A Celebration Of Flash

Writing good flash (articles, commentaries and fiction) is tough to do.  It’s not just about being short.  All the necessary information has to be there.  There has to be clarity.  There has to be unity.  There has to be brevity.

Let the Gazette be your home for tips on writing and blogging.  Let the Gazette be your very short story destination.

Flash is not only a literary genre.  It is also a state of mind.  Look around.  Explore.  Join the adventure that is flash.  Here is life on the page.  Enjoy.  Have fun.

And don’t forget to tell all your friends.

This is the Old Soldier reporting from Oakland in the heart of the City of Pittsburgh.

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Flash Fiction And Making Movies

Here’s an analogy that may help to explain what the writer of flash fiction tries to do.  In a movie, no matter how long the movie is, there comes the pivotal scene where the protagonist will succeed or fail.  This scene will resolve the main underlying tension of the film.  This scene will answer the central question that was put forward earlier in the story.

It is this scene and only this scene that the flash fiction writer tries to capture.  This one scene has to make sense to the reader.  So the flash fiction writer will have only a minimum number of characters in the scene and the scene will only take place during a narrow period of time.

This is how flash fiction is like making a movie.

Sex, Booze and a Short Memory (A Short Story)

The Short Story As Entertainment

Some creative writers might forget that short stories were one of the earliest forms of entertainment.  All of the holy books of the major religions are full of parables which are short dramas meant to teach a lesson.  And that’s what a good story does, too.

The drama is not only in the storyline but also in the skill of the writing.  How well drawn are the characters.  How clear is the message.  How intense is the drama.

Not that’s entertainment.

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The Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette is always open to short story, short short and very short story submissions.  Writers should first read and follow the guidelines.  There is also a Free Help For Writers tab at the top of the page.

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