October 8, 2017

POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY: Flash Fiction -- More Powerful Than NOVELS!

Using the Programme Guide of the World Science Fiction Convention in Helsinki Finland in August 2017 (to which I will be unable to go (until I retire from education)), I will jump off, jump on, rail against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf copy of the Programme Guide. The link is provided below…

Ready, Steady, Flash: Writers are given a theme, or phrase, around which they must each write a piece of flash fiction. Live, in front of the audience. They have FIVE MINUTES in which to write it. At the end of each round the stories are read out, and the audience votes on the best!

Lee Harris: Tor’s novella editor…whoa!
Karin Tidbeck: Swedish fantasy and weird fiction writer
Peter Newman: English fantasy (VAGRANT) and short story writer
N.S. Dolkart: Fantasy writer
Nalo Hopkinson: Nothing else needs to be said…


Novels have been known to change the world, but today, Flash Fiction, particularly speculative flash fiction, may hold the key to changing our perceptions and ideas...which no one seems to recognize...

If you’re reading this (which means you read my blog), you know that I have published more short-short or flash fiction than I have anything else.

I love flash fiction because its purpose is to make a single point in as few words as possible. The writer uses words to paint a vivid image in the reader’s mind.

This probably lends strength to the fact that flash fiction can cut through the nicey-nice wordage usually associated with science fiction and fantasy – all writing, in fact – and say what the author wants to preach. Oh, make no mistake, the purpose of fiction is to make a point of some sort. Every story we read is the author’s attempt to advance their agenda whether it’s conscious or not. If you look above these posts, no less writer than Gene Wolfe speaks the truth of this as well as holding the respect of the field. Many of those writers don’t share his beliefs but readily acknowledge his brilliance. Literary luminary Neil Gaiman wrote, “He's the finest living male American writer of SF and fantasy – possibly the finest living American writer.”

While writers need to entertain first and can have their messages later – in Heinlein’s words: “I must always bear in mind that my prospective reader could spend his recreation money on beer rather than on my stories; I have to be aware every minute that I am competing for beer money-and that the customer does not have to buy. If I produced, let us say, potatoes or beef, I could be sure that my product had some value in the market. But a story that the customers do not enjoy reading is worth nothing.” (GRUMBLES FROM THE GRAVE, Chapter 1, January 10, 1972), he also said in the same section, “…if possible…cause my readers to think.” [http://www.e-reading.club/bookreader.php/73033/Heinlein_-_Grumbles_From_the_Grave.html#label4]

So why do I seem to do better with short fiction – and the SHORTEST fiction – than I do with my stories and novels?

I stumbled across Nalo Hopkinson’s first book, BROWN GIRL IN THE RING after reading a short story in DARK MATTER in the early years of the 21st Century. I loved it and wrote her a letter – didn’t hear back, but she was on her meteoric rise! No surprise! – and kept reading her work as well as others. She spoke volumes and continued to write short/flash fiction (http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/soul-case/).

Karin Tidbeck’s “Starfish” is haunting (http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/starfish/), even so, it entertains – and whether or not the author intended it, it reflects her view of the world. Wolfe says it all above and he also writes flash fiction! https://boingboing.net/2012/02/12/sf-flash-fiction-from-gaiman.html). An American “hero” of a writer is also accused of writing (and at the same time inventing flash fiction) one of the shortest pieces of fiction that packed a powerful punch. I’ve memorized the entire piece, but writing it here might lead me to a lawsuit for copyright infringement. You can find it (and the legend of how it was written!) here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_sale:_baby_shoes,_never_worn

While I wish I could have been there to hear the end result of this competition, I can comfort myself in the knowledge that I write in the midst of a great company of writers. My most recent piece of flash appeared on February 22, 2017 (http://nanoism.net/stories/736/): “She looked to the future, mom lived in the past. Beloved dad and husband saw or remembered neither, but in the present all three reconciled.”

If more people -- especially science fiction writers -- realized the power of flash fiction, then climate change evangelicals would write it more often. Seeing as how they don't get that, they haven't used this powerful tool to shape the climate...so to speak...of the country. Much as I loathe Trump, he DOES get it with his constant posting of Twitter fiction...


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