Matthew Ledrew's Blog, page 28
May 12, 2018
Titles by Brad Dunne
Brad Dunne is a freelance writer and editor from St. John’s, Newfoundland. He began his writing career as an intern at The Walrus magazine and has published journalism and essays in publications such as Maisonneuve, The Canadian Encyclopedia, and Herizons. His short fiction has been featured in In/Words, Acta Victoriana, and The Cuffer Anthology.
His debut novel, After Dark Vapours, will be available in October.
Brad Dunne
Brad Dunne is a freelance writer and editor from St. John’s, Newfoundland. He began his writing career as an intern at The Walrus magazine and has published journalism and essays in publications such as Maisonneuve, The Canadian Encyclopedia, and Herizons. His short fiction has been featured in In/Words, Acta Victoriana, and The Cuffer Anthology.
His debut novel, After Dark Vapours, will be available in October. He maintains a blog at braddunne.ca
He’s also active on twitter (@braddunne1796) and instagram (@yoloflaherty).
May 11, 2018
“Running” by Georgia Atkin | Short Story Winner
She woke in the dimly-lit place, her arms and face smeared with dust and grime. Her body hurt. Her head spun. Her vision was blurred. She couldn’t control her breath, inhaling and exhaling in sharp gasps.
There was a door.
She knew the door was there – she just couldn’t see it from this angle. She forced her arms to move, pushing her body upright. Her fingers encountered slippery layers of gauzy pink fabric; she was wearing a ball gown, a beautiful, obscene mockery of her grey surroundings.
Ignoring everything, she stumbled upright and staggered forward, hands blindly outstretched. She found the steps, clutching at the railing as she ascended. The hazy outline of the door grew clearer.
There was a key.
She groped at the wall beside the door, her hands finding the small key on a string. It was exactly where she remembered. The key slid into the lock with ease.
As she turned the key, she felt the first pangs of stiffness in her ribcage. Her breath caught like cloth on a barbed wire.
“No,” she gasped. “No.”
Her legs folded underneath her, and she sagged against the cold metal steps. Her joints – shoulders, knees, wrists – slowed in their movements, becoming as unresponsive as stone. Her fingers grew numb. Breath sluggish. Panic building. No oxygen. Vision dimming.
The key slipped from her grasp, bouncing on the concrete floor.
Oh dear… So close this time, said a voice nearby.
Laughter.
Wind her up again. I like watching her run.
Georgia Atkin was born in Croydon, England, but grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 2013, she won the Joyce Barkhouse Writing for Children Award from the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia for her novella manuscript Secrets: A Strange Tale. Atkin is a poet as well as a prose writer, and volunteers her time as editor for Open Heart Forgery, a free grassroots poetry publication based in Halifax.
To read the second and third place entries and for more contests and opportunities, please subscribe to the Fantasy Files Newsletter.
For exclusive content and FREE books, be sure and check out the Engen Books Patreon.
Words © 2018 Georgia Atkin. Image © 2018 Kit Sora.
May 7, 2018
Winner: “Running” by Georgia Atkin | Kit Sora Flash Fiction Photography Contest
After much deliberation, Engen Books is proud to announce the winner of the April 30 2018 Kit Sora Flash Fiction Photography Contest: Georgia Atkin with his story, Running!
We received over forty submissions for this month’s collection, all of them spectacular in their own right. To find the winner we used a double-blind alternate-vote method, in which no judge knew the name of the person who had written any story. Each judge then compiled a list of their own personal Top Ten picks, and each entry was assigned a point title. The lowest entries were whittled down every round until only one remained!
There were three judges for this month of the contest:
[image error]Kenneth Tam (born 1984 in St. John’s, Newfoundland) is a Canadian science-fiction author. His best-known works include The Equations Novels and the Defense Command series. He is the son of fellow Canadian author Jacqui Tam. He is a graduate student at Wilfrid Laurier University, in Waterloo, Ontario. Kenneth has been an author guest at the Polaris Science Fiction Convention for six consecutive years, and a guest at the Sci-Fi on the Rock convention for its first three years.
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Matthew LeDrew has written eighteen novels for Engen Books, Black Womb, Transformations in Pain, Smoke and Mirrors, Roulette, Ghosts of the Past, Ignorance is Bliss, Becoming, Inner Child, Gang War, Chains, The Long Road, Cinders, Sinister Intent, Faith, Jacobi Street, Infinity, The Tourniquet Reprisal and Exodus of Angels.
