For me and my way of working, this has turned out to be a very difficult endeavor. The main difficulty I have is with the time limit as I don't work particularly fast, and this shows in the quality of my entries. Fortunately, it appears there is no requirement to fess up and admit which one is yours unless you happen to win!
Anyway, IMO the quality of my entries is considerably below the norm, especially when it comes to the story idea/plot. I usually just get the trigger, curse it for 10-15 minutes, come up with a half-baked idea, then type as fast as I can to regurgitate it. The story ends 10 minutes before the time limit expires, which is usually before it was supposed to.
Are there any flash vets out there willing to share advice for amateurs like me?
I've considered doing things like thinking up a few ideas ahead of time and hoping one can be reworked given the trigger, but that seems like it might offend against the spirit of the contest.
Last week, I tried humour. Previously I've tried 2nd tense.
Rather than concentrate on plot, I think that it works best to really try and get the word count down and focus on some kind of hook instead. Be it style / character / twist ending or something.
Since the intent of the challenges is to get people writing, and not to create an overly competitive situation, the system is working for you. That's cold comfort, I know, but you are now 3 stories ahead of where you were before. We have some people who are 12 or so stories ahead, without a win, yet.
Techniques? We'll open a techniques thread over a Liberty Hall. One thing you can try is to create a milieu: characters, world and style. It is kosher to flash wihtin your milieu, as long as your story is new. It can also be very difficult to do. So, if you decide to create a milieu, be prepared to abandon it in favor of something totaly new.
mikemunsil
Nevertheless, the primary purpose of these challenges is to get you writing something -- anything, really. If you done that, then you've succeeded.
If you find yourself running out of time, perhaps your idea is too complex. The best advice I can give is to keep things simple. You're not aiming to write a short-story length tale... your goal is to write a tiny Flash fiction piece that is a complete story in itself. It helps to have simple plots, not too many characters, and a clear vision of how you want the story to end. Don't spend any time worrying about characters' names -- simply use the first thing that pops into your head. Same thing with place names, et al. Turn off your internal censor and just go.
That said, it takes some amount of practice to write effective Flash fiction in any amount of time. Add a 90-minute deadline, it's even harder. However, the more you do it, the easier it becomes (mostly).
Lastly, by critiquing other entries, you'll learn a lot; you'll start to see common things to avoid in your own stories. So, each week is a learning experience. Eventually, it all comes together. Write, critque, write, critique... all of this is practice, practice, practice.
But really, the "secret" -- if there really is such a thing -- is to keep it simple. Don't worry about subplots, don't try to explain things in lengthy detail, and avoid writing about what happened to a particular character in the past -- show what is happening right then; make the present the only important thing. Later, after the challenge, you can rewrite to your heart's content, adding color and details, whatever.
You've only just started... don't worry so much about it. Still, there are lots of links on LH about how to write Flash fiction. Give those a look when you have time.
[This message has been edited by HSO (edited August 08, 2005).]
I'm not too worried about whether I win or not, but I am interested in doing the best I can, and improving over time.
Would like to someday be on par with the norm over there.
If it normally takes you hours or days to write 1000 words, compressing that into 90 minutes will stretch you as a writer. It isn't easy to do, but if you look at what you have developed so far, it probably isn't as bad as you might think.
When we were first starting the challenges, one of the most common comments was: I can't believe I wrote something that good in an hour and a half!
The challenges are the roughest of the rough drafts, and it can feel a little embarassing. But you only had 90 minutes. 90 minutes to develope characters, milieu, and plot -- AND WRITE THE STORY!!!!!
Once you have trained yourself to think and type quickly, you will notice improvement. It takes time.
So, Congratulations on completing THREE brand, spanking new stories in as many weeks!
Well, until Mike boots me for ineptitude, I'll keep showing back up. The point is well taken that the challenge forces me to cough out a story per week I wouldn't have otherwise. Who knows, I might strike gold one day in one of those blurbs.
quote:
curse it for 10-15 minutes, come up with a half-baked idea, then type as fast as I can to regurgitate it.
LOL, our goal is to post triggers that do just that to our writers. A trigger that gets people writing is ok, but one that triggers outrage as well as writing is even better! 
One of the fun things about the challenges is that the winner gets to choose the trigger for the next challenge. Methinks there is a lot of getting even going around.
So much the better. It takes passion to write a story that people will feel passionately about.
*sigh* Trust me to make it worse. However, once you crawl your way down a bit, there's some useful advice; somewhat esoteric advice, but still advice.
--Mel
yes, i know.