Friday Flash Fiction – “Demolition”

“It has to be done.  We can’t just leave her there.”

“You’re the one who wanted to hide her behind the wall in the first place.”

“That was a long time ago.  I was afraid.  She didn’t know the difference once she was dead anyway.”

“Yeah, but now…it’s, like, decayed back there.”

“Maybe there’s nothing but dust now.  Either way, the house comes down tomorrow.  It isn’t right to let a stranger find her.”

With a gulp and eyes squeezed shut, the box was removed.  The siblings stared down at the stickers and childish writing covering the lid.

RIP Smokey

_________________

Flash fiction is taking the world by storm, and everyone seems to have their favorite dazzling name for these word-limit wonders.  Pamelyn Casto, in her article Flashes On The Meridian, states that “other names for it include short-short stories, sudden, postcard, minute, furious, fast, quick, skinny, and micro fiction. In France such works are called nouvelles. In China this type of writing has several interesting names: little short story, pocket-size story, minute-long story, palm-sized story, and my personal favorite, the smoke-long story (just long enough to read while smoking a cigarette). What’s in a name? That which we call flash fiction, by any other name would read as bright.“  I like the idea of some of these names even better than “flash”. 

What are your favorite monikers for this up-and-coming genre? 

Could you invent one of your own?

Join the #FridayFictioneers each week for a photo prompt from Madison Woods.  Write your own 100-word story, then submit it to her site, or at the FaceBook location here.  Read you later!

Related articles

• Friday Flash Fiction – “Morning Glory”
• Friday Flash Fiction – “My Cup Runneth Over”
• Friday Flash Fiction – “Missed Connections”
• Friday Flash – “Drip”
• Friday Flash – “The Burn”
• Friday Flash – “Change of Plans”
• Friday Flash Fiction – “Old News”

Educators Bring Great Literature Home

It’s no secret that education is dear to my heart.

After years of public school teaching and librarian work, moving to the home education field just made sense.  After all, where else could a gal that goes giddy over learning styles and curriculum guides satisfy her insatiable need for knowledge?

For many years, I have attended homeschool conferences – from Kansas to Florida – but the annual trek to Springfield, Missouri remains a favorite.  Hosted by SHEM, an area organization dedicated to assisting home educating families, the event has steadily outgrown its locations until it now resides at the spacious Springfield Expo Center.

What does a homeschool convention look like?  First to note is the extraordinary friendliness and hospitality of the staff and volunteers.  There’s no shortage of easily-identified members to help with registration, scheduling, and finding your way around.  For exhibitors, entire squads of eager young people are on hand to help load boxes, set up booth areas, and even bring a cup of coffee or ice water throughout the long shopping days.

Authors, teachers, and field specialists are booked from all over the country to speak to attendees on topics ranging from this year’s Native Landscaping for Learning (Jay Barber, Conservation specialist) to Uh-Oh, The Fractions Are Moving In (Tom Clark, Indiana Department of Education, and Houghton-Mifflin).

I was privileged to speak on Friday about Literature-Based Learning, focusing on the unique benefits (and just plain fun) of teaching with good quality books and integrated theme units.  Visitors lined up at the booth afterwards to get the new titles available from GoldMinds – for a special show price, of course!

                                  

Click on the Microphone to listen to an excerpt from “Literature-Based Learning”, recorded at a recent educator’s conference…

Although I have attended this particular show for many years – both as a homeschooling parent and as an exhibitor – I have to admit that this year’s event was the most streamlined and enjoyable.  Everywhere there was a buzz of excitement as parents and teachers discovered new ways to tap into their child’s learning potential, address the special needs of students, and embrace a whole-child approach to education.

The dates have already been set for next year’s conference (April 25-27, 2013), and my pre-registration form is ready to go!  See you there!

Related articles

• Three New Titles – Just Published!

Three New Titles – Just Published!

I’m so excited to present the product of the last seven months – three new education titles to excite young minds!

This curriculum is anchored in quality young adult literature, many by award-winning and local authors.

Debuting at this weekend’s area Home Educator’s Conference, they are already leaving a trail of enthusiastic readers and students.  After purchasing the “Crystal Brave” combo pack, one parent returned the next day to buy the rest of the series.  “My son was so excited about these activities!  He even offered to finish all his other homework so he could work on this project exclusively!”

Literature-Based Theme Units

            

Read a Great Book … Grow A Great Mind

• Choose from a variety of award-winning young adult titles!
• Integrate Core Subject Areas
• Portfolio and Traditional Assessment
• Students Work at Their Own Pace
• Multiple Grade Levels
• Aligned with National Education Standards

Now Available from GoldMinds Publishing

Friday Flash Fiction – “Morning Glory”

  He had farmed for near fifty years, and it seemed the sun was finally setting on all his unplowed acres.  Leaning against a corner post to catch his breath, his eyes swept up to the farmhouse where a speck of cotton dress picked its way across the field.

