The story I enjoyed the most was Karen Russell’s “Ava Wrestles the Alligator.”  I just felt like I was completely consumed by the environment.  She really evoked the essence of the swamp, not just its physical characteristics.  She gave the place life, which is important for this particular setting because life is everywhere in the environment.  Russell also made sure to portray the mystique of the swamp.  Ava grew up in this environment and she still feels a sense of wonder while traipsing through the environment.  She attacks multiple senses through her descriptions, which I really enjoyed. 

I thought Jo Campbell’s Once Upon a River was very good as well.  Particularly, she gives us really good physical descriptions of how people interact and have influenced nature in a pretty shitty way.  The setting feels very depressing.  I suppose the narrative of the story manipulates the reader’s interpretation of the setting.  Which seems to be a well-done aspect of the story.  It is pretty depressing for me, being that I’m from a small town and have heard things like this happening before.  Living in a small town is like being forced to live with middle-schoolers.  Most people who are particularly smart manage to escape while others are left to get a membership at the local Moose lounge.  Anyone who is anyone is a member of the Moose lounge.  I think Russell did an excellent job of capturing the veiled desperation of living a life of compromise and defeat.

Shann Ray’s The Great Divide was a difficult read for me.  At first, none of the characters are named.  Then, there are tons of characters named.  I guess I just had trouble getting into the story.  I didn’t really get a good grasp on the setting in the story, making me lose interest rather quickly.  The whole cowboy angle is okay, but I had no clue really when or where this was taking place.  Maybe I just misread the details, but the story just never captivated me.  I kind of even like cowboys, particularly when the fight aliens.          

These stories seem to always be weaving details of the world into the story.  At first, the worlds are driven by loads of exposition, especially in Geoffrey Landis’ The Sultan of the Clouds.  Science fiction writers have a lot more work to do in comparison to authors that use everyday reality in terms of worldbuilding.  However, by starting the story in worldbuilder mode, the author can quickly set up a nice backdrop for his/her narrative.  Sci-fi and fantasy writers elaborately describe detail about environment and society.  Still, there are also instances where dialogue and narrative help describe the world, such as the conversations between characters in The Sultan of the Clouds.  In terms of stories that do a good job of creating a sense of place, The Hunger Games novels do a fantastic job of captivating the reader with their world.    

The Antioch Review

http://antiochcollege.org/antioch_review/guidelines.html

The magazine seems very prestigious.  However, its prestige could come off as stodginess.  I say this because they refuse to take electronic submissions.  Granted, I actually think requiring a hard-copy submission lends the magazine a nostalgic feel.  This magazine accepts four works of fiction per publication, making it extremely difficult for writers to be accepted.  Nonetheless, the magazine strives to reach an educated and professional group of readers, and I would personally love to have my work published here.  I would revel in the fact that my work was primarily being read by sophisticated people.  At the same time, trying to gain the respect of sophisticated people is very intimidating.  Because I am new to writing fiction, this magazine feels very much out of my reach.  It seems to have a very rich American tradition and lofty standard.  I also get bummed by the prospect of having to mail a self-addressed stamped envelope with my submission, feels like I’m lending them a paper shredder.

The Paris Review

http://www.theparisreview.org/about/

Sweet Jesus this literature magazine is where authorial paragons are forged.  The magazine’s website is absolutely gorgeous and professional looking.  These people published Samuel Beckett, an absolute genius.  If I were to one day be accepted to this magazine, I would frame the issue, meditate on how fantastic I am, drink a glass of chocolate milk, install a mantled fireplace in my living room (for the sole purpose of placing the book upon it), and, sadly, brag about it on Facebook (Yes, my society partially defines me, justifying just how shallow this would be).  Anyway, enough parentheses, it looks as if they only accept five works of fiction per issue, once again making acceptance nearly impossible.  This magazine feels quite esteemed.  Just based on the authors that they have published, I would guess that they have cultivated a very educated and literarily connected audience.  Being published in this magazine would put an author on the literary map.  However, they also require a self-addressed stamped envelope, depressing. 