[image error]Kit Sora Photography. Kit Sora is an artist and photographer from St. Johns, Newfoundland. Her photography draws inspiration from fantasy, dystopia, and thrillers to create evocative imagrey that startles, inspires, and excites.Kit signed with Engen Books in 2018 as head photographer, producing the thrilling image for Chillers from the Rock and re-imagining the covers to the entire Black Womb series into the Coral Beach Casefiles series. Drew Power is a currently seated member of the Sci-Fi on the Rock committee. He was recently featured as the model on the cover of the bestselling collection Chillers from the Rock.
Runners up include Wind Up by Jon Dobbin and Rewound by Shannon Green.
Georgia Atkin was born in Croydon, England, but grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 2013, she won the Joyce Barkhouse Writing for Children Award from the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia for her novella manuscript Secrets: A Strange Tale. Atkin is a poet as well as a prose writer, and volunteers her time as editor for Open Heart Forgery, a free grassroots poetry publication based in Halifax.
The Flash Fiction Photography Contest is sponsored in part by FictionFirst Used Books, which specializes in previously enjoyed Sci-fi & Fantasy Novels, Roleplaying Manuals and Graphic Novels. It is run out of my home in the Annapolis Valley and open by appointment only. Their inventory is currently over 5000 titled strong and they ship within Canada, USA and Europe. You can find them on Facebook, here.
The winning entry will be featured on this website as well as on the Fantasy Files newsletter (click to join!). The second and third place entries will also be featured in the Newsletter.
Click here to see the next Kit Sora Photo Contest!
May 6, 2018
MCU Ranked | Dun Dun Dunne
Hi there,
With the recent release of Avengers: Infinity War I thought it would fun to introduce myself to the Engen community by ranking (in my opinion) the MCU films from worst to best. Because who doesn’t love some good old fashioned clickbait? I should warn you that there may be spoilers ahead, so you’ve been dully warned.
Alrighty then, I’m gonna cut to the chase and dive right in…
19) Iron Man 2
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Such a drop-off in quality from the first Iron Man. This one had so much potential. Pairing RDJ with fellow 90s comebacker (at the time anyway) Mikey Rourke seemed like a stroke of genius. But Iron Man 2 didn’t feel as grounded as the first one. What should have been a deep dive into Tony’s alcoholism felt slapstick and silly. The film also squanders one of my favourite scenes in the entire MCU: When Tony’s father speaks to him from the past through a recording. Is someone chopping onions here?
18) The Incredible Hulk
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In hindsight, the journey to The Avengers was pretty rocky. While Iron Man was huge success, it was immediately followed by another dud of a Hulk movie. I wonder if we’ll ever see another stand-alone Hulk feature? Probably not. Call me crazy, but I actually kinda liked Ang Lee’s Hulk. For all its wonkiness, there was an interesting subtext of Freudian concepts of repression and Oedipal complexes. The Incredible Hulk seemed to swing the pendulum in the complete opposite direction and made a dull vanilla fare. Shame.
17) Thor: The Dark World
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The biggest sin of The Dark World is that it lacked the charm of the first Thor. And the stakes are so unclear. “The Dark Elves want to plunge the universe into perpetual darkness!” What does that even mean? Director Alan Taylor, who made his bones on Game of Thrones, seemed like a great fit, but apparently the film was screwed by studio micro-managing. Interestingly, Patty Jenkins was supposed to direct, which eventually fell through. However, she would go on to helm the excellent Wonder Woman, so for that I’m grateful.
16) Avengers: Age of Ultron
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Definitely my biggest disappointment in the MCU. Man, I had high hopes for this one. But what a mess. By all indications, it seems like Marvel Studios overstepped their bounds on this one and drove Joss Whedon to his breaking point. Such a shame. Trying to introduce four new characters (Ultron, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Vision) was too ambitious, especially considering Quicksilver was basically just there to stick it to X-Men: Days of Future Past. At least the Hulkbuster was cool.
15) Iron Man 3
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I’m hard on the Iron Man series. Mostly because I loved the first one so much. Three is a pretty big improvement over 2, but it still suffers from a lot of the same issues. Mostly, it seems like the creators are happy to just let RDJ chew up the scenery. I did, however, laugh pretty hard at that Mandarin plot twist. Iron Man 2 and 3 are interesting case studies in what goes wrong when the MCU tips the scale a little too far in favour of humour. We don’t want self-serious Zack Snyder stuff, but we certainly don’t want Fantastic Four either.
