That's how I see it -- and the whole point of the exercise. Dan's approach is a little different from mine: I don't aim to rewrite to patch up the wounds; I go in with the intention of making the story as short as possible. Slide over to the Writers Digest website and look through their Weekly Writing Prompt entries; I've seen some excellent stuff there, and the limit is 500 words.rick tornello wrote:I thought FLASH by definition was 1000 words or less.
Yes, no,?
RT
In other words, my approach is to compress the story before I start writing it. Of course, I exceed the limit and have to cut. But I consciously begin by saying, "Characters have strange experience, do something about it. THE END."
No, it still isn't easy.
Tao, as to your other question, I've seen a few stories that were entered in flash and then resubmitted in longer form here. The longer versions show up after the flash, though, so that doesn't violate the character-reuse prohibition. If you develop a character you really like, just change his/her/its name for reuse elsewhere.