flash-fiction | VICTORIA GEMMELL

This weekend I attended the Scottish Association of Writers’ Conference, where writing groups from all across Scotland congregated at the Westerwood Hotel. The weekend was jam-packed full of workshops, talks from Industry experts and adjudications. I was delighted to win Second and Third prize for the humorous short story competition. One of my stories The Opposite of Cake was an extended version of a short flash I wrote a couple of years ago during my blog challenge, so a great example of how creative tasks you set yourself can lead onto bigger things.

I attended a brilliant workshop run by the talented Catherine Ogston, where she taught us about Hermit Crab Flash Fiction. This is where you borrow from an existing form or structure, such as writing a story in list form, or as an instruction. I had no idea this type of structure was given this name. The exercises in the class inspired a new idea for me. I also attended another brilliant workshop delivered by writer Colette Coen where she showed us how to use memory to inspire ideas. I came away with two new story ideas from the exercises, and enjoyed using different techniques to kick-start my creativity.

Writing competitions played a massive role in building my initial confidence when starting out as a writer, and have continued to give me much needed boosts along the way to encourage me to keep going.

I first attended the Scottish Association of Writers’ conference when I was seventeen. I didn’t pluck up the courage to start entering their competitions until my twenties and I nearly fell off my chair when I heard my name being called out as a second place winner in the SAW General Short Story competition during the early years. I was secretly relieved I hadn’t won first place as that would have meant standing up in front of hundreds of attendees to read out my work, which I wasn’t quite ready for (They no longer expect winners to read live!) It ignited a much needed belief that I could do this, I could actually write stories that people enjoyed reading.

Fast forward a few years later, I started to get short pieces published in literary journals. Then I won the SAW TC Farries trophy for my first proper attempt at writing a Young Adult novel. This gave me the courage to start submitting my book to agents and publishers, and winning this competition also gave me something significant to mention in my pitch letter.

When my first book was out on submission, (which I’m sure any writer realises can be a brutal time of highs and lows), I continued writing shorter fiction. When I received Highly Commended in the WordswithJAM short story competition it gave me a lift. The best part was attending the launch night for the competition print anthology at Foyles Bookshop in London with my Mum. I asked her to come with me as I worried it might be my one and only ‘book launch’, and I wanted to celebrate properly. As it turned out, it wasn’t long after I had my own launch for my first Young Adult novel at Waterstones. I think the night in Foyles gave me that extra needed self-belief at the time.

An Earthless Melting Pot Launch – winners at Foyles Bookshop London 2013

This is why I continue to enter competitions. There are so many moments during the rollercoaster of writing and releasing work out into the world that challenge our self-belief. It’s nice to receive some concrete validation from time to time. It’s also a bit of an adrenaline rush receiving emails or announcements where an editor or judge tells you they have selected you as their winner, or placed you on a short list. When I won The Writing Magazine school-themed short story competition a couple of years ago it was published in the magazine and on their website (see here). It was exciting to win, and even better when readers of the magazine looked me up on social media to tell me how much they enjoyed my story. Knowing my writing connected with others and made them feel something is what makes it all worthwhile. A big motivation to write is to feel connected to something bigger, and make sense of the world.

Being surrounded by writers at the SAW conference this weekend also reminded me the importance of this community. One of the speakers highlighted that when you are part of a like-minded tribe and you share your real-life stories (never mind fictional) with all of the ups and downs this creative life throws your way, they will understand in ways no-one else can really comprehend.

If you feel brave enough to send your work out into the world, here are some competitions/sites I have come across recently. Thanks to Catherine in her workshop for highlighting some of these. Happy writing!

THE BATH SHORT STORY AWARD | International Short Story Competition Closes soon!

Flash Fiction writing competition

Home | New Flash Fiction Review

The Plaza Prizes The Plaza Prizes – International Literary Awards – US$25,000 Prize Fund

Writing Prize — The Alpine Fellowship

Today’s post focuses on Flash Fiction, and how it might help you develop your writing. I started experimenting with Flash Fiction when I got serious about sending work out to publications. Tackling 100 or 200 word stories felt less daunting in terms of potentially being able to complete something during busy periods of my life. When tackling big projects like writing a novel, there are so many moments where it can be tempting to abandon the project; especially at the ‘sticky middle’ where it can feel like the whole story might never take shape, or even at the start if you can’t quite translate the ideas in your head onto the page and your characters aren’t revealing themselves in the way you’d hoped they might.

With Flash Fiction there’s no space to let your brain slow you down with doubt, as you just need to run with your idea and let the words take shape, with the challenge of still attempting to capture a meaningful ‘moment in time’ that tells some kind of story.

When I was a teenager I loved experimenting with poetry, and for me flash fiction became an extension of that creativity, as I tend to use a lot more imagery in my shorter work. In fact one of the first pieces of work I ever got published was labelled ‘Prose Poetry’, a cross-between poetry and flash fiction. Thanks go to Amy Burns for publishing Performance in her literary journal Spilling Ink (sadly the journal is no longer). Before I started to submit Performance, it won first place in a competition, which gave me the confidence to start sending it out. It was actually accepted for the Herald Saturday story section, but when a year went by without it ever appearing in print I realised the editor had forgotten about me. I was delighted when it then found a home with Spilling Ink. This was my first taste of the rollercoaster of sending work out! You can read Performance in the short story section of my website.

There have been times where I’ve cut longer stories to fit Flash Fiction entry rules, and that in itself can be a really helpful exercise. It starts to highlight unnecessary ‘filler’ words you might use a lot, and can give you more confidence in conveying a meaning or scene without over-explaining it to your reader. It teaches you in real-time how to make every word count.

I mentioned in an earlier post that learning how to make every word count can help if you are writing pacey, fast-moving novels. If you’re writing a mystery or thriller, or tackling an unsettling topic, you want to keep your reader feeling a bit on edge, and not get bogged down in long over-written passages of narrative which have no purpose.

If you fancy giving the form a try, check out The Flash Flood Journal It’s a great place to submit flash fiction and join in with a community of writers whose work is posted throughout National Flash Fiction Day. This year National Flash Fiction Day falls on 14 June so that gives you plenty of time to work on a piece (or two). You can read some of my flash fiction which featured in the journal over the years here

I’ll leave you with some tips I shared when I delivered a flash fiction writing workshop at a local writers group.

Top Tips

Make every word count – you don’t have much space for backstory and a lot of summarising and don’t get bogged down by unnecessary detail
Very important to ‘show’ not tell when working with limited words – show how your character is feeling by their actions and dialogue
Get into the action quickly – create intrigue to draw your reader in
Create emotion – what mood do you want to create? What do you want your reader to feel? (fear, sadness, hope, humour, romance)
Figure out what is at the heart of your story – what message do you want to get across? What are you trying to convey? Getting to the heart of your story helps you make every word count
Be creative with strong imagery and symbolism – this can draw the reader in and help you build the mood/setting
Still tell a story – have characters (not too many), a setting, something happening and then some kind of resolution
Write around a single moment in your protagonist’s day/life – often location will take on a bigger meaning, or perhaps an object
Often end with a surprise or impact – if you go for a twist try to avoid a cliché
Read some flash fiction to give you an idea of the structure

VICTORIA GEMMELL

Writer

Tag Archives: flash-fiction

Competitions and Connections (blog post 8 of series)

Make Every Word Count (blog post 7 of series)