# Teaching Flash Fiction???



## Noma Galway (Mar 12, 2014)

Hi guys!

So, in May I'm going to be presenting at a con, a minor one that is just being started up this year by people at my college. My event is flash fiction, and even though I enjoy writing flash fiction, I have no idea how to explain it to other people. This will mostly be fantasy/sci-fi, of course, and I was just wondering if any of you had any suggestions for how to do something like this?

Thanks!


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## The Blue Lotus (Mar 12, 2014)

I'd assume the basic concept is the same regardless, the story must have a start, middle and end. The real test is making it interesting while fitting it into the word limit. I'd focus on editing and effective word usage if it were me.


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## Noma Galway (Mar 12, 2014)

Hi Lotus, thank you! I've been in a couple flash fiction mini workshops before, but I never considered teaching one :O. That is, until the guy in charge asked me if I would, and since I've known the man since I was a toddler, I couldn't really refuse. Thanks for the advice


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## The Blue Lotus (Mar 12, 2014)

Is it not like the challenges section of this site? If so, then just teach people how to use their words sparingly, but with max impact. I'd even run a few examples with them. Hands on experience is always better IMHO.  You can take a look at the challenges to get ideas.


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## Legendary Sidekick (Mar 12, 2014)

Noma Galway said:


> Hi guys!
> 
> So, in May I'm going to be presenting at a con, a minor one that is just being started up this year by people at my college. My event is flash fiction, and even though I enjoy writing flash fiction, I have no idea how to explain it to other people. This will mostly be fantasy/sci-fi, of course, and I was just wondering if any of you had any suggestions for how to do something like this?
> 
> Thanks!


Congrats on presenting! That sounds like fun!

I have little to offer in the way of advice, but I've done alright in short story contests on this and other sites. My goal when writing at any length, even under 500 words, is to surprise the reader. I guess with flash fiction, you basically need to get that surprising moment somewhere in the last ~100 words.

I have no idea if that is helpful or not.


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## Noma Galway (Mar 12, 2014)

Thank you guys. I was planning on doing some hands-on, and I was almost thinking of some sort of "pull-the-prompt-out-of-the-hat" type thing with that. I will definitely mention that about surprise, LS.


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## Legendary Sidekick (Mar 12, 2014)

I think the ABCs thread is a perfect example of what can be done with a simple prompt. As an ESL* teacher, I do that sort of thing all the time. That is, I have students use a vocabulary word as the title of a narrative. It takes no effort to write the prompt (yay for me), and the word is all the trigger you need for a story.

Hands-on is definitely a smart move. You can always give a few volunteers an opportunity to share their creations.


*English as a Second Language


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## SeverinR (Mar 12, 2014)

Is Flash fiction a short fiction story?

My first thought was stories dealing with a MC that has the problem of raising his or her tunic in public places to unsuspecting people. I don't think that is it though.


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## Noma Galway (Mar 12, 2014)

I definitely like the ABCs thread for that reason, actually. So I could just do a couple words for a prompt. I know a prompt I was once given was "tree people," and that story was really tiny, but I liked it at the time.


Spoiler: the actual little story



A yellow light spread itself like butter over the tops of the forest trees. A sound rose up into the air. And it was this sound that woke the Elder. He stretched his wooden limbs. Birds scattered, shrieking the shrill panic that came every morning. You’d think they would learn. The Elder glanced at the sun. He swayed as the disc came into view, beginning his morning ritual.

For the first time in history, the sound rose again, interrupting the Elder’s ritual. He broadcasted, “The ritual has been broken,” into the forest’s network. The trees silenced, but it was too late. Clouds intruded into the clear sky, darkening the light of the sun. The wind rose to a roaring height.

Saplings began frantically broadcasting to the entire forest. “What do we do?” one particularly frightened child yelled. He was too young to realize that everyone was securely rooted, and no one could do anything.

The wind rose higher. Now older trees broadcasted, and a clamor broke out among the squirrels and birds and other animals as the limbs of every tree shook in the fierce wind. Noting was safe anymore. The ritual had been broken.

The clouds spun. The portal was opening. The forest was being punished. The tip of the portal lowered, lowered, ever closer to the tops of the trees. Everyone was now broadcasting rapidly and swaying as far as was possible. Some saplings had already been uprooted, and young adults were beginning to feel the terrible stress of roots coming out of the ground. Foliage flew. Everywhere was pandemonium. The Elder broadcast, loudest of all. “ALL TREES! HEAR ME!” The network silenced and he continued, “When the portal hits, many trees will be uprooted and die. I may die. I have failed as Elder. Goodbye.”

With that, the portal hit, and true chaos ensued.


I wrote that a couple summers ago, and it isn't that great, IMO anymore, but that's kind of what I want to go for as a prompt. Something simple. 

Also, I was thinking of going into ESL, but I chose gifted ed instead.


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## Noma Galway (Mar 12, 2014)

SeverinR said:


> Is Flash fiction a short fiction story?
> 
> My first thought was stories dealing with a MC that has the problem of raising his or her tunic in public places to unsuspecting people. I don't think that is it though.


Lol yes, it's short fiction. I believe the definition was <750 words when I learned it.


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## The Blue Lotus (Mar 12, 2014)

Back when I taught ESL I had kids of all ages in the same class, I'd give them a topic, one example I told them to write a letter to their family warning them about something, but it had to be anonymous to the person it was sent to. 

The limits were it had to be a min of four paragraphs long, with a max of one handwritten side of normal lined paper and they had to prove to the person who got the letter that it was real. And the class would read them all and act out the story, so it needed to be something that everyone could understand with ease. 

