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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
A prize-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

TELL ME MORE

Flesh on the bones: Beyond the 99-word story #flashfiction

27/4/2018

10 Comments

 
I wrote recently about how practising the 99-word story strengthens my editing muscle. But, of course, the discipline can also have benefits in the other direction, planting a seed that can grow into a longer piece of fiction. The recently published Congress of Rough Writers Flash Fiction anthology contains five such expanded stories (including one of mine) along with the original 99 words. I not only relished reading the other four on their own merits, but I also wondered about the different ways we’d fleshed out our original bones. Would a closer examination of the authors’ process from flash to the longer story (or, in one case, from long to flash) help elucidate that enigmatic creature, creativity? Here’s what three of the other authors told me, along with my own 99 words. (Photos and links are from/to the relevant author page on the Congress of Rough Writers list.)

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Unfolding Drama by Geoff Le Pard
 
The idea came from an incident on my honeymoon when I misunderstood my flight time, as in the flash. When asked to extend I imagined the fairytale element - in my head as a willow-pattern or woodcut. The modern wrapper came to me from a conversation with my wife; she described a woman who ran a cafe near her university who never stopped running to serve, often watched with fascination by her customers. With the elements in my head, putting them together took no time. The only question was the ending: humorous, ambiguous or happy? I’m still not sure....


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The Crimson Sky by Ann Edall-Robson
 
Writing the original flash for Crimson Sky, I had definite thoughts as to what I wanted to say regarding the prompt provided. In the longer version, the mental pictures surrounding the original flash were instrumental in taking me to the next level of the journey. The story easily flowed, even to the point of where I thought I knew how it would finish; however, it came as no surprise when I reached the planned ending and I was faced with the dilemma to stop the story with no future or twist the mind into thinking there could be more.


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Normandy by Pete Fanning
  
The prompt was Frayed and I thought of Chloe—my main character from a work in progress. Sixteen, Chloe had just recently lost her mother to cancer and was struggling to adapt to living with her aunt and uncle.
 
In the longer scene, Chloe is listening to the music she enjoyed with her mother. But I cut the music to focus instead on a picture of Chloe’s mother at the beach. Next, I cut through Chloe’s anger to reveal her biggest fear: losing not just her mother but the memories they shared. Perhaps the ability to feel at all.


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Country House Hotel by Anne Goodwin
 
My response to the prompt “surprise” derived from an aspect of my family mythology, more in the manner of “what if” than “BOTS”. The seed grew with a related flash the following month on “history, near or far”. My longer version expanded the back story, developing the characters, their motivations and unspoken resentments, partly driven by reader feedback. I kept to three characters throughout – two adult siblings and their mother – moving from first to third person for the story. But having identified closely with the flash-fiction narrator, I surprised myself with a gender swap, introduced to distinguish the siblings.



Checking out my first attempt at the flash fiction challenge, which followed a few weeks of hovering in the audience, I was interested to find it was a fictional memoir, or a condensed version of a character’s story arc. It seems that the only way I could find the confidence to compose a 99-word story was if I had a longer version in mind. In fact, I did begin a novel based on this character until stronger ideas took over. But, although, like Pete, I’ve often reworked material from longer fiction (published novels, to-be-published and WIP) to meet the challenge, I particularly appreciate the stand-alone pieces that have taken even me by surprise.


There’ll be a few more of my extended flashes in my own short story anthology due to be published in November. In the meantime,
here’s a flash from 2016 which became the short story “Blood” published by Fictive Dream.

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A boy and his dog

Collecting them from the waiting room, it’s clear his biggest problem is his mother. Anxious, overindulgent; but here, I make the rules.

Once he sees the needle, he screams. Red-faced, the mother does her best. I try the talking puppet, the Donald Duck voice. His wailing ricochets off the walls. The whole department’s quaking now.

Okay, I say. Bring her in! The mutt trails muddy pawprints across the floor. I hate to think where those feet have been.

The kid goes quiet, even smiles. Not a murmur as I draw the blood. Maybe I’ll get an assistance dog myself.




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This week’s flash fiction challenge has sent me fishing in my brain for ideas. I’ve found myriad fish-related thoughts, but none hooked me enough to develop into a 99-word story until I remembered there’s a fish tank in the building that’s central to my current WIP, and hopefully my third novel, Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home.