NANO Fiction 

http://nanofiction.submishmash.com/submit

This magazine seems very professional yet welcoming.  They only accept flash fiction of 300 words or less.  However, I feel like this could be an excellent place to submit work.  They accept online submissions and allow writers to submit up to five stories at a time.  They “like it fast,” and it feels as though they are aiming for a crowd that wants quick access and fast, powerful reads.  Immediate and small bursts of information seem to be the way Americans prefer things, making this magazine very appealing to writers looking to reach large groups of people.  The page does feel a little like a delivery service, but, all in all, I would enjoy seeing my work published here. 

“The Girlfriend Game,” by Nick Antosca

Dialogue is more interesting when characters are saying no to each other.  Wow, this story really has a way of saying no.  Dani says no by ignoring the narrator throughout the story.  The dialogue really carries this story, and we get a sense of Dani’s character without hearing her go on a rant.  Sure he made her mad, but she had to know that Miles could be her ticket to getting a role.  She may have done that for the narrator, but it was a very self-serving action.  Antosca gave Dani volumes of character depth without having her talk much.  It was impressive.  My dialogue really needs to drive the story and flesh out characters in an authentic manner.

“East Beirut, 1978,” by Patricia Sarrafian Ward

Complexity

Mayya is struggling with depression, which is largely brought on by her family and the circumstances around her.  Nonetheless, she still attempts to dig some happiness out of her life by way of her children.  Her character takes on another layer of complexity by the manner in which she remains silent about the obvious affair that her husband is having.  She seems to care, but her rage is evident.  Mayya basically just tries to shut everyone off emotionally in order to exact revenge.  She longs for a normal life, but the reality of her situation is far from normal.  Still though, she seems to be trying to make it normal.

“Disassembly,” by Kathy Fish

Keep exposition out of dialogue

Fish doesn’t directly explain what is going on within the story through her dialogue, but we get a feel for Joy’s situation by her short remarks and scathing thoughts.  Fish makes it seem like only idiots talk a lot, making her dialogue seem very true to life.  People who talk about themselves are irritating, and by showing how Joy is caught in what seems like a fixed state of incompetent and irritating people, Fish gives Joy’s character a feeling of authenticity.  I just wanted to punch Barbara Lee in the face.  I can’t really explain why.

Name: Peter Young

Age: 8, 9, 24, 39

Nationality: American

Socioeconomic Level as a child: very happy, well-liked and humorous, fairly popular, parents make decent money

Socioeconomic Level as an adult: Kind, well liked, fairly poor but charitable, very humble and quiet, reserved

Hometown: Spokane, Washington

Current Residence: Spokane Washington

Occupation: Clown/Locksmith/Medieval Rock Band Harpist

Income: 24k/year

Talents/Skills: lock picking, humor, harping,  

Salary: 20k/year

Birth order: only child

Siblings (describe relationship): none

Spouse (describe relationship): none

Children (describe relationship): none, but enjoys being around them

Grandparents (describe relationship): nonexistent

Grandchildren (describe relationship): nonexistent

Significant Others (describe relationship): Friends (other clowns and band mates) very friendly relationship but limited to concerts and shows, gets picked on somewhat by band mates, not really friendly outside of these venues

Relationship skills: below average relationship skills, fairly shy in person, but when performing attempts to cover up these aspects of his personality, lives vicariously through his on-stage persona

Height: 6’2”

Weight:  200

Race: Korean

Eye Color: brown

Hair Color: black

Glasses or contact lenses? none

Skin color: fairly tan

Shape of Face: thin face, sunk-in eyes, narrow jaw

Distinguishing features: slightly crooked nose, large nostrils

How does he/she dress? Bright colors when performing, fairly plain when not, sticks to earth tones, conservative, especially when around family

Mannerisms: has difficulty looking people in the eye when out of character, drinks quite heavily later in life

Habits: (smoking, drinking etc.) drinks quite often, but no smoking or recreational drugs

