Paul Blaney's Blog - Posts Tagged "funny"
Flash Fiction Funny
Length is a strange thing. I've always been drawn to writing short stories but 'short' used to mean 8,000 or 10,000 words. Then it was 5,000. More recently, I've hardly written a story that's longer than 1,500 words. Many are under 1,000. Is my concentration span shrinking with age? Or along with the culture's? I like to think not. It may in part be work-related. I have less time, so I like to work on a story where I can get in and out. I also like to be able to polish every word. To feel that every word is just right, the rhythms too.
I just received a copy of Flash Fiction Funny, an anthology that has one of my stories in it. And I'm loving it. Reading the stories there, I sort of wonder why anyone would want to read, or write, longer ones. But that's silly, of course. Or maybe it's just me.
A project I've considered from time to time is writing three versions of the same story: one 5,000 words, one 500, and one 50. As a way of seeing what's lost and gained by brevity. I'll do it one day.
I just received a copy of Flash Fiction Funny, an anthology that has one of my stories in it. And I'm loving it. Reading the stories there, I sort of wonder why anyone would want to read, or write, longer ones. But that's silly, of course. Or maybe it's just me.
A project I've considered from time to time is writing three versions of the same story: one 5,000 words, one 500, and one 50. As a way of seeing what's lost and gained by brevity. I'll do it one day.