Inside the goldfish bowl

After her injection, Matty enters the lounge, eschewing the armchairs lining the room. Not because of the dull ache where the needle pierced her derriere. Not because the wipe-clean upholstery sticks to her skin. But because she feels too energised for idleness.

From behind the glass partition, a student observes Matty’s elegance in circling the room. Passing their tank, the goldfish pause their back and forth to watch too. Until a maid scattering crumbs across the water makes them swim to the surface, mouths agape. Magic dust to keep them merry. Without it, this place would send them mad.

Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
10 Comments
Charli Mills
28/4/2018 02:23:50 am

Hi Anne, I went off to read "Blood" which turned out to be a deeper dive from your starting point of a 99-word story and when I returned, my comment was gone! Before I reconstruct it, I thought I'd wait to see if it were yet in moderation (or spam). I greatly enjoyed and appreciate your post!

Reply
Annecdotist
28/4/2018 07:02:44 am

So sorry about that Charli. I thought it was only WordPress who was so rude to visitors. Nothing in my Spam folder unfortunately :-(
Thanks for reading Blood.

Reply
Charli Mills
2/5/2018 05:01:36 am

Ah, well, such are the fickle winds of the blogosphere. Equal opportunity by all blog brands to dash the comments of others! :-)

I find it interesting that all four writers use fiction to explore themes, experiences of works in progress. In many ways, it reflects the well-worn adage, "write what you know," but really I think writers are wanting to dig deeper into what they know. Geoff combined different experiences; Ann knew what she wanted to express and went there; Pete wanted to know how his character would respond to loss; and you were also interested in delving into character motivations. You all watered the seed planted in your original flash fictions. Thank you for featuring your fellow writers from the extended portion of the Vol. 1 anthology!

I like how you compare Matty's experience to a the fish. Both are in a fishbowl, feeding off magic dust to keep sane.

Annecdotist
2/5/2018 12:56:32 pm

I wouldn’t think it’s so much “write what you know” but using that as a trigger, rather like the weekly prompts, to explore something different. Looking at these stories, I felt my own seemed the least adventurous, although that might be partly familiarity. Geoff’s Flying Chinaman, on the other hand, particularly surprised me with its inventiveness, as I remember some conversation – online or off-line – about the honeymoon timetabling trip fiasco.
Glad you call the parallel between Matty’s experience and the fish in the tank. Lots of aimless to-ing and fro-ing for both.

D. Avery link
28/4/2018 11:05:11 pm

Yeah, I had read Blood a while back somewhere. Very good story.
I am doing ok getting 99 words out every week, but growing a flash into a longer more cohesive piece has been a challenge for me. Much more challenging than shrinking a too long piece to 99. Your Boy and Dog story grew into a very well done Woman with Worries story. dang.

Reply
Annecdotist
1/5/2018 09:22:54 am

Thanks, D, you’re certainly mastering the 99-word story and I agree that it’s easier to cut than to expand. For Blood I had to find another angle beyond boy and dog, but that proved relatively easy through the serendipity of where I’d happened to set the flash.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
30/4/2018 08:33:15 am

Magic dust. Sometimes I think we all need a bit of that to keep going. It might be in a word, a smile, an acknowledgement, a comment on a post or reaction to a story, or sale of a book. All provide a little bit of magic to help us keep on keeping on.
I enjoyed your post with the tidbits from other authors about extending flash. It's timely since I'm thinking of what I might try for Anthology Vol 2. I did enjoy your flash and am looking forward to reading Matty's story in full. I'm not sure I like the word "hopefully" thrown in there.
I also enjoyed reading back to your first flash fiction and your thoughts about that. "Blood" too, makes for good reading and I am looking forward to reading it and other extended flash fiction in your forthcoming anthology.

Reply
Annecdotist
1/5/2018 09:19:03 am

Thanks, Norah, you are very generous in dispensing your magic dust. As to hopefully, everything seems provisional in this business but I hope to be able to set that aside for my WIP before too long.

Reply
Robbie Cheadle link
1/5/2018 06:31:22 pm

A very enjoyable post, Anne. Our dentist has a fish tank in his rooms too. Maybe dentists think it is calming.

Reply
Annecdotist
2/5/2018 12:58:02 pm

You’ve given me dentist consulting room envy, Robbie! Mine has only a mural of a kingfisher to look at.

Reply



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