Plotting Flash Fiction

June 12, 2009

 

Mary Rosenblum:  So let's talk about flash fiction.  The accepted definition is 'fiction under 1000 words' although specific markets have specific word limits.  And I LOVE it. It’s a great way to hone your prose and storytelling skills. You simply do not have enough words to be sloppy.  You have to imply backstory. It forces you to focus on the essential kernel of the story.
What is critical?
We can always add lots of nice embellishments. But at some point, the embellishments begin to weigh down the dramatic core of the story.  To create a flash fiction story, you can deconstruct an idea, if you will.  You have a big story idea. You know it won't fit into 1000 words, no matter how much you squeeze and cut.
So what do you do?
Start at the climax and resolution. What is resolved and by whom? Now start stepping backward. Okay, in order for the readers to understand this climax, they have to know this and that.
How bout you start with some great lead.. then figure a resolution?
Mary Rosenblum:  That can work, but most of the time, David, you have way too much space between that great lead you thought of and the climax.  So you have to sort of leap over it.  Note I said it CAN work.  But it often does not.
Maybe  that is how in my 1st draft I was up to 900 words and I had only set the scene ?
Mary Rosenblum:  Really good flash fiction depends a lot on implication. Yep, that's about standard, David. And as I said, you can't set the scene in flash fiction.  You have to leap into a critical scene and imply all that backstory.  This really strengthens your skills as a novelist by the way.  You end up creating powerful, tight chapters.
Ah,  because each chapter is a 'flash fiction' structure?
Mary Rosenblum:  Not really, but because you learn how to write VERY tightly and to focus on the important element of any scene.
Let's do a bit of flash fiction plotting. Anyone got a story idea?
So when authors put out say 200 pages.. do they loosen up or is it just more sentences but just as tight?
Mary Rosenblum:   Well, you can include more in a novel-- you have to imply so much in very short fiction. But writing tight carries through and makes what you do include much more powerful.
Mary, I think you've said before that most of your work is character driven. Flash seems all about the story so I'm surprised that you like it.
Mary Rosenblum:   Well, Janet, it's often character driven. You simply have to imply the characterization with vivid glimpses of the character. You reveal, you don't develop.
John  and Jerry are kayaking on a big lake miles from shore and a violent thunderstorm is coming...
Mary Rosenblum:   Good David, so what happens?
They  talk things over..realize there is no time to talk and start to paddle like hell.
Mary Rosenblum:   Okay, so we have a strong external plot....get out of that thunderstorm! But that's kind of usual. So let's add an internal plot. Good flash fiction ...really good flash fiction....has both.
What's wrong between the two guys?
John has a heart attack
Okay,  what's an internal plot? something between the two of them?
Mary Rosenblum:   Yep. The heart attack is another 'external' plot element. Something happens that they have to fix.
Jerry's his son and just learned CPR but is scared to death
Mary Rosenblum:   Yeah, Ingrid that could be a nice internal plot. Dad's a totally overbearing father and now Jerry is on the spot.  He has a lot of anger issues with Dad, but at the same time, he's scared he could mess up...his dad always tells him what a loser he is. And...he could just sit there. Who would know?
Jerry can never do anything right in his Dad's eyes
Mary Rosenblum:   We have the storm, the heart attack, Jerry's realization that a: he can mess up just like Dad always expects b: he can sit back and just wait.  So for a moment he hesitates. Maybe Dad is aware enough to look into his son's eyes and realize he's thinking about not doing CPR. And then Jerry makes his decision. He either does CPR or not. And you have the powerful visuals fo the storm to add to the moment. You don’t' have to show anything else. You can imply what comes after.
Let's say Jerry does the right thing and gives Dad CPR, doing a great job, and realizing he could have let his father die. From now on, he will be free of Dad's oppression. So you can leave him drifting into shore. He has called 911 and the ambulance lights are flashing.
What if dad dies?

