Sarah Salway
An A-Z of prompts FOR FLASH FICTION WRITERS
A ... "It is in order to halt, to deflect, to divide this descent of discourse toward a destiny of the subject, that at certain moments the alphabet calls you to order (to disorder) and says: Cut! Resume the story in another way." Roland Barthes. Can you start a stuck story somewhere completely different?
B ... If you're blocked, play on the page - write from the point of view of an elephant, of the colour yellow, don't use the letter 'e', only use words of one syllable. What's the worse that can happen? Oh, that? Write about it.
C ... Even the shortest piece of writing can say a lot about your character. What do they want? How many times can you not let them have it? No one said being fictional was an easy ride.
D... Can you write a piece entirely in dialogue? And without using one 'he said', 'she said'. Let your words and rhythms distinguish who is talking.
E... "In my end is my beginning'... Pick an evocative postcard and write the image you see - no judgements, just the picture. Now, taking that as your ending, start at the beginning of the story and write on.
F... Choose an interesting fact, and use it to jump off into fiction. http://www.interestingfacts.org/ is overspilling with treasure.
G ... Take V.S. Pritchett's definition of a short story as 'something glimpsed from the corner of the eye, in passing,' and write about what you can only just see.
H... Who's your hero? Give your character those attributes. But also the opposite traits to make him or her multi-dimensional. Mix it up in 250 words.
I... Don't forget the power of the image. Draw the scene for us. Paint the emotions.
J... Jokes work because of perfect timing. And so does a good flash story. Is your timing right? Too many stories burn out at the beginning, or never really get going.
K... Who would your character kill to get what they want?
L... Lists are good. Even alphabeticised ones. Although I've got to be honest, http://www.mcsweeneys.net/columns/lists do it best.
M... Put on your head torch and mine deep. You've got everything you need hidden inside. Try a list of 'I remembers...' and mix them up with some 'I don't remembers...'
N... "several things dovetailed in my mind, & at once it struck me, what quality went to form a Man of Achievement especially in literature & which Shakespeare possessed so enormously - I mean Negative Capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts without any irritable reaching after fact & reason." John Keats
O... Write an obituary that tells the whole story about someone without actually telling it.
P... Keep a list of your own prompts, or use those put up on twitter daily under the #writingprompt hash (or follow me, @sarahsalway)
Q... In a famous experiment outlined in the book, Art and Fear, a college professor divided a pottery class. Half had to produce just one perfect pot. The other half as many as they could. Surprise, surprise, the better pots were to be found in those that went for quantity. Don't try to write one perfect story, but trust that writing more will eventually improve the quality of your writing. Or as William Stafford said, 'If you can't write, lower your standards.'
R... The best - and harshest - piece of writing advice I got during my MA was to 'expect rejection.' Cry a little, punch a few walls, and get back to the computer.
S... How lucky are we that so many generous people will give up their energy, money, and their own writing time, to read our submissions? Most of our journals are staffed by volunteers - respect that by giving them only your best possible work and by thanking them for their time.
T... 'Timing your writing helps to heat things up, and blast through the internal sensor.' Natalie Goldberg.
U... Your reader doesn't have to completely understand your story - not first read anyway - but they need to feel completely confident that YOU do! There's no room for 'Emperor's New Clothes' in flash, or indeed any fiction.
V... "If you treat craft as a recipe, the fire of raw voice goes out." Thaisa Frank & Dorothy Wall
W... Keep a box filled with blank pieces of paper, and write down your favourite words as you think of them, or when you hear new ones. When you're stuck you can just dip in and pull one out. Fit it in your story somehow.
X... What's the heart of your story - the X that marks the central spot. Once you have this, you can strip away anything that obscures it, or isn't working towards it.
Y... The most interesting people are constantly yearning for something they can't have. The most interesting characters anyway; perhaps people who yearn too hard are often hard to live with. Which may be most writers. Hmmmm...
Z... Although... look at this list of words beginning with Z - http://phrontistery.info/z.html - and tell me they're not beautiful. Or full of inspiration. And then imagine coming home tired after a day at your office to find your writer partner willing - no, actually full of zeal - to read these out to you. What could possible be hard about living with that person? Write about it.
