Flash Fiction

I recently came across an interesting website where anyone may submit a short two-sentence story for others to read. Your writing may be evaluated on a 1-10 star scale and is viewable in its own personal post.

What I enjoy about this type of website is that it's community-based, a place where writers of all experiences may submit an piece of their art. Flash fiction is also a great way to hone your craft/break writer's block. You are given the opportunity to bare down on your language, characters, plot, tone, etc.

Getting a rating is also a nice touch to see how well you stack up. If you've got an idea for a story but don't know whether it would be successful or not, this website provides you with a quick, impartial critique.

Remember to spread the word yourselves. The more individuals who know about this novel website, the better it will be in your interest. Imagine having hundreds of people rating a snippet of your project?

The Name Game

Writing a story is a challenge in itself; attempting to tell a compelling tale with a plot that hooks the reader and to make them care for your characters is no small task, and yet what I find  to be the most difficult obstacle to overcome is names.

Names need to sound natural, need to feel comfortable. Like bad dialogue, if a name doesn't sound right for your character, then the reader will not invest time in reading their story. There are so many elements that a great story can unravel over, but I have a solution for names that will at least get this part down.

They're like free creative stimulants.

It is that time of year when everyone is graduating from college, and there are fewer more suitable repositories for names than a commencement program. I recently graduated from Monmouth University with 1,032 other graduates, all of them with varying names from different cultures and backgrounds (a perk of living in New Jersey). I highly suggest keeping one of these when going to a friend's or family member's graduation because if you're ever stuck on names, this is the encyclopedic source to search.

I've been several times: a name like "Rachel" stubbornly sticks in my mind, but I don't feel like the name suits my character; it's a type of writer's block that is at times more frustrating because you're certain you can continue writing the story if only the name were right. This same issue plagued recently, and so I turned through the pages of my commencement program till I found the right first and last name combination I felt comfortable. I came across the last name "Flook" and was immediately drawn: it's unique, easy to rhyme, and completely fit my character in ways I planned to write her. While I'm still not crazy over the first name "Lauren," I'm glad to have found such a suitable last name, one I never would have come across without this handy program.

Inspiration strikes in the most unlikely places, so go forth and find your own tools to help make writing a little easier.
 

Comparative Poetry Drafts

Working on poetry is tough. It's often thankless work that most people read and end up scratching their heads over. It elicits responses like "It's nice" or "Sound's pretty," which amount to little more than nothing. I don't expect a Freudian dissection of the work and there is no right answer, but from now on, non-readers of poetry, make your best efforts to focus on a specific—if only one—facet of a poem that will give the artist the satisfaction of a valuable comment toward improvement.

Below are two drafts of a poem I wrote for my seminar in poetry. The first is what I handed in to be workshopped, and with the help of my peers' excellent critiques, I revised it to the poem below the first for submission into my end-of-semester portfolio. Compare and contrast and let me know what you all think of the changes.

Raconteur

Setting craftsman, you crosshatch revelation

quilts for been-theres and wistful savants.      

Pages pop with organic glow, an ebony clarity

pixelated dreamers take into their wisdom chambers.

You serve tonics marked joy, grief, and misery

mixed specially by your sensitivity for savory scribbles made

into sensory salves. Under honeycombed membranes,

a deceptively voluminous body lies waiting

for the jolt to spring forth from comatose layers.

The void's cloaked edges flake, and strips bow back and collapse

to reveal that brilliant, fanfare-confident  

Ah Ha!

My Sweet Muse

She comes without warning,

never at my behest,

to baptize my blotched mind

in sensory salves marked:

joy, grief, love, and rage.

Honeycombed brain chambers ooze

through to fingers and secrete

savory scribbles

in ebony purity

toward that rich, darling

Aha! moment.