14) Captain America: The First Avenger
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Most people would probably rank this one lower, but I have a weird soft spot for this movie. For one thing, Chris Evans was an excellent casting choice. So strange that two Human Torches (Michael B Jordan as Killmonger) would turn out to be gems in the MCU. I think the first act of this movie is also excellent. The effect of making Chris Evans look small really impressed me and Joe Johnson does such a great job capturing that WWII era America so well. Unfortunately, the second act kinda meanders leading to an underwhelming finale. Also, Tommy Lee Jones and Hayley Atwell are both awesome.
13) Ant-Man
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Another example of a great opportunity squandered by Marvel Stuidos’ meddling. I, among many others, were looking forward to seeing Edgar Wright’s passion project finally seeing the light of day. Alas, it was not meant to be. Still, Antman is a serviceable flick. It was refreshing to watch a super hero movie with modest stakes. Ant-Man, like many other MCU movies, suffers from a lack of contrast between hero and villain. As Geroge RR Martin pointed out, the hero just fights a mirror image of himself: Antman vs Yellowjacket, Iron Man vs Iron Monger, Hulk vs Abomination. Give us some of that Batman vs. Joker dynamic (but definitely not Batman V Superman, please…).
12) Doctor Strange
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Does anyone else feel like Benedict Cumberpatch is way overqualified for this role? Steven Strange here feels to much like Tony Stark lite. Despite having some of the coolest action sequences in the whole MCU, Doctor Strange felt so been-there-done-that. I mean Thor and Iron Man already did such a good job with the arrogant dude learns to grow the hell up arc. Why not find some new territory to explore? Also, as much as I love me some Tilda Swinton (and she’s great in this movie), that sorta whitewashing just ain’t gonna fly nowadays.
11) Spider-Man: Homecoming
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Easily the best Spider-Man movie since Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, which also happens to be one of my all-time favourite superhero movies. I liked that Homecoming was believable high school version of Peter Parker. It was as if John Hughes had made a superhero movie. My biggest issue with Homecoming was the lack of spidey-sense. People are always surprising Peter. And the interactions with his suit’s AI kinda wore on me. After all, he’s Spider-Man, not Iron Man. Still, I’m very excited to see where this version of Spider-Man goes.
10) Avengers: Infinity War
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There was something vaguely unsatisfying about Infinity War for me and I can’t quite put my finger on it. There was something of a Death Hallows effect where there are so many character deaths that it’s hard to appreciate them individually. That being said, it’s a miracle this movie even exists, let alone that it’s pretty damn good. I have no idea where I’d even start to try and write a story that pulled together this many threads. It’s also pretty rare for me to watch a blockbuster movie nowadays and think “Holy crap, I have no idea what’s going to happen.” Props to the Russo brothers.
9) Thor: Ragnarok
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I think people will be pretty surprised by this low ranking. It’s not that I didn’t like Ragnarok, there are so many great things about it, but I definitely have my issues. Firstly, the first act is bit of a mess. It’s pretty obvious that director Taika Waititi saw this part as more of a series of hoops he needed to jump through in order to get to the meat of the film: act two on Sakaar, which was awesome, indeed. I was pretty surprised by the lack of emotional heft in the deaths of several characters. Thor’s father and friends are all murdered and his hammer destroyed, but it never really hits you. Also, Cate Blanchett felt overqualified to be playing a pretty cookie-cutter villain. But, who cares, the movie’s a blast.
8) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
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“He may have been your father, boy, but he wasn’t your daddy.”
Is that not the greatest line in all the MCU? Some critics harped that Vol 2 wasn’t as good as its predecessor, which might be true, but frankly I could spend all day with these characters in this universe. It’s impossible to watch Guardians without having a good time. The special effects on Ego’s planet was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen on screen.
7) Captain America: Civil War
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Most people would rank this one higher, but I have a few issues with it. Firstly, I found the tone really incongruent. The MCU has established its brand as unpretentious entertainment, but that doesn’t mean you have to undercut every dramatic beat with a joke. The big showdown at the airport felt so unsatisfying to me. Secondly, and sort of a continuation of the first point, it didn’t feel like much of a game changer. Sure the Avengers had a messy break-up by the end, but you never got the sense that this was a tectonic shift in their dynamic. Like, they had a tiff but they’re obviously going to the band back together soon enough. Definitely a lot different than Mark Millar’s source material.
