A while ago my friend Mel set up a website called The Pygmy Giant – not entirely sure (or at all sure) where the name came from, possibly Mel’s diminuitive stature, but that needn’t worry us right now. The website is for flash fiction – which Wikipedia describes as “fiction characterised by its extreme brevity”. Poems or stories of under 2000 words, more or less, which one can read easily in one go, and which generally has some quick, singular impact. Great fun, and interesting to see what people can do with few words.
Anyway, I submitted a poem the other day, and it is now in place. Not the most cheery ditty in the world, but I quite liked it. If any of you are budding writers, or just fancy the challenge of seeing what you can write in a short space, then I’m sure Mel would love to hear from you. Email thepygmygiant@googlemail.com but do check the submission guidelines first; for one thing, I think everyone submitting work is British, or at least living in Britain. That’s because there are lots of American flash fiction websites out there, and Mel wanted to try something a bit different.
Do go and check out the site, there’s some really interesting stuff going on over there. And if I ever performed by friendship role better, I might even be an assistant editor. I’ll settle with contributor for now.
Okay, I’ll check out Mel’s site. But if you really want to know about flash fiction, I’ve had around thirty publications, check out my blog. Flash Fiction rocks!
Great poem, Simon — is there no end to your talents? Very nice site, too — I shall be going back to it.
I agree with Harriet … and you were on Countdown too? Literature, the moving pictures, mathematics … what instrument do you play, you Renaissance man you?
Actually yes, somebody did once call me a pygmy giant, which I quite liked. But it applies to flash fiction / short short writing as well… they are big stories with big hearts; they’re only small on the outside ;o)
Thanks for the fine marketing effort.
I would love you guys to write something and join the fun.
Angela, since you ask…. piano, violin, clarinet! Though perhaps I ought not to include clarinet, since it’s been four or so years since I picked one up, and it might not be a nice experience for anyone…
I am so impressed … perhaps, one of these fine days, you’ll do an audio post of a piano or violin piece played by you? (Is that possible?)
If you’re interested in seeing what people can write with very limited resources, I’d recommend Ficlets. It’s a site of stories or poems limited to 1,024 characters. That is very restrictive, I know, but it’s surprising what you can fit into it.
Just don’t be put off by the people who seem to think that the idea is to post an enormous story split into 1,024 character chunks.