WALMART: I LOVE YOU is fast approaching. November 30th and please send me your blog urls ahead of time so I don't scramble at the last minute. Just your general url is fine. Aldo said two people had advised him of a story to post so if anyone else plans to use Powder Burn Flash, please let him know.
Speaking of this, I wanted to talk about flash fiction stories. Do you think, more than any other form of fiction, they need to end with a surprise ending or at least something "flashy." Should they be called "flashy fiction" as well. I'm near the end of mine, but can't think of a grand finale. What are your expectations? Is it all about the end in an 800 word story?
25 comments:
I think the endings of all stories are both tricky and critical. But to me, flash fictions really need that twist or surprise or punch more than longer stories. In a longer story there is more character development or events that can help cover up a less than stellar ending. But not so much in flash fiction.
Flash fiction almost needs a punchline, like a joke. It's all about creating a certain effect, even if it's just a thought that resonates.
Think O. Henry. That should be the inspiration.
I agree with Charles. The format doesn't allow for a lot of quiet introspection. A snappy punchline can really make the story.
Exactly my problem. Haven't come up with a good ending yet. Just a sort of fitting one.
I guess I'm the contrarian. I've read too many flashes where the twist ending reads too much like the writer had intended a short story but either lost interest or wrote himself into a corner and thought of something quick so he could call it flash and be done with it.
A good plot twist at the end is a treat for the reader, but I don't think it's mandatory in a flash any more than in a novel.
I agree that a humorous flash story works best with a clear punch line. But serious flash can also work well with something quieter, and crime flash with something sinister yet rather open.
But re Walmart - I am only at the idea stage yet. (Scary!)
Patti: I believe a flash piece should have several "wow!" moments in it;usually the strongest one at the end. Of course I don't always do it that way. :)
John McAuley
You have plenty of time Dorte. And if you're late, I will post it whenever it's done.
John-I wish I had more wow moments. Maybe some will come to me in this two and a half weeks.
You're overthinking flash, Patti. Flash is merely a short story that starts closer to the climax. Just give it a satisfying ending that fits the story. If the satisfaction comes from a twist, fine, but sometimes the satisfaction comes from letting the reader fill in the blanks with his own imagination. All the ending has to be is a perfect fit for the storyline.
All my strengths, if I have any, exist at the range between 2500-4000 words. I know how much story to tell in that range. Under it, it feels too slight, more than that too wordy. Do most writers have a stronger length?
I'll go with Sandra on this one. It is tempting to end a flash piece with a twist but not a requirement. Flash is also a perfect place for a big open ending that makes the reader crave more.
Every time I go to that WalMart site I get too many ideas. Need to just pick one and go.
I have no actual WalMarts in town but I wish I could just go to one in person to get inspired.
IT definitely needs to be concrete. Vague and short does not work for me because I have little to build my own ending with.
With a bang or a whimper or a groan.
I have no Walmarts near me either. But we do have KMART so I get the idea.
No. Or else you have a joke with a punchline, as Fleur notes in arguing the opposite. Another vote with Dana, Sandra et al. that to build around your ending can be fun, but can just as easily be a hollow, mechanical exercise (as, in tv drama, Rod Serling proved time and again. O. Henry's attempts were not always so memorably good, either).
And K-Marts in my experience (though I haven't worked in one in decades...a miserable month or two in 1984...though K-Mart did take over Borders, Inc. while I worked there, then spun it off after pairing it with previous purchase Waldenbooks) aren't Quite as dire as Wal-Marts, with the taller Wal shelves and the grimier Wal atmosphere. Target, of the trio in direct competition around here, surely pays its employees as little but at least is slightly less dark and dusty.
Not with a whimper, with a BANG!
I have been of the mind that the flash in flash fiction is of the "flash n the pan" sort. The brevity of the complete story being the thing.
Wal-Mart 12 & Gratiot
Oh, whatever you do, don't end it with a punchline. Make it build toward something that matters; see if brevity and compression can lead to something urgent, charged, and emotionally resonant. As the editor of SmokeLong Quarterly for five years, I read tens of thousands of flash fiction stories. The ones with twists or surprises or punch never ever ended up mattering in any powerful, real way. Avoid the twist or the punch! That's the key to writing great flash.
Although Walmart may cry out for a punchline I will resist.
Yay!
I enoyed this discussion of flash fiction. What's the origin of the term? Does Sandra Seamans' defintion accord with the term as it has, er, traditionally been used?
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Peter-I think Sandra is correct. Randall Brown also has points to be made. I like his idea that brevity and compression can create a flash or a spark. Not just that you can read it in a flash. I'm off to look for more about it.
Thanks. I acted for practical reasons as well as acadmic onse. I may try writing one of the damned things one day.
The one thing I will add is that two of the stories that have stood out for me (and I've read just a few of the stories) did so for reasons unrelated to their flashness. McFetridge has the voice down cold. His way of telling the story is the sotry. And Bryon Q.'s was high-cocept, but he brought it off nicely. I, too, would like to read more about these guys, thanks especially to one teaser of a line in his story.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
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