Yesterday, thanks to the encouragement of a very capable writer friend (and after a several-month-long detour), I became a member of an online flash fiction critique group. It's a group limited to 70 members, and it has a very disciplined structure. As a member, I'm required to submit one story a month and critique four others.
Based on the limited experiences I've had with flash fiction this year (some of which I've documented in earlier posts), I expect to learn a lot. The requirement to stay engaged with consistent critique--and to routinely produce new material--should have wonderful side-effects beyond improving my skills.
As a man who claims to love writing, a large part of me believes, at some barely conscious level, that inspiration--and wonderful stories--should flow without a battle. But the truth is, I'm happy to have some external encouragement to produce stories.
An aside: Groups like this would be a particularly great outlet for writers who can't find others to commune with in their own hometowns.
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I forgot to mention that I think it best to save the reading of your story to some kind of MP3 player and go listen to it somewhere away fro...
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Recalling the brief conversation we had last month, I think this is also referred to as "sudden fiction?" Now I'd like to pull out some of those anthologies I've saved -- I've seen some good flash fiction around here somewhere....
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