Regular readers may have noticed I have a propensity for thinking I'm more organized than I am. This sometimes results in over-confidence in my own abilities...which is what happened when I signed up to be part of Free E-Day way back in the spring. I had every intention of editing my first blog serial, and offering the polished version as a whole on December 1st. If you don't know what Free E-Day is, there's a link if you scroll down on the right sidebar, or you can wait until Thursday and I'll tell you all about it. In a nutshell, it's a bunch of artists giving away their work for free for the day on December 1st.
Realizing that there's no way I could have a novel ready to give away by Dec. 1st, but still wanting to participate, I've changed my offering to a collection of 6-8 short (flash) stories that will be themed for the holidays. I'm titling it "Holiday Lights", and will be working furiously to get it finished by Dec. 1st, but I'm excited about it. My goal is to have all the stories have one common thread (besides the holiday setting) that runs through the collection.
If you've written flash fiction, you know it's basically just writing one scene of a bigger story, sometimes leaving the end open for interpretation. It's quite the challenge for me to plan several stories that will be "complete" in themselves, while tying into each other as well.
I'm curious - have any of you ever plotted a collection of flash pieces to go together, yet stand on their own before? How did you do it? What were your biggest challenges?
What makes a flash piece "great" in your eyes, as opposed to other forms of writing?
15 hours ago
4 comments:
Good questions!
I've written flash fiction, but I've never plotted them. I had a vague notion once of a series of short stories that had a connecting theme, but it never got any further than the "one of these days" stage. :-)
What I like about flash is you can pack a lot of punch in a very short piece. You don't get hung up on details because you need to get your idea across in as few words as possible, which in itself can be a challenge.
Pish Posh- you're totally organized, trust me on that :)
I've never written any flash pieces but have wanted to. I like the ones that have a prompt. I know there are some blogs out there that have them, but I've never had the balls to join them, maybe someday. Can't wait to read your pieces :)
C - I have this idea in my head for a collection that takes place in a single hotel room. Some day, I'm going to write it! LOL I know exactly what you're saying. I sat down last night to plot out my stories, and had a harder time than I thought I would. But got some good ideas down, nonetheless, and the main connecting thread, I think.
Erica - You really should try it. Completely different from noveling, in my opinion, at least. It's fun though to write something that can be finished in just a few days for a change. Might be a fun exercise while you're waiting for NaNo to start! :-)
I'm working on a collection including flash and short fiction (put aside for Nov.) but the link between the pieces are only thematic so tend to plot them separately.
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