6) Thor
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In my opinion, Thor is the most underrated movie in the MCU. Many critics have praised Ragnarok for pushing Thor in a more comedic direction, but that humour was already well established here. Hemsworth does a great job as the hero. Thor’s arc from arrogant man-child feels sincere and legit. However, those dyed eyebrows were a bad idea. Also with Thor we are treated to the MCU’s first great villain, Loki. There’s no praise too much for Tom Hiddelston here. He brings a Shakespearean gravitas to Loki’s character.
5) The Avengers
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The ultimate fan service movie. With three Avengers movies now, I think the right formula is to give hardcore fans what they want without alienating the casual viewers. Unlike Ultron, Avengers keeps it pretty simple, using characters we’re all familiar with and seeing how they interact with one another. While Avengers doesn’t necessarily reward multiple viewings, it is a masterclass in ensemble story writing.
4) Guardians of the Galaxy
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If you said you knew about the Guardians of the Galaxy before this movie then you’re probably a liar. Guardians‘ success is a testament to the MCU brand, which by 2014 was an established juggernaut. Nonetheless, that’s not to take away from this excellent movie. Guardians tapped into something that I think had been sorely lacking in Hollywood at that time: serviceable space opera.
3) Iron Man
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The MCU really hit the ground running with this one. I confess that when I heard about this project my immediate reaction was very dismissive. After all, Marvel wanted to launch a shared universe without, at the time, its most popular characters (Spider-Man, X-Men, etc.), with a washed up recovering junkie to boot. To say I was pleasantly surprised is a massive understatement. Casting RDJ as Tony Stark was an inspired move. He works beautifully in this story of personal redemption. Iron Man also successfully established a reliable (and bankable) tone for the rest of the franchise: dramatic stakes with a liberal dose of levity spread evenly.
2) Black Panther
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There are so many things worth praising about Black Panther (great soundtrack, beautiful set designs, colourful cinematography, OMG non-white characters) but I want to focus on Killmonger, who is probably the best super villain we’ve seen on film since Heath Ledger’s the Joker. A great antagonist is an ideological rival for the hero, not just an adversary to punch. As well, audiences should empathize with a villain’s motives, though not necessarily condoning them. Killmonger forces T’Challa to grow as a character, forcing him to rethink his relationship with his father and Wakanda’s relationship with the world.
1) Captain America: The Winter Soldier
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I wasn’t sure what I was expecting when I first saw TWS, given the mediocrity of the first Captain America movie, but it certainly wasn’t this. The Russo brothers, who I thought would just be a diet version of Joss Whedon, blew me away with their action sequences. The script was also very sophisticated in how a popcorn blockbuster managed to address timely issues like American imperialism and an expanding surveillance state. Moreover, the writers managed to really personalize the story by mirroring Cap’s fight against Hydra with his conflict with Bucky. It wasn’t just about a super hero saving the world again, he was also trying to save his friend.
May 1, 2018
Flash Fiction/Photography Contest | Deadline May 15! |Engen Books | Kit Sora Photography!
[image error]Engen Books is proud to team with the imaginative and creative people of Kit Sora Photography to bring you the “Flash Fiction Photography Contest”!
Every month we’re going to upload one of the photos from the amazingly talented Kit Sora, a local Newfoundland artist known for her stunning work with props, lighting, and imaginative designs. Kit uses her art in a variety of fantastical settings, so we’re tasking the authors and creative minds of the Atlantic Provinces to write short fiction based on the subjects!
The catch: these entries must be short: a maximum of 250 words! Thus we have the Flash Fiction/ Flash Photography Prize from Engen Books and Kit Sora Photography. Every month Engen and Sora will select a winner from eligible entrants.
Winners will be crowned the prize-winner for that month and be allowed to use the title of “Prize/Award Winner — X Month” on their writing CV / resumé! Winners will be paid at a rate of 10 cents a word for their fiction and may be featured in an upcoming collection of Sora’s photography!
The Flash Fiction Photography Contest is sponsored in part by FictionFirst Used Books, which specializes in previously enjoyed Sci-fi & Fantasy Novels, Roleplaying Manuals and Graphic Novels. It is run out of my home in the Annapolis Valley and open by appointment only. Their inventory is currently over 5000 titled strong and they ship within Canada, USA and Europe. You can find them on Facebook, here.
In order to be eligible, entrants must be Canadian citizens and the work must not have been previously published. No more than five entries per photo, per author. Entrant must share the contest post on facebook / social media / twitter. 
