Saturday, August 1, 2009

Sometimes Summer Gets in the Way


It's been so long since I've last written that when I tried to enter the Blogspot site, I was sent to the login page. It's like being asked for your ID at the neighborhood bar. But to be fair, I haven't written in a while.

Sometimes summer just gets in the way.


Well, I'm back with a few new ideas for posts (including some on how to proofread a story and what makes a story work), but for today, I'd like to share a fun bit that I found on
NPR (National Public Radio).

Writing
flash fiction is difficult. It may not seem that way, but it is. The fewer words a story contains, the more difficult it is to tell the story. It's like trying to run a household on a tight budget. There's no room for extras.

Enter NPR's Three-Minute Fiction Writing contest. Last June, National Public Radio asked its listeners to submit stories that could be read in three minutes or less. After slogging through 5,000 submissions, the results are in. You can read the winning entries
here.

Flash fiction has never been something I've been able to write. I guess I'm just too
verbose. But I had a fun time reading these winning entries, and I hope you will too.

It's good to be back!

3 comments:

Jessica Nelson said...

I'm not even familiar with flash fiction. Sounds like an interesting contest though. :-) Welcome back to the blogosphere!

Elle Scott said...

Thanks! Yes, flash is a lot of fun to read. I think it's good to write, too, because it can really help a writer focus in on plot and language. Surprisingly, there are a lot of markets for flash. There is even a Twitter flash project.

fairyhedgehog said...

Is there any set length for flash fiction? I'm wondering if 365 tomorrows counts. I think their word limit is 500 words. Or maybe that's just a short story.

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