Monday, April 18, 2011

Dabbling in flash. Again

Everything I've been writing lately has been Chasing Filthy Lucre and two other stories in that world. One is the second book in the series. The other was going to be a stand-alone story. Got about 10,000 words into that one and realized that it's just not all that interesting. I may pick it up again later, but, for now, it's dead.

While I love writing these stories and spending time in New Eden, I need a break.  A little time away from New Eden and Berger and Rexall. That's why I think I'm going to dip a toe back in the waters of flash fiction. Chuck Wendig, over at his blog, Terrible Minds, has been running a flash fiction challenge for the last few weeks. This week's challenge is a five worder. He's given us a list of words and we must work them into a story. The list:

“Figure.”
“Dusk.”
“Flirt.”
“Mobile Phone.”
“Wig.”

You get 1,000 words and all of those items have to be in the story some how. I've got a little something bubbling in my head. It's just the start of something and it works in words one and two. It's not plotted and I don't know where there story will go. I typically write flash pieces from the seat of my pants. The only thing I know about the next word in the story is that there will be one. No clue what it will be.

The second flash piece I'm going to try and tackle is something for a new fiction blog called Shotgun Honey. Be careful if you click on that link. The language, in at least one of the stories, is muy, muy caliente. The maximum word limit on their submissions is 700 words. I've got an idea here too. It could be interesting and something easily told in 700 words. I just need to figure out my characters now. I have a few ideas, but nothing in stone yet.

Flash fiction is something I started writing about ten years ago when I started writing seriously. It was something I enjoyed doing quite a bit. It gives you an immediate sense of satisfaction. From start to finish in a  few hundred words. It takes a few hours to write and edit a flash piece, at least for me. Not saying they're perfect, but I'm happy with them after that time. I think these two stories could be fun to tackle and give my mind a break from New Eden.

If you're interested in reading some of my flash fiction back in the olden days of the late 1990s then click here.

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