“Mornin’, Glory.”

“Papa, it’s supper time, not morning.”

“I know that.  But you’re my little morning glory flower, my ray of sunshine.  You want to help me water the horse ‘afore we go in?”

He tugged at one worn leather glove so her tiny hand could rest in the cocoon of his calloused palm.

She had been gone for near fifty years.

——————

  A college course on Contemporary Multicultural Literature begins with “Flash fiction is also known as ‘very very very short stories’. It’s not something new. According to Jerome Stern, the earliest flash fiction appears in the Bible…All those biblical stories tell you events that happen between Jesus and his disciples. They’re short with a didactic message behind. And exactly because of this reason, you remember them very easily.“ 

 I wouldn’t claim to have such noble intentions for my own flash fiction, but there are some pieces I’ve come across that I admit to being inspirational- both in the reading and the writing.

  I especially appreciate the professor’s recognition that “despite its short length, writing flash fiction is not any easier than writing a longer piece because you have to demonstrate the skills of condensing drama with a word limit.”

  As writers, we’re used to taking our time to build the suspense and anticipation before the big dramatic moment.  With flash, or micro, fiction there’s no time – or words – to waste.  Our choices must plunge the reader directly into the story and bring them to an immediate state of shock or surprise.

Are you a Drama Queen (or King), and love the surprise of Flash Fiction? 

What is your favorite technique that writers use to immerse you in the story?

Leave a comment below, and link to your own flash fiction if possible.

Want more Flash Fiction? Visit these Friday Fictioneers for more 100-word heaven! (If you have a flash fiction piece to share, please leave a link in Comments!) You can also visit the originator of the photo prompts, Madison Woods, or follow the gang on Twitter – #FridayFictioneers.

Related articles

• Friday Flash Fiction – “My Cup Runneth Over” (kbnelson.wordpress.com)
• Friday Flash Fiction – “Missed Connections” (kbnelson.wordpress.com)
• Friday Flash – “Drip” (kbnelson.wordpress.com)
• Friday Flash Fiction – “Old News” (kbnelson.wordpress.com)
• Friday Flash – “Change of Plans” (kbnelson.wordpress.com)
• Friday Flash – “Pilgrimage” (kbnelson.wordpress.com)
• Friday Flash – “Reconnaissance” (kbnelson.wordpress.com)

Friday Flash Fiction – “My Cup Runneth Over”

  The water dripped thoughtfully – like a meditation.  Each drop released its energy into the great universe of the pool, radiating and becoming one with all liquid matter.

She watched the ripples ease and fade as they carried the essence of life farther away from the point of impact.  She thought of the years spent, so like the inexorable path of the water; the countless cutting moments of unkindness.

The drops darkened – a deep red before thinning out to pink swirls in the basin at her feet.

He shouldn’t have said that.

The more I explore the world of Flash Fiction, the more I love it – particularly what we do here with the Friday Fictioneers.  At just 100 words, it is technically called Micro Fiction.  Camille Renshaw, editor of Pif Magazine, lists a number of points specific to micro fiction, but my favorite is Implication.

“The key requirement of a literary short-short is implication. There’s no room for life stories. Just enough for resonance.”  She stresses the need to know the difference between a situation and a story.

• Use a directive last sentence that gives narrative insight or opinion. Thomas Bernhard does this with nearly every story in his recent Micro-Fiction collection, The Voice Imitator. He uses closing sentences like, “In this way Fourati, as is well known, had ruined not only the lady’s life but his own as well.” Or, “He asked us what he should do to be freed from his guilty conscience, but we dared not give him any advice.”

• Make rereads necessary or at least inviting. In “Three,” Gordon Lish tells us three stories. He prefaces them with the statement, “One of them taught me the meaning of fear,” but doesn’t say which one. In the first story he talks to a woman who enjoys the funeral of her lover. In the second he sees a headless baritone on the subway that sings to him. The last simply reads: “The third thing was I went home.” What is it he said in that first paragraph again?

• Close with a phrase that sends the reader back into the story. Then it might sink into the reader’s own life. In Molly Giles, “The Poet’s Husband,” she writes, “…but later that night when she is asleep, he will lie in their bed and stare at the moon through a spot on the glass that she missed.” Wow. What did she miss? We don’t know, but within eighteen lines, just one sentence long, we’re stirred to think about the loved ones of all the writers we know. How do they feel about the ways and places that our fiction intersects with their lives?

