FLASH! by John Dufresne

Author:John Dufresne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

A Man and a Woman

A man and a woman in a room. This is Providence, Rhode Island. He wears gold cuff links in the shape of arrows on his white shirtsleeves and a matching tie bar over his silk tie. She seems preoccupied. She holds a glass in her hand. Write their story in three hundred words. Use the word salvation and the word light. Make one of the pair your central character and construct the story from his or her point of view. Set your timer for thirty minutes. You’re just trying to get black on white right now, just aiming for a first draft. Remember figurative language, the precise word, the vivid and significant details, the characters, the setting, the title, the certain strangeness. Think about secrets. Both of your characters have a secret. What are they? The secrets will inform the scene whether they are revealed or not. Think about lies. Of omission or commission. Lies that deceive, that cover up, that protect. Think about the year, the time of day, the season. Use all of your senses.

When you’re done, put it away. Take it out later in the week and begin the next draft, when you will take an even closer look at the precise words, the metaphors, the sound devices, and so on.

With our aesthetic criteria in mind, let’s take a look at another riveting short-short story, this one by Lee Martin.

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