Flash Fiction

Flash fiction is a short story that can typically be one or two typewritten pages. It can also be known as micro fiction or a short short story. As with all forms of fiction, a determining factor is word count, but I think there are more important elements to consider for any story. I'll dedicate a future post for word count. 

I think much can be said about a story that is perhaps no longer than a page or two. This brevity allows a writer to come up with a simple story that can mean a great deal. There are thousand page epics out there that describe every possible detail and fill the pages with material that can easily be cut without losing the overall importance of a story. Then, there is the opposite found in flash fiction. A story depicting a single brief moment can be a life changing event or at least of interesting note.

I've never liked incredibly long pieces of fiction. The days of Dickens are gone. We don't have to write more words just to get better pay for a commissioned work. Writers have greater freedom to write as much as they want, although many publishers are still hung up on word count.

I'm from the school of writing that believes less is more. Don't bog down a story with pointless dialogue that's only used to fill lines. I think the worst thing us writers can do is write too much exposition. This can lead to a path that goes against the rule of showing versus telling. Instead of using so much exposition to tell a story, use dialogue and action. These are the meat and potatoes of fiction.

Flash fiction is an admirable form. Although not as popular as others, it's great practice for learning to be concise in writing. I've used the lessons I've learned from flash fiction and applied them to longer works.    

Characters

Characters in stories are normally used to help advance the plot, if there is one at all. A piece of fiction might not be that great, but a character or characters can make up for it. Maybe one of them has a strange quirk that seems to be completely out of place in a story until that person does something to push the plot forward or assist with concluding the story with his own unusual personality or set of skills. Regardless, characters are important in fiction. If at least one of them is fascinating, that can make a huge difference with how a story is received by others. With enough luck, you might end up writing a timeless character who still gets used in other mediums long after you're gone. Characters like these are remembered and carry on due to a sense of enduring appeal.

Now creating the back stories of characters is another fun process. Whether this information is included in the story through exposition, dialogue, or omitted altogether, writers should create a back story for every character. What was the character like in childhood? Why does he act the way he does? What are his aspirations? How did that breakup with his longtime love effect him? These are questions that writers can ask and answer to create characters who feel like they could live and breathe in the real world. Characters who are based on real people are another interesting dynamic. It shows that fiction and reality can easily blend together. Some might find it a little disconcerting, but that's what happens when you have a good story that feels real.

Without characters, there wouldn't be fiction, or at least not something interesting to read. Writers must love, hate, and tolerate various characters. They are like the ammunition for a gun. Characters are people we relate to on some level. This is one aspect that makes fiction exciting.       

A Writer's Preface

The written word is a form of expression that is like no other ability possessed by humans. I know this from personal experience. Writing was what helped me cope with my own voicelessness that came from fear of judgement and the unwillingness to display vulnerability. I was able to write the words only to keep them to myself. They were nobody's business but my own. I didn't write to become rich and famous. I wasn't even that good at writing when I started doing it regularly in my teens. The reason I did it was to help generate my own imagination, where I thought of myself as a person experiencing a plethora of adventures, living as a hero, having confidence, being with people who admired me, and examining the deeper questions that we all ask ourselves. The art of writing fiction was what helped me fill my emptiness. College changed me for the better, but the writing stayed. In fact, it grew as I did. A greater sense of realism came to play. I wrote stories about everyday life with elements of my own life. None of it was perfect. It was a reflection of the human experience. Even now, my work is still evolving.

My name is Bryan Beach. I'm a writer. This is something I've been doing now for almost half of my life. The style and direction of my work has changed since the beginning, but many parts have been quite consistent. I primarily write literary fiction. It amuses me how so many people think that writers only work in particular genres of fiction like mystery, romance, or fantasy. When I'm asked what kind of writing I do, I'll answer and then typically get a blank stare because many just don't know what literary fiction is and how great it can be. I'm all for writing about life. Most commercial fiction holds little interest to me. I don't care for popular fiction and the institution of books in series form. I write what I like, which includes the everyday life of people that offer up examples of the human condition. I also tend to write about Asian American characters whose ethnicity is not the driving force of the story. In this way, the whole idea of the ethnic American experience doesn't have to be about race and identity, but about how people experience life. Perhaps this can border on a level of colorblindness and negates the purpose of stories about ethnic identity, but what I try to do is find a balance to neither exploit nor suppress the existence of people who are outwardly different from the majority of the population. Anyway, I like to think that my work speaks for itself.

In recent years, I've written stories that center on violence, the absurd, and how these two can come together to offer insights about life. Such stories can help show people the deeper truths of what it means to be alive. It's something I've given much thought to and intend to explore in future work.

My purpose for this blog is to help organize my own thoughts though practical exercise. Writing about the writing process often helps me get myself together before I work on a story. At the same time, I enjoy sharing such thoughts with others, even if they don't write themselves. The discussion of writing is never-ending. There's always an aspect to talk about in a different way, even if it has the same meaning as something that was said thousands of other times before. This is why I still write about writing. Several of the characters in my writing have been writers. Beyond writing what you know, I think writers as characters are a great driving force, especially if it's their voices telling the story. Alas, I could talk about this long enough to come up with a book and sell it to universities as required course reading.       

The postings to follow will include theories and insights about writing, and perhaps excerpts of my work. Comments are encouraged. We won't agree on everything, but all I request is don't be an asshole. There's a difference between criticizing and bashing.

Enjoy the words.

Midori, the magic machine.