Flush Fiction. . .Quicker Than A Piss

It’s not the size of a story that matters. . .

It’s the quality.

Hemingway is rumored to have won a bet by providing a six worded story on the spot while keeping elemental form intact.

It was as follows: “For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn.”

And since the attention-span of today’s society is rapidly decaying, we must look for new ways to hold it by way of Quality of Word, even if they are sitting on the John.

Hours at a time are spent scanning Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Trends and viral videos catch fire and are just as quickly gone like a fart in the wind. . .The masses are unpredictable. . .There is no telling what they will leech onto next. . .They want instant gratification. . .A quickie, if you will. . .And so I have turned to Flash Fiction or “Literary Sketches” as a means for honing my craft with literary devices and techniques as well as perfecting my prose while keeping a story complete in form. . .A format I believe can touch those digital babies on all applications.

Simple, yet gritty and courageous stories told within a constrained form.

There are many different styles of Flash Fiction: Sudden Fiction or short short stories are about 1000 words. A “smoke long” coined in China as a story as long as it takes to smoke a cigarette. Micro-fiction which is 300 words. Nanoficiton, 55 words. Twitterature, about 23 words. And drabble, a 100 words.

I prefer a drabble which is long enough to convey a whole story (protagonist, conflict, resolution) while adding literary devices and techniques (allegory, leitwortstil, anagram, alliteration, etc). It also forces the writer to whittle away unnecessary verbage and wording.

Here is an example of an Alliteration from my collection called Flush Fiction: Quicker Than A Piss, the title is Westward Down Wu Way:

“The Way is the way,” said Walter Wagner. “Whether we know it or not, we walk it without worry. . .When a man or woman says, ‘My way is the way’ then surely we know that it isn’t. For all roads lead to Rome.”

Walter wagged his finger. Whirled it.

“Whether war, wealth, or weather. . .we will walk it.”

It was Wednesday. The wind whipped westward. Walter walked down Wu Way.

“We’ve won when we know this. . .”

A woman watering her garden watched Walter curiously. His wise eyes. Heard every word. And wondered, “who in the world is he talking to.”

And here is an example of a Leitwortstil, titled Is Or Is Not:

“It is what it is,” Max Penrose said when his father put a bullet in his head.

“It is what it is,” Max Penrose said when he was kicked out of school for fighting.

“It is what it is,” Max Penrose said when his car was impounded for failing to pay parking tickets.

“It is what it is,” Max Penrose said when the judge found him guilty of rape.

“It is what it is,” Max Penrose said rotting in his cell.

“It is what it is,” Max Penrose finally said before the Rehabilitation Committee, “but it didn’t have to be.”

I believe these to be exercises in style and technique, which will help any writer find their voice and condition them for the long haul of their literary careers, wherever it may take them. I only recommend writers to use Flash Fiction as a means to hone their craft and to connect with digital world, not stay confined within this genre of writing.

Keep the Word alive.

Keep books alive.

Keep creating.

Have fun.