• Know when you’ve made your point.In Grace Paley’s “Mother,” the last paragraph reads, “And then she died.” Paley can end this way because she has summed up the distinctive character of her mother and made us miss our equally distinct mothers standing in doorways at night abrading us with, “You run around senselessly. What will become of you?” Mission accomplished.

   What implications do you find in short fiction,
  

and how do you weave them into your own pieces?

Leave a comment below, and link to your own flash fiction if possible.

Want more Flash Fiction? Visit these Friday Fictioneers for more 100-word heaven! (If you have a flash fiction piece to share, please leave a link in Comments!) You can also visit the originator of the photo prompts, Madison Woods, or follow the gang on Twitter – #FridayFictioneers.

Related articles

• Friday Flash – “Second Thoughts”
• Friday Flash Fiction – “Missed Connections”
• Friday Flash Fiction – “Old News”
• Friday Flash – “The Burn”
• Friday Flash – “Reconnaissance”
• Friday Flash – “Drip”
• Friday Flash – “Change of Plans”
• Friday Flash – “Pilgrimage”
• Friday Flash – “Dragon’s Tears”

 

Friday Flash Fiction – “Missed Connections”

The two passengers waited on the benches for a train that would never come.  It had been over 70 years since they had begun the long wait, but for them it was only a few hours.  Nobody saw them, and yet they were there, patient and resigned to the impersonal rules of the rail system.

“Did you hear that, Jeb?  I think the whistle blew.  It must be coming now.”

“No, Maggie.  That’s just the wind through the tunnel.”

He grasped her hand and settled his gaze away from the defunct tracks, across the fields that were empty only in his memory.

Skylar Spring writes that flash fiction is “thinking like a camera lens – focus on a single moment or image in time.”  Of course, having a great photo prompt helps in the process, but what life events stand out in the scrapbook of your mind?  What could you write about in a minimum of words that would give readers a snapshot of the bigger story?

Leave a comment below, and link to your own flash fiction if possible.

Want more Flash Fiction? Visit these Friday Fictioneers for more 100-word heaven! (If you have a flash fiction piece to share, please leave a link in Comments!) You can also visit the originator of the photo prompts, Madison Woods, or follow the gang on Twitter – #FridayFictioneers.

Related articles

• Friday Flash – “Second Thoughts”
• Friday Flash Fiction – “Old News”
• Friday Flash – “The Burn”
• Friday Flash – “Reconnaissance”
• Friday Flash – “Drip”
• Friday Flash – “Change of Plans”
• Friday Flash – “Pilgrimage”
• Friday Flash – “Dragon’s Tears”

Friday Flash Fiction – “Old News”

 ”You ever seen that before?”

The two boys stopped the absorbing business of shooting B-B’s at cow pies to stare at the pick-up truck.

“No, but I never been on this end of the farm, neither.”

“What a rusted out heap.  Let’s go sit in it!”

Bouncing on the remaining seat springs and fighting over the steering wheel, a foot prodded a bag in the floorboard.

“What’s in that?”

“How am I supposed to know?  Open it up.”

They poured the cash onto the seat between them; read the brittle newspaper story of a long-ago robbery and shooting.

“There’s something else in this bag.  Looks like an old wallet.”

The leather cracked when it opened, the license yellowed around the black and white photo.

“Ummm….It’s your Dad.”

 

Dialogue is an important element to any fiction – long or short. Author and former private investigator, Gayle Bartos-Poole, states,

“It provides plot advancement, character development, and action or movement. In other words, it brings the story to life.

A character blurting out information that advances the plot is far more interesting than a long narrative description.

Through dialogue we discover character traits about the various people who populate our stories. How a person speaks and acts while talking says a lot more about him or her than mere words.

And dialogue provides real time action. You are in the room with the characters as they speak. You’re eavesdropping or right in the middle of the conversation. Or the character might be speaking directly to you.”

How did dialogue affect this piece?  Would the pace have been different if a narrative style had been employed?  As a reader, what do you look for in dialogue?

Leave a comment below, and link to your own flash fiction if possible.

Want more Flash Fiction? Visit these Friday Fictioneers for more 100-word heaven! (If you have a flash fiction piece to share, please leave a link in Comments!) You can also visit the originator of the photo prompts, Madison Woods, or follow the gang on Twitter – #FridayFictioneers.

 

Related articles

• Friday Flash – “Reconnaissance” (kbnelson.wordpress.com)
• Friday Flash – “Drip” (kbnelson.wordpress.com)
• Friday Flash – “Change of Plans” (kbnelson.wordpress.com)
• Friday Flash – “Pilgrimage” (kbnelson.wordpress.com)
• Friday Flash – “Dragon’s Tears” (kbnelson.wordpress.com)