Flash Fiction by Voni Harris

Flash fiction is not an entire storm, but rather a moment of time in the storm lit up by a single lightning flash. You don’t have room in 1,500 words or less to be John Steinbeck or Jane Austen. Yet it is still your job as a fiction writer to fill the reader’s imagination with the image of that lightning strike. Flash fiction must flash bright and strong to show that moment in time.

Capturing the flash.

Let your mind’s eye rove over the picture captured in that flash of lighting.

Why the flash? It’s just a moment in time, but it still has plot stuff that came before, and plot stuff that comes after. That flash moment must mean something. It’s a moment of change. The husband raises his hand to hit her. The father reads something in his daughter’s journal. The sound of police sirens draws near the diner. Think of that lightning flash, and dig deep until you know what is changing in that moment. Why the sirens, the journal, the raised hand?

Before the flash. Now, what brought your character to that moment? No room for back story, but something brought this character to that lightning flash. Hint at that. The wife screams, “I’m sick and tired of you hitting me.” The father’s hand hovers over the journal—but he needs to know where his daughter has been going. The criminal fingers the bag of jewelry as he thinks of his sick son. See the barest hints of what came before?

After the flash. You don’t have room to tell what happens next, but something does. Give the reader enough that their imagination can take over. The husband lowers his hand. The father rushes out of the room and gets in the car. The criminal sinks into a seat at the diner table. Leave the reader with an image that shows life has changed for your character.

Writing the flash.

I’ve been writing short stories since I was five years old (not that those stories are very legible, ha!). It took me awhile after I began novel writing to learn to layer in things like description and back story. Flash fiction is a different story when it comes to choice of details and words.

The Details. Write the story elements that embody the scene and mean something to the character or the plot — the elbows that stick to the diner’s tabletop, which makes the cranky mom lash out at her toddler, which shows her in a flash that she hates the kind of mom she’s become. That sticky tabletop does triple duty: setting, character, and plot. Flash fiction offers limited space. The details better multitask! Take your time to find the perfect, multitasking details illuminated in the lightning strike.

The Words. Writers are all about words, but in flash fiction, take a double — a triple — look at your words. Get out the thesaurus, even. Seek out those words that really bring the image alive. Instead of “restaurant,” use “diner.” Take a quadruple look at your verbs.

Take your time. Be choosey.

Flash fiction may be quickly read, but it is not quickly written. This is the challenge: To write that lightning moment with such power and clarity it stays with the reader.

Have you ever tried flash fiction to sharpen your writing, try out a new craft skill you’re learning, take a break from your other writing, build a blog following, or see what it feels like to write in a different genre?

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Voni writes from her family’s home on the beautiful Alaskan island of Kodiak, with a husband, a  golden retriever and a wheaten terrier to keep her from sitting at the computer too long at a time. She holds a radio-TV degree from Drake University, and her short story “The Wedding” was published in Heart-Stirring Stories of Romance (edited by Linda Evans Shephard). She has won First Impressions and Daphne DuMaurier unpublished awards. She enjoys capturing the flash when she writes flash fiction for her Leaning into Life blog at http://vonildawrites.wordpress.com.

Are You Conditioning Yourself for Success? by Dora Hiers

After months of freezing temperatures and dreary drizzly days this winter, on the first warm sunny day in April, I loaded up my dog and headed for the park. 

With over a mile of wonderful sniffing trails and lots of grass for scratching his back, Bruiser doesn't like to miss his walks. Who could blame him? But on this day, he seemed a bit reluctant to get out of the car. Eighty five scorching degrees and thirty minutes later, we were both out of breath, exhausted, and even I was glad to reach the car and the a/c.

After hardly walking for months, we were out of condition. The long winter left us with weak lungs and stiff joints. The winter blah's.

Maybe you're experiencing the winter blah's in your writing, where days, sometimes months go by without a word ever making it onto a page. Or perhaps you're going through a winter season with your writing. Whether you're working a full time job, rearing children, or caring for an elderly parent, there just isn't any available time for consistent writing. Are you out of condition? Do you need to flex your writing muscles? 

Here are a few ideas to work out the stiff joints:

Blog. A blog is an online journal or diary where individuals or groups of users record their thoughts or opinions. People blog on anything and everything: pets, books, cooking, travel and the list goes on. In case you didn't realize it, you're reading a writing blog right now. I'm the Thursday hostess here on Seriously Write, but I also manage my personal blog, Heart Racing, God-Gracing Romance, where I post book reviews and devotionals. Blogging is fairly easy and doesn't require much technical expertise. Two popular user-friendly platforms are Blogger and WordPress. Find your passion and blog.

Plot. Practice writing a few blurbs along with skeletal plots to go with them. There's no reason why you couldn't plot several books to keep on hand until your current season passes. 

Ideas. Don't let a good idea slip by without jotting it down. Record ideas as they burn in your brain, whether that's with a paper and pen or a voice recorder or notetaker app on your smartphone, and then transfer it to a computer file later. Keep a physical file with newspaper clippings of possible story ideas.

Create a Character Portfolio. Develop characters and maintain a character portfolio. When your spring blooms, bright and sunny, your characters will be ready to hit the first page of your book.

Write Short. Several publishers, like Pelican Book Group, accept submittals for short stories. They accept romances as short as 10k words. Also, publications/magazines like Woman's World contract 800 word romances, and Flash Fiction and Splickety Magazine accept stories between 500-1k words. And did you know that Ellie's Escape, just published with Splickety in the 6/20/14 edition, was written by our very own sweet Wednesday hostess, Sandy Ardoin? Way to go, Sandy! Write short.

Whatever it is, flex your writing muscles on a daily basis and you'll soon discover that you've conditioned yourself for success.

What about you? Are you going through the winter doldrums?

What would you add to this list?

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Five years ago, Emily Mannerson escaped small town living and moved to the big city where nobody knew "poor little Emily" and her miserable background. Now an attorney, Emily longs for what she left behind…her adopted mother and high-school sweetheart. Fire captain Matthew Westerly treasures his small town of Journey Creek and values faith, family, and friendships. When he rescues Emily from a horrific car accident, he's determined to win her back and make up for the lost years. Can a big city girl and a small town boy discover their true treasure? Will they trust God to work a miracle?

Dora Hiers is a multi-published author of Heart Racing, God-Gracing romances. She’s a member of RWA, ACFW, and the Treasurer for ACFW-Charlotte Chapter. Connect with her on Seriously Write, her personal blog, Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest.