Burst Culture Fiction

[Zombipanda]

Here's why I like doing this:

My first story, the one about the celebrity impersonator, was an idea I had a few weeks ago. I began thinking about how to turn it into a full-length story and I couldn't. It was a good idea - a professional celebrity impersonator meets the guy he's been impersonating and finds out that he's not what people think he is. But every time I started writing it, I felt like it was going to turn out boring and tedious. So I realized that I could simply start the story at the end and take all of the punch that the story would've had had it been several pages and take out everything that would've dragged it down.

That wouldn't work with every idea, but I think it worked there. Kurt Vonnegut's fifth rule to writing short stories is "Start as close to the end as possible".

That's what I did.

You see, that's the thing about it. I can see the potential for your idea to work as a very good short story, or even short novel. It's just about doing the leg-work to make it work. I feel like condensing it into something so small, you sell the idea short. It's blowing the possibilities of a story with strong potential impact by harrowing it back down to an idea. Instead of letting the idea grow naturally into a story, you cut the legs out from underneath it during the first or second step of the actual creative process. And what you're left with is a movie trailer.

 

[moonmaster]

Well that points out the other thing you're forgetting: No one is going to be making a living off this.

Even if you can make a pittance off of putting your stories online, you're going to need to have some other, more developed writing outlet. No one will be selling these kinds of stories in book stores, and no one in their right mind would pay for them.

Again, this isn't some terrifying threat to all prose fiction, it's just a strange new way that people can write fiction online.

You see, that's the thing about it. I can see the potential for your idea to work as a very good short story, or even short novel. It's just about doing the leg-work to make it work. I feel like condensing it into something so small, you sell the idea short. It's blowing the possibilities of a story with strong potential impact by harrowing it back down to an idea. Instead of letting the idea grow naturally into a story, you cut the legs out from underneath it during the first or second step of the actual creative process. And what you're left with is a movie trailer.

But see, I tried to expand it. It was going to be crap.

The full story wouldn't have been able to be much longer anyways, unless I intended to throw in a lot of filler, and the climax where the protagonist meets the celebrity had no way of being compelling unless I made it really over the top, which would've ruined the rest of the story's tone.

 

[Zombipanda]

Well that points out the other thing you're forgetting: No one is going to be making a living off this.

Even if you can make a pittance off of putting your stories online, you're going to need to have some other, more developed writing outlet. No one will be selling these kinds of stories in book stores, and no one in their right mind would pay for them.

Again, this isn't some terrifying threat to all prose fiction, it's just a strange new way that people can write fiction online.

Except it is. There's already anthologies which cater to "flash fiction" and as far as I can tell, 365 Tomorrows is an attempt at legitimizing it as a profitable market for writing.

Anyway, I'm not worried about this killing longer term fiction. If anything, it's merely symptomatic of a long-building social trend (YouTube, I'm looking at you).

Edit: It's niche writing, but it highlights a downward trend in the attention spans of the public.

But see, I tried to expand it. It was going to be crap.

The full story wouldn't have been able to be much longer anyways, unless I intended to throw in a lot of filler, and the climax where the protagonist meets the celebrity had no way of being compelling unless I made it really over the top, which would've ruined the rest of the story's tone..

That's a sign you need to set the idea aside and let it slow boil for a while.

 

[moonmaster]

Except it is. There's already anthologies which cater to "flash fiction" and as far as I can tell, 365 Tomorrows is an attempt at legitimizing it as a profitable market for writing.

Anyway, I'm not worried about this killing longer term fiction. If anything, it's merely symptomatic of a long-building social trend (YouTube, I'm looking at you).

I don't agree with the idea of it being very profitable and they're dumb for thinking it will be. But it works as what it is and it's harmless.

You know, I'm going to go ahead and expand "Look-A-Like" into a longer story. I doubt that it will significantly improve it, but I'll see what you guys think.

 

[Zombipanda]

I don't agree with the idea of it being very profitable and they're dumb for thinking it will be. But it works as what it is and it's harmless.

That doesn't make it valid. My point isn't that it's a hazard to legitimate story writing. It just feels like it's an attempt to market drawing board ideas. It's not selling a story. It's selling the notes to a story.

Regardless, if you do an Amazon search for "flash fiction", you'll get three pages of results. There is a market for it.

You know, I'm going to go ahead and expand "Look-A-Like" into a longer story. I doubt that it will significantly improve it, but I'll see what you guys think.

Good for you.

 

[Zombipanda]

So, here's what I'm thinking - a blog-based, daily episodic series of "flash fiction" modeled on Ovid's mock-epic Metamorphosis.