Health: fairly good health,

Hobbies: clowning, LARPing, and playing harp, making balloon animals

Favorite Sayings: none

Speech patterns: common English

Disabilities: none

Style (Elegant, shabby etc.): conservative style, doesn’t really dress to impress, rather to remain inconspicuous

Greatest flaw: allows people to walk all over him on occasion, is far too trusting, naïve

Best quality: very humble and has a natural talent for making people laugh, especially children, very good with kids, loving

Educational Background: high school education, spurns college, trained in lock smithy (by his father)

Intelligence Level: fairly intelligent, but primarily average

Any Mental Illnesses? Mildly deranged at first, but  

Learning Experiences: that society can be extremely cruel

Character’s short-term goals in life: be happy and bring happiness to others

Character’s long-term goals in life: settle down with a wife and have kids of his own, be a good father figure

How does Character see himself/herself?

How does Character believe he/she is perceived by others? Nice, at first, but later on people tend to avoid him and even shun him

How self-confident is the character? Not extremely self-confident, below average confidence

Does the character seem ruled by emotion or logic or some combination thereof? Yeah, likes to be center of attention, but also wishes to be loved, needs some form of affection, either physical or emotional

What would most embarrass this character? Small secrets that he tends to keep to himself, pointless things like revealing to his friends who he is dating and telling his family where he is going, even if it is simply to the grocery store

Strengths/Weaknesses: is very kind, too naïve, makes people laugh, is humble, meticulous, hard-working, enjoys life, tries too much to be masculine, is very homophobic, seems to feel the stigma of Asian stereotypes whenever it doesn’t necessarily exist

Introvert or Extrovert? Extrovert while performing, has introverted tendencies in everyday life though

How does the character deal with anger? He acts upon it, really doesn’t control it well in the latter half of the story

With sadness? Tries to rationalize it by relating it to happiness, practices avoidance when it comes up

With conflict? Hates conflict, wishes to avoid it at all costs

With change? Is subjected to it, but doesn’t quite understand it, tries to struggle against it for this reason

With loss? Doesn’t really experience loss too much

What does the character want out of life? A family and respect, mostly

What would the character like to change in his/her life? The way he is viewed by people, would love to change what society views as being important, such as money and seriousness, despises abusive people

What motivates this character? The idea that he is important amongst his peers and society in general, he wants to make a difference in the world

What frightens this character? Men larger than him, being laughed at out of costume, being a stereotypical Vietnamese boy

What makes this character happy? Making children happy, having an impact on society, wants to date a white woman

Is the character judgmental of others? Not blatantly, but subversively judges others, loves to criticize parents for how they treat their kids, feels that he could do it better

Is the character generous or stingy? Generous, money doesn’t necessarily motivate him, it just pays his bills

Is the character generally polite or rude? Polite mostly, but very confused at what it means to be polite

Does the character believe in God? Yes, only because he wishes to completely fit in with the American society

What are the character’s spiritual beliefs? They aren’t necessarily grounded within him, they are more for show and don’t necessarily affect his actions

Is religion or spirituality a part of this character’s life? Not really, it’s more like a cool brand of t-shirt to him

If so, what role does it play?

Character’s role in the novel (main character? hero? heroine? Romantic interest? etc.): Protagonist

Scene where character first appears: outside, helping a lady unlock her car door

Relationships with other characters: fairly shallow, very guarded relationships

1.  The guards took Uri.  They came to the cell during lights out and charged him with conspiracy to commit an act against the state.  Uri was sixteen years old.  I tried to stand up for him, I really did.  But my mouth ran out of words.  Maybe I’m just a coward.  Maybe they are breaking me.  Maybe freedom wasn’t worth it anymore.  Maybe it was perverted, like my old neighbor, Mr. Standifer, who we always thought popped Viagra so he could jerk off to some animal porn.  My buddy Mark worked part time at the local pharmacy, and he would always mention how Standifer would fill his prescription every two weeks.  Standy’s wife was dead and we never saw any ladies coming or going. 

That was before the NDAA.  Back when we had some rights.  Freedom was like an ex-girlfriend to me now.  I would love to see her and catch up, but the first 10 minutes would most likely be awkward, and chances are she would bore me anyways.  Either or, it was a pretty shitty outcome. 

