Develop a story idea in five minutes

All writers may be different, but there's one quality they have probably all shared at one time or another - the desire for more writing time.

If you find your life is so busy that the only time you put pen to paper is in those stolen moments between work, friends and family time, here’s a way to generate the seeds of your story in just five minutes.

Battling the blank page blues

It may seem impossible, but you really can get something accomplished in short snippets of time, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be an epic novel.

Sometimes the easiest way to get over the fear of the blank page is to just get something - anything - down. That’s where flash fiction can become your saviour.

What is flash fiction?

While word counts vary from market to market, flash fiction is generally less than 1000 words.

Popular in everything from literary journals to anthologies and magazines, flash fiction is a perfect fit for time-stressed readers who have less time to read in our fast-paced society. That’s good news for writers with an affinity for short short story writing.

Generating material

In Fast Fiction: Creating Fiction in Five Minutes, Roberta Allen offers an innovative method of prompts and exercises that teach writers how to generate short stories in quick bursts.

Allen says that the secret to writing is not about the lack of material. Every writer has a wealth of memories, dreams and experiences to write for a lifetime. The problem is accessing that material.

With the five-minute method, Allen encourages writers to get the words down fast. By deciding beforehand that you will allow yourself to write whatever comes up without censoring your feelings or thoughts, your individual writer’s voice will show in unexpected and spontaneous ways.

The five-minute method

Allen’s method requires only four things to start: a pen, paper, a timer, and a quiet place to write.

Within the handbook itself, there are over 300 prompts, such as "Write a story about a bitterness" or "Write a story about a wish". Writers are encouraged to simply choose a prompt, set their timers, and start writing immediately with the first idea that comes to mind, and without stopping for the entire five minutes.

After completing the exercise, Allen encourages you to re-read what you've written to see if you were able to get the entire idea onto paper. If not, an extra minute or two to finish up your thought is allowed.

The revision process

The remainder of the book provides tips on how to revise your work and ways to build longer stories, either from the seeds of your five-minute exercise or by combining multiple five-minute exercises into one.

With tips on how to tighten slow openings, strenghten weak dialogue and ways to eliminate passive voice, Fast Fiction: Creating Fiction in Five Minutes is a useful how-to manual for writers who want to craft compelling stories.

Classes for Torontonians

There are many workshops throughout the city for writers to hone their short story writing skills.

Editor and poet Sharon Singer offers a popular weekend afternoon workshop which allows participants to explore and play with words, experiment with narrative, dialogue and character using timed writing prompts.

The workshop schedule is:
Date: Sun. Feb. 28, 2010
Time: 1:00 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Price: $35 for workshop
Register: sharon@sharonsinger.ca or visit sharonsinger.ca

Your opinion matters

What are your thoughts on flash fiction? Do you think an entire story can be told in less than 1000 words? If you've tried writing flash fiction, how easy or difficult did you find the process? Please share your thoughts below!

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