April 26, 2018
“Extinguished” by Jeff Slade | Short Story Winner
Night had snuck upon the woodsman. It’d been dusk one moment, then pitch black. He carried no game; all his quarry had evaded him without fail. The wind howled, avoiding him as it blew past. He decided to head home.
Tearing some fabric from his tunic, he wrapped it around the end of an arrow. A flick of his wrist across flint and he held the impromptu torch aloft, careful not to set any branches alight.
He stopped when his path ended unexpectedly. It should have lead to a clearing, home on the other side. Instead there was a wall of impassable thorns and boulders.
Cursing the darkness, he backed up, proceeding further down the path toward another entrance. This too was blocked.
A metallic creaking made him shiver. He looked skyward: no moon. It was full last night, but now the heavens were empty, devoid even of stars.
It squeaked again, closer now. Perhaps a nearby cart? He decided to seek assistance, wandering toward the sound.
He found her by the water, facing away. One arm held a lantern, the sound’s origin, swaying back and forth. Inside pulsed a bright light. His eyes fixated on it and its beams of light shooting out-
No.
Rays surrounded it, but they drew inward.
The woodsman looked at his torch. Tendrils of luminescence wafted off its end, swimming through the air, spiraling into the lantern until it extinguished.
She turned toward him, eyes blacker than the sky.
The lantern door creaked open.
Jeff Slade is a St. John’s native currently residing in Salmon Cove, is an avid reader who enjoys both making and hearing puns, playing the guitar, and cats. Slade makes his publishing debut in Chillers from the Rock with his chilling tale: The Culling.
To read the second and third place entries and for more contests and opportunities, please subscribe to the Fantasy Files Newsletter.
For exclusive content and FREE books, be sure and check out the Engen Books Patreon.
Words © 2018 Jeff Slade. Image © 2018 Kit Sora.
April 25, 2018
Winner: “Extinguished” by Jeff Slade | Kit Sora Flash Fiction Photography Contest
After much deliberation, Engen Books is proud to announce the winner of the April 14 2018 Kit Sora Flash Fiction Photography Contest: Jeff Slade with his story, Extinguished!
We received over fifty submissions for this month’s collection, all of them spectacular in their own right. To find the winner we used a double-blind alternate-vote method, in which no judge knew the name of the person who had written any story. Each judge then compiled a list of their own personal Top Ten picks, and each entry was assigned a point title. The lowest entries were whittled down every round until only one remained!
There were four judges for this inaugural month of the contest:
[image error]Ellen Curtis was born and raised in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Her aptitude for the written word began at a young age, when she began filling paper with stories and other scribbles. Those scribbles eventually began to make more sense, and in 2008 she published her first collection of short stories. Since then, she has gone on to co-author the Infinity series with Matthew LeDrew, among her other literary endeavors.
[image error]Matthew LeDrew has written eighteen novels for Engen Books, Black Womb, Transformations in Pain, Smoke and Mirrors, Roulette, Ghosts of the Past, Ignorance is Bliss, Becoming, Inner Child, Gang War, Chains, The Long Road, Cinders, Sinister Intent, Faith, Jacobi Street, Infinity, The Tourniquet Reprisal and Exodus of Angels.
Drew Power is a currently seated member of the Sci-Fi on the Rock committee. He was recently featured as the model on the cover of the bestselling collection Chillers from the Rock.
Matthew Daniels was called in for a last minute tie-breaker vote… when three entries were tied for first place!
Runners up include Untitled by Michelle Churchill and Never Look Back by Peter Breau.
Jeff Slade is a St. John’s native currently residing in Salmon Cove, is an avid reader who enjoys both making and hearing puns, playing the guitar, and cats. Slade makes his publishing debut in Chillers from the Rock with his chilling tale: The Culling.
The winning entry will be featured on this website as well as on the Fantasy Files newsletter (click to join!). The second and third place entries will also be featured in the Newsletter.
Click here to see the next Kit Sora Photo Contest!
April 21, 2018
What are your favorite Dystopian stories? | Ask the Authors
With submissions pouring in for our upcoming Dystopia from the Rock anthology, we thought it would be a great time to ask our existing stable of novelists: what are your favorite Dystopian novels?
[image error]Ellen Curtis, author of Infinity and From the Rock editor: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, because it showcases how society struggles against willful ignorance and vice when those are presented as the easy options. Other recommended content: A Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood for one of the most chilling pieces of dystopian writing, and Stepford Wives, because f**k man, striving for utopia in tiny doses is still terrifying.
