Family Photos
Posted: 26 January 2009
Word Count: 150
Summary: A flash about photos, not much to tell really!
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“Hey look at this one”
She pulled out another photo, slightly brown round the edges. I nodded, in agreement.
“That was our first caravan; it was a good caravan that, we lost it in the hurricane”
I stared blankly at the photo; it looked like any other caravan to me. Except this caravan was from way back, maybe 1980.
“It looks like that caravan we had when I was younger” I replied, humbly; remembering what it used to be like.
“It’s the same park, I think we were practically on the same field, we couldn’t have been more than 200 metres away, we used to go up there with Nan, before she got ill”
I grew tired of old caravan talk, it was dated and monotonous; I didn’t care for it.
“Do you remember in our caravan, that day we were drunk” I questioned.
She’d already moved on, family party.
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Comments by other Members
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 Mand245 at 21:01 on 31 March 2009
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Hi Keith
Although I joined the Beginners group a few days ago, and this was the first piece of uploaded work I read, I've been hesitant to comment, for which I hope you'll forgive me. There's a simple reason. Until I signed to WriteWords I had never even heard of flash fiction! I'm still not quite sure what to make of the genre. Presumably there's an upper word limit that differentiates flash fiction from short story fiction but I'm only guessing!
I'd love to comment on your piece but it would help me to do so if you posted a few lines on the genre because it's intriguing!
Mand
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 keithhodges at 15:56 on 01 April 2009
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hi mand! flash fiction, where do i start, there's not really a defined definition on it. personally i find that 150-200 words is enough for flash. although i'm sure there's people in the flash fiction group that would disagree.
as a whole i think that flash fiction works well with narratives that wouldn't work through out a full novel. for example if someone was to write a book about one photo it wouldn't work over 80,000 words. it lets the little thingd that come into your head work in short pieces of work, check out the rest of my work and you'll probably get an understanding of what i'm ytalking about! if not check out Davud Gaffney - Sewn of Tales, it's probably the best example to give!
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Mand245 at 19:02 on 01 April 2009
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Hi Keith
Thanks for the information. I've spent some time this afternoon reading some of the work posted in the two flash fiction groups.
I'm afraid I have to say that I don't really "get" it. I mean, don't misunderstand, I've read some intriguing ideas and some great writing but I find it a little unsatisfying. I don't think I read a single piece that didn't leave me wanting to know more.
Oh... maybe that's the point! 
I think, for me, reading a flash is like picking up a book and reading a random paragraph. I need to know what came before and what will follow!
I've just re-read your piece and tried to look at it other than at face value. Is looking at the photograph and the "old caravan talk" an analogy for their relationship.? Is the narrator saying that the relationship, rather than the conversation, is dated and monotonous? (or am I way off the mark here?).
| She’d already moved on, family party. |
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I thought this last line was very effective. It made me feel that the two of them were living parallel lives!
Do you know, even as I'm forming these thoughts it's beginning to occur to me that perhaps there's more to flash fiction than I first thought. (Unless I'm totally wrong in my assumptions about this piece, in which case I look forward to your correction!).
Just a small point on punctuation. There seem to be a few commas and fullstops missing from the end of each line of dialogue.
I grew tired of old caravan talk, it was dated and monotonous; I didn’t care for it.
“Do you remember in our caravan, that day we were drunk” I questioned. |
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I was a little uncertain as to why, if he was tired of the subject, he asked a further question about it, unless, perhaps, he was just humouring her, in which case personally I would have liked to have been told this!
I'm intrigued, Keith. You have definitely piqued my curiousity with this one!
Mand
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pwhybrow at 13:04 on 02 April 2009
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Hi Keith
According to Wiki, flash fiction is up to 1000 words. What is the difference then between flash fiction and an essay?
Is flash used as an excercise or is it a valid form of fiction that people are interested in? I am like Mand and I guess a lot of others, never really heard of it and it seems like it always needs more. Maybe that is the idea?
Peter
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keithhodges at 13:20 on 02 April 2009
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i think it works well in dropping you in to a moment, like seeing an arguement in the street; you don't really know what's going on but you want to know, it'd be rude to stop and listen to the arguement obviosuly so you're left thinking about every last detail.
I feel that flash fiction is a reletively new style of writing, a kind of evolving poetry or haiku, but it doesn't have the need to be as meaningful; generally it's light hearted, and lends itself well to humour, or those moments in which people look back on their lives; flash fiction works well in dealing with more out of the way characters like a crazy man on a bus. You'd never be able to keep up writing about that man for an extended period of time, but you'd get a sense of who he was and what he did from flash, leaving the questions in your mind to buil your own story.
Obviously i'm no expert of flash, all this is my personal opinion and i think that some else would probably give yo a completey definition on what flash fiction is, or in fact what it does. I think the best way to describe it is that it kind of builds a foundation of a sketch, makes you think, and leaves you with something to think about. On the other hand people do tend to write full narratives in flash, but personally I think that i'm almost rushing to fit everything in when trying to write in such a small word limit.
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