The 500 Word Flash Fiction Discussion Thread

Post non specific story critique related discussions on this thread.

rich said:

Ah, my greetings are bursts of thoughts--not subject to anything but greetings.

This just happened to be the first time I heard from you in a while.

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Hey Rich,

Nice to hear from you again too. I've been away from home, on and off since early April. My step-dad died in late March, and I had to help my Mom sell her house in Chicago and her condo in FL. I spent several months darting back and forth from IL, FL and Georgia. I'm home now, and ready to get back to my writing with a vengence

Love for you to post a flash story . . .

I'm thinking I might have to wave the white flag on this idea. Doesn't seem to be any interest. Don't know if it's just the summer doldrums or fear of sharing shorter pieces is such an open forum.

I soooooooo wish there was a way for AW forum memebers to post their poems and shorter stories in a more secure area, that wouldn't leave us so vunerable to having publishers consider our work published for having posted it for a crit here. But then again, maybe nobody is posting cause the idea sucks--just kidding

The flash market is very strong, and if my idea doesn't fly here, I'm not worried about finding a happy home for it somewhere else. Actually, I'm preparing to teach an on-line flash fiction course later this fall.

Thanks again for the greeting, and the chance to give an update on what I've been doing.

Saritams8 said:

Janet, I think this is a great idea. I'm just not prepared with a brief piece. Let me work on it and get back to you. Friday is my last day of work and classes end next Wednesday for the summer. I'll have oooooddles of time then, to get something out. (anything to avoid working on my WIP.)

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Yey, Sara Some of my favorite people are unemployed! Me included!!!!!!!!

Seriously, working on flash pieces, is an excellent way to make great strides with your WIP. If you can learn to master a flash piece, you will have some mighty strong writing skills at your ready for working on a longer piece, i.e. getting every word in a short story to work for you, or crafting powerful novel scenes, no matter the genre.

IMHO, the haibun form you were experimenting with earlier this year can also be considered a hybrid form of a flash piece. Technically, the haibun form is intended to convey a journey, but there is a fine line between conveying a journey and telling a story. I've been able to successfully cross that line with several of my pieces which exist in both a flash and haibun form. From what I remember about your work, I think hybrid forms of poetry and fiction and/or creative nonfiction will work for you too.