My DIY MFA: Flash Fiction
Do you have MFA money?
Ever since I realized that MFAs are expensive as hell, I’ve wanted to create my own curriculum — with the help of the internet.
In Oh, Write’s new series My DIY MFA, I’ll be sharing what the internet has taught me about various forms of creative writing.
The first subject in my curriculum is flash fiction.
Below, you’ll see videos I’ve watched, stories I’ve read, and how I’ve applied what I’ve learned.
DIY MFA: What is Flash Fiction?
Jack Smith, a writer for The Writer magazine, says the word count of a flash fiction piece “runs anywhere from 140 characters to over a thousand words, generally capping out at 1500.”
Many popular writers have written flash fiction including Langston Hughes, Jamaica Kincaid, and Zora Neale Hurston.
Flash fiction fascinated me because of its near absence from the large online writing communities throughout Twitter and YouTube.
Most writers I see who have a lively internet presence are focused on producing novels. The popularity of novel-centered writing challenges such as NaNoWriMo probably has something to do with this.
Writers that use other mediums, such as flash fiction and screenwriting, get less representation.
Ever since I dove back into creative writing in early 2020, I’ve been almost exclusively writing novels. Your girl is ready to try new things and expand her skill sets.
Writing flash fiction can also help me strengthen skills such as editing and rewriting — which take a while to practice when you’re constantly dealing with 60,000+ word behemoth-sized projects.
DIY MFA: The Best Informational Videos on Flash Fiction
I learned a lot about flash fiction from the following videos. Be sure to support the creatives behind them by subscribing to them on YouTube!
Joy Baglio’s point about understanding the scope of your project resonated with me. I’ve never considered scope before. I just took whatever idea came and tried to stomp it into a flash fiction piece — even though I knew it in my soul it was meant to be a novel or a short story.
That frustration with my ideas sent me down a creative spiral. Joy Baglio’s point made me realize that sometimes the scope of your ideas doesn’t correlate with the content you hope to produce.
When something’s meant to be flash fiction, you’ll know.
DIY MFA: Flash Fiction I Enjoyed Reading
Reading flash fiction has helped me learn what draws me into the story as a reader. Then, I can use those factors (themes, genres, plot points, etc.) to write my own piece.
- “Housewife” by Amy Hempel
So little words. Yet, I have so many questions.
2. “This is How You Fail to Ghost Him” by Victoria McCurdy
I really enjoyed this piece’s use of a second-person point of view. I’ll have to play around with it in a future piece.
3. “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid
I also love this piece’s format, almost stream-of-consciousness.
DIY MFA: What Have I Been Doing?
I plan to take inspiration from the pieces I’ve read and create flash fiction in a variety of formats. My current plans include creating flash fiction pieces in the following formats:
- A paragraph or less
- Second-person point of view
- Stream of consciousness
I’m currently editing a flash fiction piece that’s not in the above three formats — but I like it! *excited squeal*. I’m working through the points that the above videos make.
I hope to share my first piece of flash fiction with y’all sometime in January *crosses fingers*. I’m trying to channel my internet cousin Evelyn From the Internets and not be afraid to be seen trying.
See y’all then — I’ve got to get back to reading.
EDIT 1/6/21: Here’s one of the flash fiction pieces I’ve been working on. I’d love if you checked it out!
Have you written flash fiction? Where have you learned about it? What are your favorite pieces? Give me the tea in the comments!
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Nia Simone McLeod is a writer, content creator, and pop culture enthusiast from Richmond, Virginia. Follow her on Twitter, Tumblr, or Instagram for more dope digital content.