Hello! I have found out from some subscribers that my July and August craft letters did not appear, though they did appear in inboxes for some others. So, I am resending them, this time with no paywall, in the first two weeks of September.
INVESTIGATION
This month is about the short form, the flash, the briefest heat. I love flash nonfiction, but I think it's so hard to contain meaning and story in the short form. It's so much easier to move into long exposition. For this month, I’ll post some formulas that I’ve found. I use these more often in the editing stage. I always start a flash project with a poem walk, so this month’s poem walks will all be contained in this newsletter.
EXPLORATION
Here are some recent and not so recent flash pieces I’ve loved:
A Stranded Moose by Sydney Lea
Anniversary Disease by Diane Seuss
Why Deny the Obvious Child by Camille U. Adams
ACTION
First, a poem walk.
Pick a form from this week’s readings.
Think of a story someone told you about a hard thing in their life. Think of a list of anniversaries or events in history that you could pair with your own similar events. Think of something that happened somewhere you visit often. It doesn’t have to be the ribcage of a moose you’ve come upon but maybe one of those shrines on the side of the road or even a common event near your home.
In your mind, write at least three lines that connect something in your heart to the external stories. Find the line between you and someone else’s tale. Memorize your line. Go home. Write your line at the top of a page, then fill the page with writing. Maybe two pages, but cap it at 750 words.
Put it aside for a week.
But do come back to it. Read it vertically, circling common words and metaphors, then edit toward supporting the threads you find. Remove red herrings, repetitions that don’t add tension. Add repetitions to make your point stronger. Focus on the language. Look for repeating sounds. Ask yourself: why should the sounds repeat here. Do they add tension? Read it out loud. Note the places where your own writing makes your body thrum. Reduce exposition. Add sensory details instead.
To me, the opportunity of flash nonfiction is of course the poetry inside it, the way it can take a scene or a list and get in your bones hard and fast and for the whole day, if the story is strong enough.