Not sure how I feel about flashing.

So maybe I'm old, or maybe it's just new to me, but I've been thinking about flash fiction lately.  For anyone who doesn't know ( I didn't until a few weeks ago) Flash fiction is an extremely short story: a thousand words or less.  I can spew out a thousand words in my sleep. I once wrote a 100 word sentence, and the Earth moved, but that’s a different story.

An entire story in a thousand words or less:  it’s a challenge to craft an entire story in so few words, and yet there are some really good ones out there.  It’s not just about cutting out extra words, useful for any writer; it’s about making every word count. Every description has to be essential to the story; every name needs to convey a meaning.

It’s a lot like trying to be Hammett writing the Maltese Falcon using names like Spade, Cairo, and Gutman to convey added description the characters. Every one of those names tells you about who the character is. Spade is hardened and digging for the truth, Gutman is opulent used to satisfying his needs, and Cairo is exotic. Joel Smith just wouldn’t have the mystery about him and Joel Jones would never be involved with Wilmer.

A good analogy turned into a tangent. And this is why Flash fiction is so challenging to me. The trains of thought and tangents are what I enjoy about writing.  I enjoy being lost in my own translations of my subconscious.

I also enjoy seeing my ideas in print, even if it’s just html. So I’m trying my hand at flashing. Right now everything seems to have a sudden twist at the end, and when I was a kid everything I wrote involved Luke Skywalker and Dr. Zaius, so I’m sure the twisted flashing will go away just like Luke did.

In the meantime every time I flash it’s a chance to look closely at the words, to find the double meanings, to keep digging until I reach a Gutman.