A Writer’s Guide: Flash Fiction

What characterizes flash fiction?  Brevity.  That’s the whole point of it.  The idea behind flash fiction is to tell a story, including character development, plot, conflict, and resolution within a very small amount of words (usually 100 words or less, but it varies).  Much of flash fiction is what is not told within the wording.  The mind is supposed to write the story around what is told.  That is the draw of flash fiction, and the genius behind it.

What separates flash fiction from normal prose, aside from the length, is the lack of description and time spent on the story within the text.  Consider these two examples (they are going to be simple, because they’re there to prove a point):

“Timmy fell down the old well.”

Not much description or wording here.  Makes the mind create its own picture.  The well, Timmy, him falling; all of the occurrences and environment created here were in the mind.  The only thing on paper is the action.  Now, consider its counterpart:

“The 10 year old Timmy, sporting jean shorts, a soccer jersey and a blond bowl cut tripped over a root in the ground.  His Nikes were temporarily trapped in the arching wood and twisted his ankle as he fell, arms outstretched, over the rock wall of the well in front of him.  His small frame bounced against the moss covered walls until he reached the bottom, about 11 feet below the ground.”

And so on.  I know the writing isn’t the best, but keep in mind it’s more about the differences between the prose.  This part leaves little to the imagination.  The mind never deviates from the text, and frankly it’s far less interesting.  The brevity of the first example makes the mind an active participant.  It’s short, so less immediate work for the reader.  But it makes the reader an integral part of the story, creating their own setting and action.  The first example sticks with the reader.  Or at least that’s the idea.

The Timmy story is a bad story, yes.  But, even if you just read that Timmy fell down the old well, it’s still far more interesting than the detailed description of Timmy’s actual falling.

Ever hear people say that violence in movies today is too visual?  Back in the old days they just left it up to the imagination, they say.  That’s why that shower scene in Scarface is so gruesome.  They don’t show much but splatter, right?  The thing is, it lets the mind wander.  And let’s face it, the mind will go to the most intense version.

That’s why, for a long time, horror movies did not show graphic violence.  It was far more disturbing for the viewer to think about what could possibly happen.  Of course now we have movies like Hostel, where what happens in the movie is never where the mind would go.  Unless you’re extremely disturbed, or you have a room full of people tasked to think that stuff up.

But back to flash fiction.  That’s the draw, and the appeal.  It’s not lazy writing, it’s a writing exercise meant to challenge both the writer and the reader.

This week I will be writing flash fiction.  Mind you, these are my first attempts at it.  But yesterday’s was very fun, and frankly I look forward to more.  I’d love to hear what you have to think about flash fiction.  Is it lazy writing, or extremely involved writing?

Until next week,

Eric

Writing Journal: Eyes Closing

I figured I’d start journaling about some of my stories, considering how interesting this process was.  I started writing it almost immediately, without much thought about it.  But I came across some issues in the meantime.  It’s a journal about Eyes Closing, part 1, part 2, and part 3.

 

This may have been the hardest story for me to write.  Which is, in part, why it took so long to post the entire thing.  I feel somewhat guilty that it was so spread out, but at the same time I dove in head first where I should have tried to wade in slowly.

Oftentimes you’ll hear a writer talk about writing a character, then becoming immersed in a character and wanting to run with the character instead of the story.  Well that happened here.  And because the story is so heavy, it affected my moods, my sleep, my emotions…really incredible how that happened.

Though I kind of wish I could have separated myself more, like I’ve always done in the past.  But emotions weren’t the only tough thing at play in this story.   Yes it was hard to write in that respect, but the physical aspects were tough as well.

First, my protagonist was blind, which I have absolutely no experience in.  None.  And I don’t pretend to.  And frankly that was very interesting research.

Although I do have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever felt so dumb as when I googled “what do blind people see?”  Seems contradictory.  But, and excuse my complete ignorance here, there actually is an answer, and the degrees of blindness vary greatly.

Also the procedure I mentioned in the story is somewhat of a true thing.  The article there is from 2007, and I didn’t find much after that, but it’s still very cool.  As far as the results, timeframe, effectiveness, and patient description from the story, however…I took complete creative license.

The advances they’ve made in gene therapy though is incredible.  Really, the article is a very good read.

As far as the pond is concerned, it was based on a real pond.  Surprising right?  What writer would base something in their story on a true thing?  That’s crazy talk.

Here's the inspiration for the pond. Notice the tire in the foreground.

The pond was odd, and honestly it’s a peaceful place.  Not as bad as portrayed in the story.  However, there were frogs all along the edge of the pond that screamed and jumped in when you walked near them.  Kind of funny.

The story was a lot of fun to write though, and a great experience.  Hope you had as much fun reading it as I had writing it.

A Writer’s Guide: Self-Publishing

Welcome to the first of an infinite-part series I’m affectionately dubbing “A Writer’s Guide.”  I know, the name isn’t sterile at all.  It get’s the point across.  Look for it on Tuesdays, when I decide to tell you everything I know about writing (which is actually a lot, surprisingly).  I suggest you read, it’s an amalgamation of the knowledge gained from a very expensive English degree from a good university, reading books and articles, and talking to other writers-all right here!  You don’t have to go anywhere.  The next words are compiled so that you don’t have to do any more work than you have to!

Aren’t I nice?  The answer’s no.  If I was, I wouldn’t be delaying so much with all this useless script.

