teaches these things and more.  You will find plenty of flash fiction on this blog.

*****

Be sure to check out the front page for the latest updates.  The Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette is an online magazine of serious writing and brazen sexuality.

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Flash Fiction And The Surprise Ending

Posted on December 15, 2012 by pittsburghflashfictiongazette
Woman As Art

Woman As Art

Raymond Carver, the American short story writer, did not like surprise endings.  He said it was cheating.  I have to agree with him. 

The kind of surprise ending Carver was referring to is the one that the reader is not prepared for, the kind that comes out of the blue.

Hello, everyone, this is the Old Soldier.

The kind of surprise ending that comes out of the blue makes the reader feel that you, the writer, are trying to put over a fast one and that you are a lazy writer.

But there is another kind of surprise ending, the kind that is hinted at throughout the story.  So, that when it happens, the reader will think back, or look back through your story and say, “Of course, the clues are scattered throughout the narrative.”

Raymond Carver

Raymond Carver (Photo credit: PinkMoose)

Now this second kind of surprised ending is always a winner.

*****

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.

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Erotic Poetry: Motel Sex by John Grey

Posted on December 6, 2012 by pittsburghflashfictiongazette

It’s a cheap motel

but the passion doesn’t know that.

Your lush breasts,

juicy thighs…

they’d be equally at home

on a palace four-poster,

a blanket by a Maine Lake,

five miles high in an airplane

or the back seat of a car.

My body plunges your depths.

My kisses break your every surface.

You moan with pleasure.

I groan with delight.

The mattress rocks

like an ancient washing machine.

Guy in the room next door

is banging on the wall,

shouting, “Can you keep it down in there!”

But keeping it down

is the last thing I want to do.

 *****

Bio: John Grey is an Australian born poet, works as a financial systems analyst.  Recently published in Bryant Poetry Review, Tribeca Poetry Review, Hurricane Review and Pinyon.

 *****

Woman As Art

Woman As Art

The Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette is an online magazine of serious writing and brazen sexuality.

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The Use Of Words To Paint A Picture That Tells A Story

Posted on November 26, 2012 by pittsburghflashfictiongazette

Woman As Art

We writers must write in such a way so that the reader “sees” the story.  Because seeing is believing.  This is why the term “show don’t tell” is at the very heart of our art.

And how do we allow the reader to see our stories?  By using concrete sense details.  What do I mean by concrete sense details?

Concrete sense details are words that represent things that the reader can hear (the reader hears dialogue), smell, taste, touch and above all can see.  Concrete sense details are things detected by the five senses.

But just as in real life, sight is our most important sense. 

senses

senses (Photo credit: joaoloureiro)

So, when you use words that represent things that the reader can see, you are allowing the reader to see your story on that movie screen we all have in our mind.  You are using words to paint a picture that tells a story.

And this changes the reader from a spectator into a participant.  Because, once again, seeing is believing.

Show don’t tell.

*****

Be sure to check the front page for the latest updates.  This is the Old Soldier reporting from Pittsburgh.  The Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette is an online magazine of serious writing and brazen sexuality.

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The Flash Fiction Story As A Work Of Art

Posted on November 24, 2012 by pittsburghflashfictiongazette

 

Woman As Art

Every artist has his or her medium: film, ceramics, photography, the novel, poetry, painting, sculpture, weaving and glass; the list is endless.

The Old Soldier would like to add flash fiction to the list.

You will find plenty of examples of this assertion on this blog.  The Old Soldier is not saying that every flash fiction story on this blog is a work of art.  What I am saying is that as an art form, the flash fiction story can provide the transcendent experience that every work of art contributes to our understanding of our own humanity.

*****

The Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette is an online magazine of serious writing and brazen sexuality.  Be sure to check the front page for the latest updates.

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