For your delectation this Friday I have prepared two bloggish morsels on subjects various and writerly. First, over at Black Gate, I’ve posted a notice about a new award for adventure fantasy short fiction called . . . wait for it . . . The Ham-Sized Fist Award. Appetite whetted? For a bigger bite head on over to BG and see how you can nominate a story.
Through the miracle of modern technology I also appear with startling simultaneity at Flash Fiction Chronicles on this most fortunate of all Fridays, with an article entitled ‘The Limitations of Flash Are Its Strengths.’ It’s about how the rules of flash fiction help focus a writer’s energies rather than limit his ability:
In imposing sharp limits on a story’s size, flash fiction liberates the writer by forcing certain kinds of behaviors. You cannot write an effective piece of flash that is bloated or rambling — though I believe a good writer could suggest those very things with clever prose. You cannot have sprawling plots, or a large cast of characters, or multiple points of climax. You cannot spend words to no effect.
Naturally, the article then veers madly into talk of bringing a gun to a sword fight and finishes with an extended gardening metaphor — pretty much typical of the writing advice you’re likely to get out of me. You have been warned.
Bon appetit!
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Thanks for the mention, Bill.
My pleasure, Jeff. Good luck with the award, hope to see it for years to come.
Love the piece at Flash Fiction Chronicles, Bill. Couldn’t agree with you more about forced limits producing deeper thinking and thus, better writing.
Thanks, Gay.