Writing flash fiction is a fun, easy way to break into print and quickly establish yourself as a professional author. This book shows you everything you need to write great stories under 1,000 words, as well as how and where to get them published. It concludes with tips for re-publishing those stories all together as a book.
Literary Nonfiction. Literary Criticism and History. Reference. With its unprecedented gathering of 25 brief essays by experts in the field, THE ROSE METAL PRESS FIELD GUIDE TO WRITING FLASH FICTION meets the growing need for a concise yet creative exploration of the re-emerging genre popularly known as flash fiction. The book's introduction provides, for the first time, a comprehensive history of the short short story, from its early roots and hitherto unknown early publications and appearances, to its current state and practice. This guide is a must for anyone in the field of short fiction who teaches, writes, and is interested in its genesis and practice.
Fiction. What happens when an ex-stripper in her mid-thirties, married with children, awakens one day questioning what brought her to a current life of complicated domesticity? Compelled to return to Omaha after seventeen years, the narrator we only know as Natalie begins a quest into her past, an adventure that takes the reader from childhood beauty pageants to the sex and glamour industries. Natalie's search becomes an intrepid journey through her own sexuality, a woman not only claiming herself but also accepting her contradictions. With inquisitive perception and agile use of perspective, SEARCHING FOR SUZI is an investigation into the tragic shadows of a past preferred to be forgotten.
If a story is going to fail, it will do so first at the premise level. Anatomy of a Premise Line: How to Master Premise and Story Development for Writing Success is the only book of its kind to identify a seven-step development process that can be repeated and applied to any story idea. This process will save you time, money, and potentially months of wasted writing. So whether you are trying to write a feature screenplay, develop a television pilot, or just trying to figure out your next story move as a writer, this book gives you the tools you need to know which ideas are worth pursuing. In addition to the 7-step premise development tool, Anatomy of a Premise Line also presents a premise and idea testing methodology that can be used to test any developed premise line. Customized exercises and worksheets are included to facilitate knowledge transfer, so that by the end of the book, you will have a fully developed premise line, log line, tagline, and a completed premise-testing checklist. Here is some of what you will learn inside: Ways to determine whether or not your story is a good fit for print or screen Case studies and hands-on worksheets to help you learn by participating in the process Tips on how to effectively work through writer’s block A companion website (www.routledge.com/cw/lyons) with additional worksheets, videos, and interactive tools to help you learn the basics of perfecting a killer premise line
FEATURING ESSAYS FROM: Barrie Jean Borich • Jenny Boully • Norma Elia Cantú • Rigoberto González • Philip Graham • Carol Guess • Jeff Gundy • Robin Hemley • Barbara Hurd • Judith Kitchen •Eric LeMay • Dinah Lenney • Bret Lott • Patrick Madden• Lee Martin • Maggie McKnight • Brenda Miller •Kyle Minor • Aimee Nezhukumatathil • Anne Panning • Lia Purpura • Peggy Shumaker • Sue William Silverman • Jennifer Sinor • Ira Sukrungruang • Nicole Walker Unmatched in its focus on a concise and popular emerging genre, The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Nonfiction features 26 eminent writers, editors, and teachers offering expert analysis, focused exercises, and helpful examples of what make the brief essay form such a perfect medium for experimentation, insight, and illumination. With a comprehensive introduction to the genre and book by editor Dinty W. Moore, this guide is perfect for both the classroom and the individual writer’s desk—an essential handbook for anyone interested in the scintillating and succinct flash nonfiction form. How many words does it take to tell a compelling true story? The answer might surprise you.
"Over the past ten years or so, "Short-shorts" or "Flash Fiction" has emerged as an increasingly popular and visible genre within fiction. David Galef's Brevity offers a guide to the genre for creative writing students by combining discussions of the various approaches and methods within the genre, examples of the form, and prompts for students to develop their own writing. Galef includes examples of the short-short genre from such writers as Collette, Donald Barthelme, and Borges. He examines the ways in which these authors drew on the form and how compression and other techniques are able to produce works of power, humor, or insight. Galef argues that developing one's skills in the short-short form can also carry over to other forms of writing. Galef, a writer and longtime creative-writing instructor, guides the reader through these stories and techniques and also provides exercises based on the content or technique employed in the stories" --
David Gaffney’s compact, surreal tales are filled with poignancy and wit. Each story goes off like a tiny depth charge in the mind, leaving you with the trace memory of some new urban myth – comic, absurd and disturbingly true.
With over 50 stories published in the last two years and nominations for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net, "short story master" DiCicco weaves his tales into an auspicious debut collection. Through his minimalist style, DiCicco explores the ties that define us - the relationships between fathers and sons, husbands and wives, and men and their own fear. He navigates the human condition with a fresh voice, pulling you through each story with a sense of urgency and excitement, and expertly balancing the reader's sense of delight and despair. Featuring 11 never-before-seen stories, So My Mother, She Lives in the Clouds propels DiCicco into the spotlight as the next major voice in indie fiction.