Monday 20 May 2013

Flash Fiction Challenges

Lightening McQueen,
 a.k.a Flash McQueen in French version of Cars

Why do you write flash fiction?

There are plenty of sites and competitions that set a prompt and invite you to write something short within the week and submit it straight away. I've been doing this for a while but, after a few rejections, I'm beginning to wonder if there's any value in spitting out these pieces.

The process is too rushed for me. I need to let my stories sit for a while and come back to them later. I shouldn't have submitted the ones I did. Now I find myself with several stories that need work. So I plan to stay away from the weekly prompts for a while.

But there are plenty of reasons to do the challenges. The prompts are great for breaking old habits and writing about new things. Sometimes it's surprising where they take you. They also give a great sense of satisfaction. I just need to take it more slowly. Just because they're short doesn't mean they can be perfected in a day.

And yet, and yet... 1000words pops up on my radar. I may just polish off one piece and submit. It seems that flash fiction is addictive.

2 comments:

  1. Rafy loves Lightning McQueen and wanted to read your blog post!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Did he learn he'll have to say 'Flash' when talking to Martin?

    ReplyDelete