February 2012 Flash Fiction Challenge!
- Thread starter Sophia
- Start date
Excellent stuff, Sophia. 
I do declare this was the most engaging, infuriating -- and yet productive -- of monthly prompts I've taken part in. I have a lot of stuff written. Incomplete, yes -- but waiting for me to expand on. Nope, I didn't hit each prompt and nope (much to my shame) I didn't manage to complete a story I was happy with. However, the prompts are here and I have what I've written and plenty of ideas to develop.
This was an excellent process and I thouroughly encourage people to take part in it. It really tests you and is very rewarding. I learnt that I have become too: 'crikey, I'm writing' and forgotten the 'let's just riff' fun of my past.
It's a lesson learned that I will employ in my future writings and I wouldn't have learnt it without the FFF. Thanks for running this. It's appreciated.
I do declare this was the most engaging, infuriating -- and yet productive -- of monthly prompts I've taken part in. I have a lot of stuff written. Incomplete, yes -- but waiting for me to expand on. Nope, I didn't hit each prompt and nope (much to my shame) I didn't manage to complete a story I was happy with. However, the prompts are here and I have what I've written and plenty of ideas to develop.
This was an excellent process and I thouroughly encourage people to take part in it. It really tests you and is very rewarding. I learnt that I have become too: 'crikey, I'm writing' and forgotten the 'let's just riff' fun of my past.
It's a lesson learned that I will employ in my future writings and I wouldn't have learnt it without the FFF. Thanks for running this. It's appreciated.
Well, I flunked it thoroughly - this time. It wasn't the right period to write FF for me - not amidst all the stress to finish my first ebook and some other projects which have dragged for a long time.
The reason it worked so well for me during X-mas time, at least for a week, when I did my own challenge ... I guess that's probably because it was just that: free time. I had wrapped up all sorts of projects and I felt like I could really cut loose.
The interesting lesson here, which is part of the reason that I'm sharing, is that it's not so much lack of time that prevents me from writing FF. I can always find at least an hour per day, during which it is possible to write a raw story of 1000 words or less - at least for me.
However, there is also the concept of 'psychological time' ... how many projects are bouncing around inside my poor little head at the same time. That limits what projects I feel I can gather the energy for, although a computer my reasonably conclude that I could still optimize my clock-time to get more writing done.
Okay, so what have I learned?
- Don't go into this, just because you feel guilty conscience - because you haven't "written enough" for a long time, because you didn't participate in the challenge the last time, etc.
- Make sure there is space in your head - that you have the "psychological time" (and of course, the clock-time). Goes without saying but it's still remarkable so easily I forget this
- Connect it to a project that means something to you. I'm pretty bad a writing FF without any context, e.g. as short stories in the same setting that I've been developing or with characters I already like and would want to revisit. A stand-alone story can be fine to do once in a while, but it's usually not something I should engage in unless I'm really sure I want to.
Well ... those were the words, sore bumps, blushing cheeks, hanging head and all.
But I'll definitely try again during another challenge. Maybe not next month, but at *some* point in the near future.
I just have to head my own lessons when that time comes, then I'm sure things will work out better for me
The reason it worked so well for me during X-mas time, at least for a week, when I did my own challenge ... I guess that's probably because it was just that: free time. I had wrapped up all sorts of projects and I felt like I could really cut loose.
The interesting lesson here, which is part of the reason that I'm sharing, is that it's not so much lack of time that prevents me from writing FF. I can always find at least an hour per day, during which it is possible to write a raw story of 1000 words or less - at least for me.
However, there is also the concept of 'psychological time' ... how many projects are bouncing around inside my poor little head at the same time. That limits what projects I feel I can gather the energy for, although a computer my reasonably conclude that I could still optimize my clock-time to get more writing done.
Okay, so what have I learned?
- Don't go into this, just because you feel guilty conscience - because you haven't "written enough" for a long time, because you didn't participate in the challenge the last time, etc.
- Make sure there is space in your head - that you have the "psychological time" (and of course, the clock-time). Goes without saying but it's still remarkable so easily I forget this
- Connect it to a project that means something to you. I'm pretty bad a writing FF without any context, e.g. as short stories in the same setting that I've been developing or with characters I already like and would want to revisit. A stand-alone story can be fine to do once in a while, but it's usually not something I should engage in unless I'm really sure I want to.
Well ... those were the words, sore bumps, blushing cheeks, hanging head and all.
But I'll definitely try again during another challenge. Maybe not next month, but at *some* point in the near future.
I just have to head my own lessons when that time comes, then I'm sure things will work out better for me