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The little, easy-to-miss details

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amlewi08 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote amlewi08 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: The little, easy-to-miss details
    Posted: 18 Sep 2020 at 10:30am
I think we've all been there:1,000 words and 48 hrs to complete a masterpiece.  Culling words and removing flourishy descriptive elements, rephrasing things to be more direct (since the word count leaves little room for vagueness and subtlety), changing a plot point to fit the story size, etc.

With all the focus on the technical things, it's easy to miss out on the finer points of crafting a flash fiction piece.  Last year, someone posted a thread about "the things you wish people knew going into your story", and I found it really helpful in creating more meaningful reads.

So, with that being said: What are some of those easy-to-miss details you included in your piece that you were pretty (or very) proud of but maybe didn't have the word count to fully flesh out?  Or maybe melds so well that people doing quick reads don't notice? I wanna know!

example: The object for my prompt was a kitten, so I had a kitten in my story who's appearance was mean to parallel the main hero's situation and foreshadow their upcoming encounter, so they were effectively also "kittens" in relation to the big bad.  If I'd had more words, I may have made a more direct callback to it at the end of the piece, but here we are. haha


SHARE YOU TALENT.  I WANT TO KNOWWWWWWWW.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ophelialit74 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Sep 2020 at 2:40pm
Cool question! 

For this last one, I had the dreaded sci-fi/breast milk/antique store prompt...really?? 

Anyway, I spent a long time developing these characters who turned out to be non-human, but I didn't ever specify in what WAYS they weren't human....and, in fact, I didn't even think about it because, in my mind, they just weren't....so what difference did it make if they were green or had tentacles or whatever? Besides, those details seemed superfluous in such a short story. 

It wasn't until I got forum feedback that I realized that those details might have made a difference in the story and made it more accessible to the audience; on the other hand, I'm not a big fan of spoon-feeding readers, so I'm not sure I'd change it given the option. 

Guess we'll see what the judges make of it! 


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Sep 2020 at 11:53pm
I can't think of any, but I had a kitty in my story too! A kitty adds so much whimsy!! Especially a kitty like Bojangles!! My assigned object was a dog whistle. 

I love your concept of kitty as metaphor! Too bad you had to cut some of it!! 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote nixie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Sep 2020 at 10:26am
last challenge, everyone noticed that in my 'bullfight' story, the murdered followed the three-act path/structure/are of the bullfight - but only two people  (one reader here, one beta) caught that the entire story followed that structure as well.

It wasn't ragingly obvious, I was proud of managing to write it that way and didn't expect anyone to catch it - just one of those details you do for yourself.... :)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote nixie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Sep 2020 at 10:27am
Originally posted by amlewi08 amlewi08 wrote:


example: The object for my prompt was a kitten, so I had a kitten in my story who's appearance was mean to parallel the main hero's situation and foreshadow their upcoming encounter, so they were effectively also "kittens" in relation to the big bad. 

Nice. I love that kind of thing :)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote amlewi08 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Sep 2020 at 12:08pm
Originally posted by nixie nixie wrote:

last challenge, everyone noticed that in my 'bullfight' story, the murdered followed the three-act path/structure/are of the bullfight - but only two people  (one reader here, one beta) caught that the entire story followed that structure as well.

It wasn't ragingly obvious, I was proud of managing to write it that way and didn't expect anyone to catch it - just one of those details you do for yourself.... :)

I think that’s the kind of stuff that really sets a story above! I’m gonna have to go give it a read!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote nixie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Sep 2020 at 12:46am
Originally posted by amlewi08 amlewi08 wrote:

Originally posted by nixie nixie wrote:

last challenge, everyone noticed that in my 'bullfight' story, the murdered followed the three-act path/structure/are of the bullfight - but only two people  (one reader here, one beta) caught that the entire story followed that structure as well.

It wasn't ragingly obvious, I was proud of managing to write it that way and didn't expect anyone to catch it - just one of those details you do for yourself.... :)

I think that’s the kind of stuff that really sets a story above! I’m gonna have to go give it a read!

Love to hear your thoughts. :)

It's not a perfect story, and it doesnt fit assigned genre perfectly - but I had such a great time writing it and playing with it to achieve that structure - it was just fun to write :)  Sometimes it's cool to just play isn't it? :)

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Zounds Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Sep 2020 at 3:05am
Well, my story was a mystery with a surf shop and a diaper. I named it A Full 360, which is a surf term, and the name of the shop. But I consistently had characters turning around, making a U turn, etc in trying to see something or get somewhere. My reviewers haven’t noticed, so I guess it was too subtle. 






Edited by Zounds - 27 Sep 2020 at 3:06am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote LivStrom Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Sep 2020 at 3:12am
In the first round fairytale my main character was stalked by her past and when she escaped by literary rising above it (flying / levetating away). In my mind the whole story was about reinventing yourself. 

With cutting too many words though it seems it got lost in translation... Still a good story but might add 300 words to flesh it out at some point. 
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