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Paul Carberry, author of Zombies from the Rock: Flight or Fight by Scott Bartlett. Bartlett has managed to take several current issues and have them evolve naturally into his Dystopian future. The reader can easily picture the current world heading in this direction. He flawlessly switches from a sense of wonder to a sense of dread all while keeping it believable.
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Erin Vance, author of Song of the Mockingjay and From the Rock editor: I… Am not sure. I mean, there’s a part of me that thinks I should say The Hunger Games, but I have major issues with it now that I’ve analyzed it.
There’s a part of me that actually really enjoyed The Host by Stephanie Myer but I’m afraid to admit that.
[image error]Matthew LeDrew, author of The Xander Drew and Coral Beach Casefiles series’: The Man in the High Castle for me is dystopia at its best, merging dystopia with alternate-history to create an alternate dystopian present that’s more about the people having to grow pretend the world is okay and their children thinking it actually is okay than anything. The Days of Future Past storyarc from X-Men comics also have a special place for me… not just the original arc either, the whole thing, which lasted right through to the mid 90s.
[image error]Amanda Labonté, author of Call of the Sea and Supernatural Causes: The New York Times. We are in a dystopian novel.
Where were Ali House’s picks? She couldn’t contain hers to a short segment, come back next week for a full section on her choices!
April 18, 2018
Flash Fiction Memories | House Blog
Back when I was in University I didn’t have this thing called ‘Facebook’. No, I put off joining that for years (I still remember getting and ignoring a ton of ‘your friend is on Fb & you should join them’ emails).
Back in those days I had something better. I had… Livejournal!
I mostly wrote about what was going on in my life and kept up with friends who were in different cities. Also, you could have .gifs as your profile picture. It was the best.
Another thing I used it for was writing drabbles, which are an early type of flash fiction. There was one group I joined called X-Men 100, where you could write drabbles about X-Men characters. Each week they’d post a word or phrase for inspiration and then you’d have 7 days to write and post something that was only 100 words long.
It was surprisingly easy to write these. Then again, I’ve never been much of a descriptive writer. I’ve always found it easier to write shorter things, and I get a weird satisfaction in cutting something down to the exact word count. It was easier with X-men drabbles, because everyone in the group knew these characters and their backstories, so you could skip all of that.
Only having 100 words to work with means that every word needs to count.
A couple weeks ago I decided to try writing something for the Kit Sora photo contest. It was fun to get back to drabbles, aka flash fiction. I really enjoyed writing it, agonizing over every word, and fighting with myself to cut it down to 250 words. But, then again, I’m weird.
–
So, let’s get into my process…
When I write flash fiction I always try to think of the picture I want to paint. What moment in time do I want to describe?
I also try to use specific descriptive words to paint a better picture. Instead of saying that someone’s scared stiff, I’ll go with ‘petrified’ (that’s 1 word fewer already!). I go on Thesaurus.com a LOT.
First I’ll write the scene without worrying about the word count. If I’m short, I’ll think about what could be added to create a more ‘rounded’ story or what could benefit from more description.
If I go over the word count, I get out the axe and start chopping things down.
But what to remove? Well, anything that isn’t necessary. Remember Checkov’s Gun – if it isn’t important then it doesn’t need to be mentioned. If you need to, simplify the story, boil it down to its essence. If you cut a particular thing, does the story still make sense? Do you need it?
I also keep a lot of versions. I wrote 6 versions before finally settling on one I liked that was within the word count. They were all kept in one document so that they could be quickly referenced. The reason I do this is because I might cut something in version 2 that I want to add in for version 5. Or I might add like the phrasing in version 1 and want to go back to it.
Writing Flash Fiction isn’t effortless for me, but that’s why I like it.
–
And now, because I can, here’s one of my old x-men drabbles, based on one of my favourite pictures, of Gambit sitting in a window, overlooking the city:
The lights of the city shone like forgotten stars.
Each window represented a life that had been swallowed by the big bad city. Everyone came here for different reasons, but all stayed for the same.
Inside each illuminated window was hope. Inside each darkened window – broken, shattered, forgotten hope.
Sitting on the windowsill, Gambit looked out at the city. What were his own reasons for being here? He couldn’t say. He didn’t know.
Somewhere in the city, a woman’s scream for help went unanswered.
Somewhere in the city, a window went dark.
He was a long way from the Bayou.
