I’ve been thinking a lot about flash fiction. Flash fiction stories tell a complete tale – conflict, tension, resolution – but in less than 1000 words, sometimes as little as 100 words. Flash is a distillation of plot to its barest essentials. I love this quote: “Plot is the mechanism by which your protagonist is forced up against her deepest fears and/or desires.”
Forcing something into flash form strips away the hubris and reveals the humble truths. Hemingway’s classic six word story (“For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.”) is ultra-flash, showing that even when the story is almost entirely implied, it can be heart-wrenching.
My wise friend Ink, who accepts on going flash fiction submissions on his blog The Alchemy of Writing, recently suggested that queries can be thought of as flash fiction, causing me to re-think my query for Byrne Risk. After a flurry of re-writing, it still needs work, but thanks to Bryan’s suggestion and help, I like it much better. Authors often feel challenged by distilling an entire novel into less than 100 words, but there is much to be learned about the process of story by doing just that.
I’ve had several ideas for a new boy-centric MG story rumbling in my head, as well some ideas for MG short stories. I’ve beaten them back, insisting they need to get in line – I have way too many projects going already! But those ideas are stubborn.
Maybe if I give them expression in a flash, I can hope for some respite before that new novel elbows the other ones out of the way and demands to be written.
What do you do with your new ideas to keep them under control?
What a great way to look at query letters!
For me, new ideas get relegated to "ideas" and "brainstorming" docs in their own folder. I'm not allowed to draft or even outline (usually) until my current draft is finished. It works well, as it lets new ideas sit and ripen until they're ready.
I put them in a drawer in the back of my brain. That way I know where they are when I need them. 🙂
I like the idea of thinking of a query letter as flash fiction. Simon would be so proud. LOL!
@Adam I have a folder on my mini where the new stories reside as well. I need your discipline to make sure they stay there! 🙂
@Shannon My brain is so full of holes, I might as well flush them down the drain as store them there! 🙂
I'm generally not a journal-keeper, except in regards to writing. New ideas get jot into a journal, maybe developed a little bit, notes added here and there. It's a nice way to come back to the story at a later time, thumbing through a pretty journal.
@Joanne Pretty journals always seemed so nice and romantic to me. I love the idea of them, but somehow I would always lose them. 🙂 I'm glad that they work for someone!
I've always thought it would be a great exercise to take the hundred or two hundred ideas I have for stories and work each one up into a one-page proposal . . . but I've never gotten around to actually doing it.
@Catherine TWO HUNDRED IDEAS? I think I've had two hundred ideas, maybe, over my entire lifetime. Wow.
I pretty much don't have any until I'm ready to have them. I try to keep my brain thinking on the task at hand, rather than new ideas. It's sort of like I open up a door in my brain when the time is right, and then they all come flooding out.
@AA I wish my mind was a steel trap like that! Awesome.