Flash.....ahhh aaaaaa......

In Today's Fast Issue

Flash Fiction
10 Minutes Late
The number 10
Random Joke
(Medical Word) to Your Mother
Can I speak my Mind

Flash fiction is fictional work of extreme brevity that still offers character and plot development. Identified varieties, many of them defined by word count, include the six-word story,the 280-character story (also known as "twitterature"), the "dribble" (also known as the "minisaga"; 50 words),the "drabble" (also known as "microfiction"; 100 words),"sudden fiction" (750 words),flash fiction (1,000 words), nanotale, and "micro-story".

Some commentators have suggested that flash fiction possesses a unique literary quality, in its ability to hint at or imply a larger story.

Flash Fiction: Stories under 2,000 words. Seems easy enough, right? Just get rid of rambling digressions, eliminate flashbacks, cut extraneous descriptions and presto! Mini-fiction nuggets!

Actually, there’s a lot more to flash fiction than one might initially realize. Part poetry, part narrative, flash fiction–also known as sudden fiction, micro fiction, short short stories, and quick fiction—is a genre that is deceptively complex. At the same time, writing these short shorts can be incredibly rewarding. Distilling experience into a few pages or, in some cases a few paragraphs, forces writers to pay close attention to every loaded conversation, every cruel action, every tender gesture, and every last syllable in every single word.

So here's some Do's and Dont's

Do:
1. Be concise without strangling your plot and characters.
2. Remember to deliver your message.  No one likes empty envelopes.
3. Make your prose intense. You can’t burn the reader.
4. Learn from the birds. Tweet, tweet, tweet(er).
5. Use prompts to hone your skills.

Don’t:
1. Go in circles. You don’t have room for that.
2. Try to wear many hats. Flash has space only for one or two.
3. Mince words.
4. Be afraid to experiment. You don’t want to repeat what others have written.
5. Forget that flash is a story and not a poem or essay.

10 Minutes Late

I was recently asked to produce something based upon the theme of 10 minutes late.

Here it is :-

10 minutes late – I cradle her lifeless cold body in my arms. Empty of blood she feels like a deflated copy of her living self.

9 minutes late – I plunge my arms into the water, my sleeves are dyed red by the expulsion of life.

8 minutes late – I kick open the locked bathroom door, I see splinters dance and spin.

7 minutes late – I find her letter, a farewell. She’s never done this before.

6 minutes late – I open the front door, her house normally so chaotic is now deathly quiet. I call her name

5 minutes late – I pull up sharply onto her drive, my car kicks up small clouds of dust, they float up and cloy at my car.

4 minutes late – I pull into the lane that is least populated. A fat ham faced man gives me the finger. Given my current mood he doesn’t realise how dangerous that is…for him.

3 minutes late – I turn my engine on and sigh

2 minutes late – I slam down the phone. It’s always the same with her....’I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna do that’ the wolf that cried. One day I won’t respond.

1 minute late – “I can’t live without you John, I’ve had enough.” She drones on and on and on.

Ten facts on Ten

1. The Roman numeral for 10 is X, which looks like two V’s (the Roman numeral for five) put together
2. Babies need 10 hours of sleep a day (if you were a squirrel you’d need 15)
3. If you have 10 fingers you are decadactylous and if you have 10 teeth you are decemdentate
4. Although the word ‘decimate’ is often used as a synonym for obliterate, the correct meaning of the this verb is ‘to reduce by a tenth’
5. In the Bible, the number 10 is used 242 times
6. There are 10 vowels in the Korean alphabet
7. The traditional 10th anniversary gift is tin, while the modern gift for a 10th anniversary is diamonds – definite proof of inflation
8. Pythagoras considered 10 to be the most sacred number, as 10 = 1+2+3+4, which represented existence (1), creation (2), life (3) and the four elements: earth, air, fire and water (4)
9. In Roman times, punishment for cowardice or mutiny was applied by killing one in 10 men in a cohort
10. Ten per cent of the world is left-handed.

RANDOM JOKE

I hate people with frostbite.
I think I may be lack toes intolerant.

(Medical Word) to Your Mother

With a big thanks to ex nurse Anne Rhodes

Can I Speak My Mind ?

New Release - 

Can I Speak My Mind is a collection of short stories and poetry written by, for and about people who have been affected by mental health issues.

Some of the pieces are heartbreaking, some are hopeful, some are even funny…but what they all are is honest.

All profits from the sale of this book will go to mental health charities.

By buying this anthology you have contributed to people who go that extra mile to help sufferers in the community. These groups volunteer selflessly. Your money will help them to continue providing much needed support.

So well done you, you are a hero.

Here is a link to the Amazon page - 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Can-I-Speak-My-Mind/dp/1728787599/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1541082559&sr=8-4&keywords=can+I+speak+my+mind 

Can I Speak My Mind

Neville Raper is a Broadcaster, Poet, Author, Playwriter and a blogger. He is an occasional stand up, regular sit down.

His award winning books can be found on Amazon, Kobo, Barnes Noble and Kindle.