Inside the Cover Book
Review
Review by Betty
Winslow
Flash Writing: How to Write, Revise and Publish Stories
Less Than 1000 Words Long
Michael L. Wilson
Virtualbookworm.com Publishing
178 pp.
2004
Writing-related
Flash Writing may be Michael L. Wilson's first book, but it probably won't
be his last one. Wilson teaches creative writing classes and facilitates
writers' groups in the Columbus [Ohio] area and has been a featured speaker at
various area writers' conferences, so he undoubtedly has a lot more to say about
writing of all kinds.
However, his current hot topic is flash fiction (also known as short short
stories and sudden, postcard, minute, furious, fast, quick, skinny, and micro
fiction) and when he discovered that there really wasn't anything in print about
it, he decided to write something that would fill that gap.
He begins by explaining what flash fiction is. Flash fiction can be anywhere
from 250 and 1000 words long and it has all the features of a normal short
story: conflict, character, and a beginning, middle, and end. The main way it
differs from other forms of fiction is that a flash fiction story is extremely
compressed.
Although this does make them easier (and quicker) to read, it doesn't make them
easier to write. The shorter a piece of writing is, the fewer scenes and
characters you can include and the more necessary it is to make every word
count. Or as Wilson says in chapter 15 (Compressing the Narrative for Flash
Fiction): "Flash fiction has to tell the story of an
entire life in a single page."
Flash fiction isn't a new story form. It has been around for a long time in the
guise of fairy tales, nursery rhymes, tall tales and legends, and (in a more
recent version) urban legends. However, it has now come into its own, with
entire websites, magazines, and books devoted to flash fiction stories. Makes
sense to me-- modern society has less and less time to read, and it takes far
less time to read a flash fiction piece (or even a collection of them) than it
does to read an entire novel.
There are certain tricks to being successful with flash fiction and they are all
covered here to one extent or another, from getting ideas and creating
characters to working on setting and point of view. My favorite part of the
book, though, is its treasure trove of writing exercises, first lines, and
quick topics that can be used to inspire you when you're stumped for ideas, and
the Do It! exercises that follow many of the chapters, encouraging you to use
what you just read about.
Been wanting to try your hand at fiction, but don't have the time or attention
span required for a novel? Try flash fiction. Who knows? You might turn out to
be a natural. And even if you don't, working in this genre will help you tighten
up your writing. Robert Southey once said, "It is with words as with sunbeams.
The more they are condensed, the deeper they burn." If that's true, this book
will have you playing with fire in no time!
CLICK HERE TO ORDER THE BOOK.