As an aspiring author, your first question must always be “what can or should I do as a job-because I need to actually make some money.”  It’s a natural concern, paying bills and whatnot.  But writing really isn’t as useless of a talent as you’d think.  I can’t guarantee you JK Rowling-type success, I’m sorry.  What I can say is this: making money off of writing is not hard, and publishing a book (or short stories) is easier than you’d imagine.  That is, of course, if you follow the right steps.  I’ll be focusing mostly on self-publishing tonight, considering that’s where a lot of writers end up.

“It’s so hard to get a publisher’s attention” or “I don’t want to pay out the ass for someone else to publish my book and get nothing from it” are complaints I’ve heard before.  And they’re valid.  What you have to realize is that (1) when you publish a book, most of the value is not from actual book sales.  That is a myth perpetuated by lazy thought (yes, there is a direct line from book sales to bank account, but it’s rarely traveled).  The money comes from, for the most part, things like public readings, book tours, marketing outside of the book, and, if you’re really good (or lucky) (…or you write about vampires) tv/movie production.

We won’t get into tv/movie production.  That’s for another day.  And probably another blog.

That’s really the first idea you have to rid yourself of-the fact that having a book published doesn’t immediately make you rich.  You’re not Stephen King.  The second idea (2) is that when you go through a publisher, you have to pay for professionals to treat your book right.  What that means is that you have to pay an agent, who has contacts and knows the field.  That agent will give your manuscript to publishers he/she thinks are appropriate.  You have to pay for the editors, marketers, publishers, and things like that.

Essentially what I’m saying is that there is a major cost in publishing, which goes back to the first point.  But those professionals aren’t useless, and they aren’t (always) trying to gouge you for money.  They just know their job better than you.

But let’s say they don’t.  Or like most writers, you have an ego the size of Jupiter and you think they don’t.  Well, then you’ve come to think that self-publishing is for the best.  Good for you!  That’s so exciting.

You don’t have a printing press in the basement, so what does self-publishing mean?  I heard of an author who had the idea to sell a digital version of a novel he wrote on iTunes for a dollar.  He made over $300,000.  That won’t happen to you, but it’s a thought to get your brain going.  You need to be different.

Self-publishing means that you essentially bypassed the agent, the publisher, the marketer, the editor, and decided to go it alone.  If you have friends that can help you out with any of that, I’d suggest combining their brain with yours.

What are the advantages?  For one, you can do what you want.  In many cases, you even still own full rights to your work.  For most authors that’s enough.  Second, if you’ve been rejected from other publishers, and you still feel your book should be published, then it can get published.  But whatever your reason, it is possible.

Disadvantages?  The cost falls completely on your shoulders.  Completely.  And because you don’t have that washing machine that doubles as a book press (though Sears should really get on that) you’ll need to contact many different kinds of publishers.

There are vanity publishers.  Stay away from these.  The reason they are called “vanity publishers” is because they’re appealing to your vanity.  They know you want to be published, so they’ll do it at some cost to you with no additional help whatsoever.

Subsidy publishers will help you, a little.  They own the rights to the work, and will aid in some aspects of selling your stuff.  After all, they put their mark on it.

Do it yourself.  That means you take on the responsibilities of book layout, editing, marketing, graphic design, web content, networking, and so on.  That’s a toughie.  And yes I said toughie.

There’s also print on demand, which frankly, if you’re going to self-publish, and you want to still own the rights, that’s probably what you want to look into.  Again, you still have to bear the cost.  But you order copies of your books as you want them.  Meaning you don’t have a specific initial shipment, you just get a certain number free (probably, with some print on demand sources) and from there you pay for a copy then sell it yourself.  You still have to do most of the work, but oftentimes they kind of work with you (mostly for their benefit so that they can use a standard layout).  Keep in mind, many times this is web based, and you will be selling an ebook.

Basically self-publishing is for authors who feel that they can do it on their own, whether that’s because they’ve been shirked by real publishers or they just have such a small market that they still feel they can sell something that a bigger publisher doesn’t want to deal with.

It’s a judgment call.  If you really think it’s worth it, it’s not a bad idea.  If you’re an author who plans to write a book, or a memoir, and leave it at that, that’s not a bad way to go.  Big publishers don’t like hit it and quit it authors, so to speak.  Their main motivation is money; and if yours is too, I recommend trying to get in with those guys.

Which means getting yourself known so they know what they’re getting into and getting a competent agent that cares about your book as much as you do.  But again, that’s for another time.

This is a difficult task to undertake.  I put a link of a decent outline of what you need to do at the bottom of the page, found in another blog (cause blogs are so rare).  There’s more to it, but that will definitely get you started.

Make sure, if you do self-publish, you have it planned out well.  Once you start the process, it doesn’t stop, and you have to keep it rolling.  If you get lazy, your book sales will show it.

That’s pretty much all I have to say about self-publishing, for now.  I’ll get into marketing and layout in the future.

If you didn’t like my guide, you don’t have to heed it’s thoughts.  You can go to Wikipedia for all I care.  But I know many writers who have published by themselves, and don’t know much about the publishing process.  Yes, it’s nice to be able to hold a copy of your very own book.  But holding that cheaply printed collection of words won’t get you over the fact that you only sold 10 copies.  Know your book, know your audience, know your talent.

Here’s a link to the aforementioned blog: http://articlesonwriting.com/writing/a-quick-guide-to-self-publishing-fiction-works/

Until next Tuesday,

Eric