On Flash Writing
by Michael L. Wilson
In the Beginning...

 

It seems appropriate that when beginning a new column on flash fiction writing, that you start at the beginning of the writing process.

I begin a flash fiction writing session with a random writing topic or a first line. I have thousands of topics in a giant barrel of colored word tickets that I've created by cutting words out of magazines and pasting them to these tickets. These words can be ordinary words such as "jump," "car," "blue," and "whining," unusual and technical words such as: "Doberman pincher," "pneumatic drill," and "spyware," or provocative statements and phrases that give you a good line to start a story, such as: "He said that," "creating a ruckus," and "After you make your bed."

Once I have a topic, I follow these six rules to create a first draft:

1. Write in a time-limited session.
   I use the timer on my watch or my trusty mechanical blue kitchen timer, set it for ten minutes and write. You can choose any amount of time that you wish. Some people write fifteen, twenty, even thirty minutes in one continuous session, others like shorter, five-minute writing sessions. Experiment and find a time that works best for you.

2. Write fast.
   During the entire session, my hands are moving, whether I'm writing with pen and paper or typing on the laptop, I don't stop. I don't pause for inspiration. I don't search for that perfect word… I just write down the word that is good enough for now. If I get stuck, I keep writing down the last word over and over on the page until my brain skips onto the next groove in my cerebral track. The best way to avoid editing is writing fast. So fast that the editor doesn't have time to keep up with your fingers.

   If you write on a computer and can't resist the urge to delete or change words in mid-stream, turn your monitor off and write. When you can't see what you are doing, you can jack directly into your muse and hear her whispers.

3. Don't edit or judge the work.
   Don't edit your first draft. This is not the time for editing. This is the time to get the raw words down on the page. Don't worry about grammar, spelling, usage or punctuation. Don't cross out words or backspace over the misspellings. Don't listen to your critic's voice screaming "This is horrible." "How can you call yourself a writer if you always spell recieve wrong (misspelling intentional)?" "No one will like it." "You are too fat, dumb, ugly, lazy, [insert your own irrelevant self-derogatory comment here] to write". Fight it, and keep writing.

4. Listen to your subconscious mind.
   Let your mind wander where it wills. Explore whatever thought pops into your head and don't worry about guiding this draft into a coherent story just yet. Your mind knows what it wants to say, and it might not be the exact thing that you thought you'd say. Just write the words that appear in your head. Don't worry that they seem inappropriate, unkind or crazy. Get them down on the page.

5. Embrace your dark side.
   We bury a part of our human nature under the cellar floor. The part of us that is selfish, violent, jealous, and a bit crazy. The part of us that wants to kick poodles, shatter the good china, and shoot the stupid asshole who just cut us off in traffic. We repress this part of us because the world above the ground finds it to be distasteful, discomforting, non-PC, and a bit inconvenient. What remains is the syrupy, sweet part of us that doesn't hate anyone, loves cute kittens, puppies, and bunnies even though they shit on the new carpet. This is the boring part of you that never gets angry, never thinks about your favorite sexual position, and feels nothing but love for everyone and everything around you, like a slobbery, lobotomized golden retriever.

   Writing is where you must unleash the beast. How can you understand yourself or write truthfully if you have erased half of your personality? How can you write a story about an evil character if you cannot tap into the emotions and thoughts that make the character do the evil thing? The beast needs room to run, so let it.

6. All first drafts suck.
   Hopefully, you are writing at the speed of light and cannot hear what your critic is saying about your work, but you still might see him in the distance in your rearview mirror, shouting out faintly… "This is horrible. What makes you think you can write?" When you finish a piece, your first instinct is to read it and (more than likely) crumple it up, douse it with gasoline, and set it on fire. Resist. Let it stay safe, dry and uncrumpled. What you feel is entirely natural. Most writers experience this, and work through it. Give the draft time to cool off and don't look at it again for a couple of days or weeks. You might find that a little distance allows you to objectively evaluate your work.

And when the timer beeps or rings, I finish up my last sentence, stretch my fingers, pick another topic, and start again. It is a magical process. When you are writing fast, you often lose yourself in the moment and amaze yourself when you read the work later.

Here are some of the best flash fiction story starters from my classes:

• He/She was the sort of person who…
• Where were you last night?
• I remember when…
• You won't believe…
• How could you do this to me?

Give them a try! See you in the summer!