Category: Writing Studio

From Flash Fictions to Novels

  1. Flash fiction: Extremely short story less than 1000 words.
  2. Short story: A short story could contain all basic elements of a novel but limited to 3,500-7,500 words.
  3. Novelette: A novelette is longer than short stories. It contains 7,500-17,000 words but basically includes all elements of a short story or a novel.
  4. Novella: A novella is a longer version of a novelette with a word count limited to 17,000-40,000.
  5. Novel: A novel is the most popular kind of fiction that includes all elements of a story such as plot, subplots, character, conflicts. Etc. The word count for a novel is 40,000+.

Flash Fiction

Technology increases the pace of our lives, and we hardly have enough time to read lengthy novels although we still like to read stories. Therefore, the story must be short and readable in a smaller amount of time. The answer is short story. Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Edgar Alen Poe, and other writers write short stories and flash fictions to quench the market demand. This is not, however, the beginning of such a literal constructions. In the tenth century AD, Attar, a Persian poet wrote lyrical flash fictions in The Conference of the Birds. Ferdosi, another Persian writer of the 10th century wrote The Shahnameh (The Book of the Kings). This book contains as many as sixty thousand epic, mythological, and historical couplets loaded with a wealth of philosophical and moral short stories, teachings and guidance. Rumi is another Persian poet who followed the same principles in his book, Masnavi in thirteen century AD.

Hugo and Nebula writing contests categorize short stories below 7500 words. The definition of “Flash Fiction” can be summarized as, a short short story, not more than a thousand words, with a complete structure such as plot, narrative, character, conflict, and resolution that can be read in one siting.

The differences between a short story and flash fiction lies in the development of the two forms and how deeply each element such as character, and plot are explored. Basically, the short story deals with a transient look into the life of a character with brief introduction, conflict, and resolution. Flash fiction, on the other hand, focuses on a single situation for the character such as only the dance scene in the romantic life of a character. Plot in a flash fiction is also less complex and the conflict and resolution are easier to understand.


 

Elements of story

The elements of story are:

  1. Plot (Sequence of events)
  2. Character
  3. Verisimilitude (Believability)
  4. Theme (Point to make)
  5. Subject matter (Realm of creation-Genre)

A. Biography

B. Fable

C. Tragedy

D. Drama

E. Comedy

F. Realistic

G. Fiction

a. Horror

b. Fantasy

c. Science Fiction

d. Allegorical Fiction

e. Symbolical Fiction

f. Magical Realism

g. Historical

      6. View Point

A. First Person


B. Second Person (Not very common)


C. Third Person

    1. Omniscient


  1.  

b. Semi Omniscient

  1.  


6. Scene (Setting – Crafting Scene)

7. Dialogue

8. Style (How to write)

9. Tone

10. Atmosphere (Dominant effect)

11. Symbolism (Indirect method of presentation)


How to write a book description

  1. Concentrate on the main plot. Avoid details. Do not give away conclusion.
  2. Do not exceed 150 words.
  3. Write in present tense and use a third person point of view. It does not matter what the point of view and the tense of the book is. When writing a book description, you are talking to readers and telling them what the book is about.
  4. In order to strengthen your description, use power words such as Delighted, Amazing, Discover, Revealing,. Colossal, Authentic, Remarkable, etc. Do not overdo using such words and limit yourself to using them to about 5-7% of your writing. For example, in a 100-word description use as many as 5-7 power words.
  5. Remember, a book description is a marketing tool. You do not want to impress people with your writing skill but rather attract their attention to the impression it made on other readers.

 

Writing Workshop

We are a Critique Group seeking new members. Please Include 2 paragraphs of your writing sample in the body of the email.

Apply!

Our activities include the following:

1-Presentation – 30 minutes

All members can sign up and present their views and researches about subjects related
to writing. Signing up is optional.

2-Reading and Critique – 1 hr

The members read their writing samples of about 1-2 pages, and others take turn to
critique thereafter.

3-Open discussion -30 minutes

We discuss about subjects related to our group in an attempt to improve the quality of our workshop.

Time: Once a month (2nd Monday of the month),  at 7 pm

Place: A coffee shop in Winter Springs .