Mary Rosenblum:   We don't have to know DLB. The resolution is Jerry's decision to do CPR, his acknowledgement that he could sit back and let Dad die, and the power that gives him.
Or, dark ending, dad is aware enough waiting for the ambulance to criticize
Mary Rosenblum:   Yeah, you could do that, moosie.  In that story, the implication is that Jerry will never escape, never be good enough for Dad.  That's the downbeat implied end. Even if Dad dies, he'll haunt Jerry.
Especially if he really tried to save Dad, and failed.
Mary Rosenblum:   So look at what we have....a brief strong scene as the storm tosses the canoe, Dad falls down clutching his chest, and Jerry looks at him as lightning forks down to the water and....hesitates. Then he does whatever he's going to do...starts CPR, fumbles out his cell, dials 911...  End with flashing red lights on the shore, the storm rumbling away into the distance...  and if you're doing this upbeat end, a hint through Jerry's body language or dialogue that he's changed. Whether Dad lives or dies, he's no longer powerless.
The  hesitation being the climax, right?
Mary Rosenblum:   Yep, moosie. That's where he makes his choice. We don't have to know if Dad lives or dies.  What we did was to zero in on the climax. What is the conflict? Pair it right together with the climax.  Cram them into a single scene.
Are open endings like that good or even preferred?
Mary Rosenblum:   Well, in a 1000 word story, your end usually happens later. But it doesn't have to be open. You can have Dad getting cold and stiff and Jerry still working on him, expressing whatever emotion he's going to express. That's pretty closed. In this case, it's not really an open ending. The real conflict is Jerry's need to free himself of Dad, not Dad's heart attack.
So, in flash fiction we are dealing with a brief issue, intense as it may be, but brief to resolve because we are limited to word length?
Mary Rosenblum:   You got it, Ragdoll. Jerry can resolve his issues with Dad whether Dad lives or dies.
Mary, are there any topics that will never work in a flash fiction story?
Mary Rosenblum:   Ragdoll, no topic will not work for a fiction story. :-) You can make anything work.
Mary, should all stories have both internal and external conflict?
Mary Rosenblum Ingrid, to be a strong story, yes.  I will say that unequivocally. Even in relatively superficial action stories, such as 'Star Wars' you have internal conflicts and they add depth to what otherwise would be very superficial.  Internal and external can be the two sides of the same coin...or quite distinct.  In our canoe story, we have very distinct external and internal.
  Is it true that Hemingway wrote the ultimate short short: For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn.
Mary Rosenblum Well, his got remembered is all. I've participated in that kind of contest. They're fun. What do we have here?  The implied pregnancy, the fact that those baby shoes were never worn. The baby died, or the pregnancy was terminated late.
We have the ground work for a story , not the whole story
Mary Rosenblum We don’t know, but that conflict is there in the background.
The fact that the shoes are for sale, Not kept for sentimental reasons.
Never worn?
Mary Rosenblum That, too, Charie. What is the situation of the owner? It's an O'Henry story distilled down to three phrases.
You can imagine the pain and the conflict that that parent is experiencing.
What stayed with me (the wannabe writer) is that the evoked emotion was identical to that of a longer story.
Mary Rosenblum Yeah, and that's what good flash fiction does.  It evokes reader engagement and emotion.  It implies a LOT and more than longer prose it invites the readers in to participate. Ten of us will come up with ten different stories to explain that Hemingway short short.
Now you CAN make flash fiction much more explicit. It just depends on how deft you are with words.
What if the owner was a relative who had a falling out with the pregnant woman before the baby was born, had already bought the shoes, and now because they are not speaking or friendly anymore, the owner just wants to get rid of the shoes?
Mary Rosenblum: See? Ten different people, ten different stories. But you do have 1000 words for most markets. You can imply a LOT of story in 1000 words.  And where flash fiction also carries over into longer work...you get good at implying a lot with a few words, and that means you can layer in a lot more richness in a longer piece of fiction.
Do you try to limit the number of characters?
Mary Rosenblum Depends on what you're doing Charie.

Mary.. could I use these same principles in a non fiction article.. say a past hike I did that I embellish a bit?
Mary Rosenblum: Sure, David. Don't we all mine real life for fiction? I sure do. :-) And you do have some creative nonfiction flash fiction markets.
The fiction story doesn't have to follow the trail of the true to life experience right? I could move story in different direction than the real life event?
Mary Rosenblum: Personally, David, I find that trying to use the actual real life experience as fiction hampers you too much.  But you can take scenes, or the essence of something, or characters.  But notice what people here have been reacting to? Stories that evoke a deeper emotion than laughter. Although plenty of flash fiction stories are humorous punchline stories.
Mary, can a good personal narrative a) contain bits of dialog, and b) follow the same structure: mostly climax, with a short opening hook / backstory?
Mary Rosenblum: Sure, moosie. Creative nonfiction is essentially the same structure as fiction, only it doesn't depend on the same strong conflict/resolution that fiction demands. Although you still need some form of dramatic rise and climax.
And makes up for it by being 'real'.
Mary Rosenblum: Yep, moosie, the 'reality' of creative nonfiction trumps fictional conflict/resolution.
Mary, are there any good exercises to practice writing flash fiction?
Mary Rosenblum: Flash fiction is a GREAT way to hone your skills. And you can earn a few bucks from some markets. And build a readership.  Just write it, Ragdoll. It's only 1000 words.