I must have had a busy week or maybe I’ve got the flash bug that Robert Vaughan talks about in his 2010 interview at Lake Effect: Flash Fiction Fridays, because all of the stories from Week Three, we’re very short.
So, in deference to the form, I’ll keep this post brief.
What I gleaned from Robert Vaughan’s interview about flash is this…
Beadelaire: Father of Flash?
1.) Origins: turn of the century, Baudalaire
2.) Word Count: some say 1,000 words or less, some say 14o characters (micro-flash)
3.) “Glimpse into a world or a fraction of a story that is as finished as a story.”
4.) A growing category
5.) Every single word has weight.
6. ) “The piece has a line or a phrase that stands the piece on its head.”
7.) Connection to poetry, almost a cross-over
8.) “It’s of a moment. It comes through you.”
This week’s flash fiction featured “What Fills a Balloon” by Ross McMeekin who edits an on-line flash journal called Spartan, “Delta Thirty-Five” by Pam Houston, who can be seen reading from her “genre-bending” book Contents May Have Shifted* on Vimeo, “Winter” by Aimee Bender, “The Dauphin” by Marc Sheehan (winner of NPR’s Three-minute Fiction) and may be heard as a podcast, and coming in as the longest piece this week, at approximately 1,800 words was Amber Sparks, “Study for the New Fictional Science.”
Lake Effect: Friday Flash Fiction
And, of course you may hear half a dozen super short pieces by Robert Vaughan in the interview at Lake Effect.
My own thoughts on flash may be read here.
Thanks for peeking in.
Love this: “The piece has a line or a phrase that stands the piece on its head.”
My favorite as well, Cynthia.
I especially enjoyed watching Pam Houston reading “Delta Thrirty-five.” Thanks for another great week of stories.
I got to hear Pam read some of these stories in Vermont last summer. Pam is relaxed and interesting and smart and funny. And, of course, the writing is amazing, too. Thanks for tuning in, Darrelyn.