tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547516141676705653.post4669229810359017197..comments2024-01-14T11:46:05.605+00:00Comments on National Flash Fiction Day: Is flash fiction really real? - Guest Post by Alison WellsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10353867339296316085noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547516141676705653.post-2642299202378776022012-03-25T11:02:08.725+01:002012-03-25T11:02:08.725+01:00Hi All. Thanks Vanessa, Pauline, AJ, Tania, John, ...Hi All. Thanks Vanessa, Pauline, AJ, Tania, John, Oscar, Marc so much for your feedback! I feel great enthusiasm when thinking about and (reading) flash fiction. <br /><br />Oscar. I'm glad you liked the piece and appreciate the compliment but as Marc says there may be more than one interpretation of what works as flash. I've certainly, like you, written pieces that are flash due to wordcount and I wouldn't discount the thinking you say you do. Flash has to be considered, thought out but then look like it hasn't been. <br /><br />Writing this article clarified for me what flash fiction can be at it's most effective. What you've said Marc, makes sense. Is what you are describing where prose edges closer to poetry? I think what I was trying to do was draw the lines around flash to make it distinctive but in doing that I am limiting the play we can have with language. In reality everything is smudged but as we people interested in psychology we know that people reach for definitions and parameters out of soup and dappled light. I'm happy with the dappled light too. <br /><br />I like what you said about the impressionist and abstract expressionist. But the overall has to have some coherence or pulse with the reader. The things I described might be ways of building up the punch. We layer and layer our own associations and they may or may not resonate with others. <br /><br />(Susan, sorry I was not thinking in that context when I mentioned the flash slot in the newspaper, just in terms of the recognition of flash fiction. I'll let others read for themselves.)Alison Wellshttp://www.alisonwells.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547516141676705653.post-37076493546560871052012-03-23T09:26:02.898+00:002012-03-23T09:26:02.898+00:00I agree with much of this, but don't overlook ...I agree with much of this, but don't overlook that flash doesn't have to involve story. There are plenty of flash pieces that are like Impressionist or even Abstract Expressionist paintings. Those that give a slice of an image and look at it from all angles, or are actually quite mathematical in their use of such a limited word count, looking at the armatures of language rather than trying to convey a visual image. Then there are words as dappling light, were there are no fixed boundaries and borders of the things being described.<br /><br />marc nashSulci Collectivehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03293833259808943096noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547516141676705653.post-89079968505408526532012-03-23T07:24:34.860+00:002012-03-23T07:24:34.860+00:00Lots of thanks due here: to Alison Wells, for this...Lots of thanks due here: to Alison Wells, for this excellent post, Calum Kerr for hosting/posting and to Sarah Hilary for tweeting the link. Why do I personally owe this debt of thanks? Because there is nothing so obscure as the obvious and, Alison, you have opened this idiot's eyes. I've been labouring away writing stories – often very short stories – and thinking that I'm writing flash fiction, purely because of the word count. Doh! <br /><br />I have been told on numerous occasions that I think too much. The penny has finally dropped. I've been gleaning intelligence, taking careful aim and calculating range, when what Flash calls for is the snap shot fired from the hip. You'd think that, as an ex-electrician, I'd understand the meaning of flash, wouldn't you? Well, I do now. <br /><br />I don't know if this old dog can change his ways, but at least I understand at last.<br /><br />Thanks again, Alison.<br /><br />BTW, Calum. Dump the piece I subbed. Seriously, I can see now why it doesn't fit.Oscar Windsor-Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11297840557697185445noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547516141676705653.post-86736796510296195172012-03-23T04:21:31.032+00:002012-03-23T04:21:31.032+00:00I liked your notion that a look you remember years...I liked your notion that a look you remember years later could “be” a flash. It isn’t, naturally, but it shares the essence and poignancy at the heart of much flash fiction.John Wiswellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07416044628686736927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547516141676705653.post-11337968741310673782012-03-22T21:39:25.338+00:002012-03-22T21:39:25.338+00:00Alison, great post and I agree with 80 per cent of...Alison, great post and I agree with 80 per cent of it BUT you KNOW what I'm going to say here about the Irish Times.<br /><br />I wrote a whole lot of stuff here and expressed a whole lot of personal pain and anguish then realised that I am better off letting the links speak for themselves.<br /><br />More here about my reasons for not submitting to the Times: http://www.joyofwriting.net/blog/?p=730 and another great link: http://3menmakeatiger.blogspot.com/2011/12/famous-last-words-media-transparency.html<br /><br />(my credentials to speak: longlisted for Bristol Prize 2011, shortlisted for Fish 2011 and 2012, thrice shortlisted for Hennessy New Irish Writing Award. Lest I be written off as a troll.)susanlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04467608503060142476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547516141676705653.post-41903654187523413282012-03-22T21:15:48.234+00:002012-03-22T21:15:48.234+00:00Great post, Alison. This speaks to me: 'When y...Great post, Alison. This speaks to me: 'When you look back at a book you enjoyed, or a film or piece of music, there is often a key scene or in music a lyric or a theme that sticks in your head and sums everything up and that is the power of flash fiction...'.A. J. Ashworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05171588178487319410noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547516141676705653.post-38766751139095538882012-03-22T21:01:26.747+00:002012-03-22T21:01:26.747+00:00Really nice! I especially chime with "flash f...Really nice! I especially chime with "flash fiction will be, (and perhaps even more so than other fictions) a collaboration between reader and writer," - definitely!Tania Hershmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15781460794034586895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547516141676705653.post-37203408131323442702012-03-22T20:37:29.610+00:002012-03-22T20:37:29.610+00:00Thank you. I've posted this to the Facebook p...Thank you. I've posted this to the Facebook page for Flash Fiction Shrewsbury 2012 in the hope that it will inspire.Pauline Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11826696982301252524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547516141676705653.post-74357092794459741762012-03-22T18:05:48.974+00:002012-03-22T18:05:48.974+00:00What a great post!What a great post!Vanessa Gebbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09088301040602803489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5547516141676705653.post-91676490599459301272012-03-22T16:29:50.076+00:002012-03-22T16:29:50.076+00:00A fantastic post, you've really captured the e...A fantastic post, you've really captured the essence of flash fiction, I think. Particularly love that you say it's "the shady bit in the middle of a Venn diagram that says everything that needs to be said" - a perfect description!Rinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03115466493102692671noreply@blogger.com