30 Days of Flash Fiction

It’s the beginning of another month and I’m ready for a challenge. I seem to work better when I have an actual challenge rather than simply writing on the things I am “supposed” to be working on.

For June, I am challenging myself to write a flash fiction piece every day. That’s it. No other rules.

Flash fiction is a complete story written in under 1000 words.

There was a flash challenge that ran in April that I wanted to complete. It would have been interesting if it hadn’t been for the two other ones I had going already, i.e., The A-toZ Blog Challenge and Camp NaNoWriMo. There was little time left after all of that, not to mention energy after working all day also.

It’s been a struggle to balance all of the areas of writing that I prefer to do. Between blogging and working on my novel, there has been little time left over for working on my flash fiction.

I’m not sure what appeal to me about flash except that I like things in miniature.

I find myself drawn to things in miniature such as doll houses, tiny houses and fairy gardens. Each of these is a complete blog post in and of themselves. I’m not going to begin to analyze my attraction to tiny things.

This past weekend I wrote a piece of just over 300 words and by the end I had tears in my eyes. I often wonder if, when I have an emotional reaction to the writing, it is the words or that I am to close to the content of the story. The story is one that I hope to be able to publish but it still needs a little work. And a title.

One issue I am concerned about is how do I decide on things to write about. As a general rule I don’t have a list of ideas to write about, at least none that inspire me to sit down and write.

I have a couple of cups of ideas to draw from that I made last year when I was preparing for NaNoWriMo. I didn’t have to use them but I’ve saved them. They may come in handy now.

I think this is a question that every aspiring and experienced writer has. Where do the ideas come from? How do you know that an idea is viable?

Generally I don’t worry so much about this as when I need to the ideas often come. But since I am attempting to write a flash piece each day for the month of June I will need some help, especially since I write the first thing in in the morning. Ideas don’t just float around in the early hours of the dawn.

My plan is to use both my idea cups and the Story Spinner. What is the Story Spinner, do you ask? It is a fantastic idea creator made by Bonnie Neubauer. This seldom fails to help me get writing. I’ve even used it as exercises for writing retreats. One side has recipes for exercises and the other has sections for starters, settings and words to add to a story. The possibilities are endless.

I won’t guarantee that the work I do in the next month will be quality but it will be a practice in story building. I am hoping this gives me a bunch to choose from to begin sending work out. I’ll let you know how it goes.

That will be my next goal – to send work out for publication. That is a slippery slope indeed.

Where do your ideas come from?

Anyone else up for this challenge?