I ended up with one group of kids who sent a ransom letter to their families and included hair clippings and a fake "bloody" finger wrapped up in the box as "proof."

Everyone enjoyed the exercise and even the parents wanted in on the fun, the kidnap vic's parents sent a letter to dead drop locations in reply to the ransom note and we kept the skit game going for weeks. Allowing each group of students to put their own spin on things.   

Perhaps something not only interesting and teachable but also interactive would work well to hammer the point home that you are trying to make?


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## Noma Galway (Mar 12, 2014)

Haha, that's awesome! I think that would be really cool, thanks, Lotus.


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## The Blue Lotus (Mar 12, 2014)

Any time.  Hope some of us have given you a good starting point. Enjoy the ride. Who knows where it will take you.


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## Lunaairis (Mar 12, 2014)

I went to a comic presentation at a con once. It was teaching how to make short one-shot comics. Using only a piece of printer paper and a pencil. 

He started the presentation by getting the audience to shout out some characters. A gnome and a flamingo (lawn ornaments), then  went though the steps as in the first panel introduce the characters, next panel the conflict. A few panels of attempting to solve the conflict. then finally solve the conflict. 

Maybe you could do something similar with taking a topic, which you can get the audience to give you. Characters as well. Then show something like brain storming the short or just write it out.


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## Noma Galway (Mar 13, 2014)

That's a really good idea, Lunaairis, thanks!


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## SeverinR (Mar 13, 2014)

750? I think some of my introductions have been longer then that.
I think my one and only short story was 3000, and I had to edit to get it under the 3000 requirement.

To create an interesting story and keep it so short is a work of art in itself.


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## Noma Galway (Mar 13, 2014)

I've been writing flash pieces for a while, and it is actually a struggle for me to meet the 1500 word requirement for a story in class by this point. This has no bearing on it when the story is longer, but my current one could be told in just a few words without a problem. I once had to write a complete story in 13 words...that was NOT fun.


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## Devor (Mar 14, 2014)

If it were me, the only thing I can say for sure is to talk about the subtle twist.  If you google "How to write a short story," you're going to find articles about twist endings that amount to "He was dead the whole time" or "He's not really a superhero, he's in the psych ward," or "The hero is really the bad guy."  But a surprising ending can be as simple as "The hero wins in a way you're not expecting."  It doesn't have to be a complete perception psych-out.


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## Noma Galway (Mar 14, 2014)

Thanks Devor! That will go on my list of things to talk about .


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## SeverinR (Mar 18, 2014)

Noma Galway said:


> I've been writing flash pieces for a while, and it is actually a struggle for me to meet the 1500 word requirement for a story in class by this point. This has no bearing on it when the story is longer, but my current one could be told in just a few words without a problem. I once had to write a complete story in 13 words...that was NOT fun.


wow, Write a story in 13 words? Your first sentence is 32 words.(counting the I've as one word) Just to show how few words we're talking.

I guess it will teach you to be precise. But it will never inspire a person.  Much like the shortest Christian poem on fleas. "Adam had em." or the shorter poem by Muhammad Ali: "ME, WE."


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## T.Allen.Smith (Mar 18, 2014)

Here's a cool intro you could use...

It's said Hemingway once accepted a challenge to write a story in 6 words. This is what he came up with:

Baby shoes for sale, never worn.

There's a whole lot wrapped up in those six words. Does it tell a complete story? No, but it does convey a lot of information & emotion. To me, that's the point of flash fiction, relating as much as you can, as powerfully as you can, with as few words as possible.


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## stephenspower (Mar 18, 2014)

There's actually a series of books now of six-word memoirs based on the (apocryphal) Hemingway, starting here: 

The shorter you get with flash fiction, the more it tends to resemble prose poetry; the longer, a short story. But you can do a lot in 600 words, as Daily SF shows each day.  I would go through a few weeks of their stories to pull out the key components, the first of which is a strong opening sentence that lays out the premise of the story.

If you need a great example, my favorite flash fiction story is "Merry Christmas God" by Larry French, which is in the Norton Anthology of Short Fiction.


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## Ruby (Mar 18, 2014)

Hi Noma, if you are trying to teach how to write very short Flash fiction, you could use Twitter as a model. 

Just ask your class to write a story in 140 characters or less. There are people on Twitter who do this for their regular posts. It's quite a good discipline to have to write concisely. 

( The stories will be easy for you to mark, too! )


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## Noma Galway (Mar 18, 2014)

T.Allen.Smith said:
			
		

> Here's a cool intro you could use...
> 
> It's said Hemingway once accepted a challenge to write a story in 6 words. This is what he came up with:
> 
> ...



Thanks! I think I will use that for the workshop. It's great .



			
				stephenspower said:
			
		

> There's actually a series of books now of six-word memoirs based on the (apocryphal) Hemingway, starting here:
> 
> The shorter you get with flash fiction, the more it tends to resemble prose poetry; the longer, a short story. But you can do a lot in 600 words, as Daily SF shows each day. I would go through a few weeks of their stories to pull out the key components, the first of which is a strong opening sentence that lays out the premise of the story.
> 
> If you need a great example, my favorite flash fiction story is "Merry Christmas God" by Larry French, which is in the Norton Anthology of Short Fiction.



Thank you very much! I'll check that one out.



			
				Ruby said:
			
		

> Hi Noma, if you are trying to teach how to write very short Flash fiction, you could use Twitter as a model.
> 
> Just ask your class to write a story in 140 characters or less. There are people on Twitter who do this for their regular posts. It's quite a good discipline to have to write concisely.
> 
> ( The stories will be easy for you to mark, too! )



That's a good idea, Ruby, thanks!


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