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David Galef provides a guide to writing flash fiction, from tips on technique to samples by canonical and contemporary authors to provocative prompts that inspire powerful stories in a little space.
Brevity is an indispensable resource for anyone working in this increasingly popular form.
List of contents
Acknowledgments
A Short Introduction
Vignettes. Readings: Colette: "The Other Wife"; Isaac Babel: "An Incident on the Nevsky Prospekt"
Character Sketches. Readings: L. E. Leone: "The Argument for a Shotgun"; Josefina Estrada: "The Extravagant Behavior of the Naked Woman"
Letters. Readings: Yasunari Kawabata: "Canaries"; Phil Karasik: "Mickey the Dog Phones Home"
Diary Entries. Readings: Will Stanton: "Barney"; Mark Budman: "The Diary of a Salaryman"
Lists. Readings: Sei Sh¿nagon: "Annoying Things"; Steve Martin: "Disgruntled Former Lexicographer"
Fables. Readings: Anonymous: Untitled; Raphael Dagold: "The Two Rats and the BB Gun"
Anecdotes. Reading: The peasant and the genie
Prose Poems. Readings: Yusef Komunyakaa: "Nude Interrogation"; Len Kuntz: "Story Problems"
Soliloquies, Rants, Riffs, and Themes. Readings: Christine Byl: "Hey, Jess McCafferty"; John Edgar Wideman: "Witness"
Perfect Miniatures. Readings: John Collier: "The Chaser"; Jeffrey Whitmore: "Bedtime Story"
Intermission: Cutting Down. Bruce Taylor: "Exercise"
Surrealism. Readings: Richard Brautigan: "A Need for Gardens"; Donald Barthelme: "The Baby"
What If? Readings: Wayland Hilton-Young: "The Choice"; Dicky Murphy: "The Magician's Umbrella"
Genre. Readings: Roxane Gay: "The Mistress of Baby Breath"; Tara Orchard: "My Love"
Setting. Readings: Bharati Mukherjee: "Courtly Vision"; Alice Walker: "The Flowers"
Twists. Readings: Luisa Valenzuela: "Vision Out of the Corner of One Eye"; Saki: "The Open Window"
Two Viewpoints. Readings: Robert Schipits: "Dialogue Between Two Teenagers, One Interested in Cars and One Not"; Ryan Ridge: "Shaky Hands & All"
Mass Compression. Readings: Bruce Holland Rogers: "Dinosaur"; Susan O'Neill: "Memento Mori"
Metafiction. Readings: Ptim Callan: "Story"; Jorge Luis Borges: "Borges and I"
Vanishing Point. Readings: Merilee Faber: "We came around the corner"; Dean Clayton Edwards: "It was pretending"; Davian Aw: "She raised the glass"; Augusto Monterroso: "The Dinosaur"
The Future
Conclusion
Bibliography
Permissions
Index
About the author
David Galef
Summary
David Galef provides a guide to writing flash fiction, from tips on technique to samples by canonical and contemporary authors to provocative prompts that inspire powerful stories in a little space. Brevity is an indispensable resource for anyone working in this increasingly popular form.
