How An Old Country Song Taught Me To Write Better Flash Fiction
It is all about the story
Writing short fiction is hard. The author must capture your attention quickly, then using a minimum amount of words, keep it until the very end. If you are lucky, you can add a surprise ending that leaves the reader thinking or at least brings a smile to their face.
Much has been written on the subject, of how to be a better fiction writer. Too often it encourages writers to give more detail than necessary. Therein lies the problem. If you write too many words you risk boring the reader to death. Too few words and you fail to get your message across.
What’s the point of this article? The point is don’t use more words than necessary to tell your story.
Fiction vs. Non-fiction
In the last few years, I have transitioned from a non-fiction technical writer to a fiction author. The evolution has not been swift. I find myself falling back on old habits of being specific and leaving nothing to the imagination. When you write a technical manual accuracy is critical. Leaving details to the reader’s imagination is a recipe for disaster.
Let their imagination go wild