2.  Free will died that day.  We weren’t humans anymore.  Those computers that they started putting into people’s brains were like parasites, sucking the free will out of their “users.”  Apple and Twitter were at the center of it all.  They worked with the U.S. Government to make iBrains mandatory for all citizens.  They spouted off propaganda about how they would boost memory and intelligence in every American citizen.  Then the NDAA got amended.  iBrains were programmed to automatically update the status of users, against their will. 

At first, words like terror, bomb, and warhead were flagged.  Eventually words like peace, different, and choice were targeted.  The government said that it was in the name of a more perfect world, a world free from terrorism.  They knew what was best.  The eagle would gobble up all the tiny birds as they uncontrollably tweeted their lives away.  Those of us who refused the iBrains were branded as political renegades, enemies of the state, or unmonitored ones.  They rounded us up in the name of security, telling our families that we were communicating with terrorists. 

3.  I was caught up.  National security, they called it.  “Apple’s iBrain is the dawn of a new age,” the commercials would say.  An uneventful outpatient surgery could net you some free painkillers and replaced every “peripheral” computing device. 

Peripherals are what they began to call us.  Those that stood against this fucked up guise of oppression.  The automatic tweets and status updates were their way of keep tabs on everybody.  Those of us who refused to “sign up” were called terrorists and placed in prison camps.  It was fine for me, I guess.  The beds weren’t too hard and the food was hot.  I refuse to be a fucking mouse and I could see my cage.  That’s more than all those “free” idiots running around could say.

Teddy was one of the standup rent-a-pigs.  We would light cigarettes and rate how hot the female guards were.  “It’s fucked up what they are doing to you guys,” he would say.  “Why don’t you let me go home then,” I’d reply.  

“Just getting my paycheck bro.”  Our conversations would always end with the paychecks.

In terms of point of view, the protagonist is basically talking and reasoning with herself.  The way Taylor uses second person point of view works well here because it acts like the protagonist’s conscious throughout the story.  This alternative voice allows the reader to see just what’s going on inside the protagonist’s head. 

This particular point of view works because it allows the reader to experience how the protagonist follows the calculating instructions that her emotions are giving her.  The form works well because of this as well.  This response to a husband’s actions is almost scripted, in that it seems like the most rational way to handle the anger that is boiling up inside of the protagonist.  Regardless, the protagonist seems to buck convention by partaking in the meal with her husband.  This represents a kind of twist to the recipe.

As far as forms go, I haven’t really thought too much about going outside the box with form.  Being that I am fairly new to writing creatively, I have been extremely preoccupied with telling an interesting narrative.  Still though, I think that I should use an alternative form to enhance the meaning of my narrative.  So… I’m thinking… perhaps a series of emails or even memos would work well in telling my story.  I do want to give that cold and calculating feel to my story, so this could be a good way to incorporate some ruthless and “businesslike” elements into my story.  It might work well with flash fiction due to the fact that these memos or emails basically try to inform recipients in the most clear-cut and time saving manner possible.  Accomplishing this in a way that doesn’t completely overrule my narrative will be extremely difficult. 

The first person POV superbly suits this story.   Justin basically wants to be Nick Campbell and lives vicariously through his idol.  His relationship with Nick’s wife gives Justin a sense of self-worth but, ultimately, highlights how he cannot live Nick’s life.  We only get Justin’s POV, and this really illustrates how unaware he is throughout the entire story.  By using first person point of view, Harrison allows us to experience the inexperience that Justin has in this situation. 

The moments between Justin and Mary Ann seem very authentic.  Nonetheless, Justin remains fairly inexperienced in that he believes this adult woman would drop her entire life to be with him.  Also, Justin never rationally thinks about the future of this relationship, showing how immature he actually is.  I think that Harrison did an amazing job by telling the story in this manner.  Young people seem to get caught up in situations that they aren’t quite prepared to handle, but the essence of these situations is fantastic.  Life’s all about the journey, and if we never learn anything along the way, it would just plain suck.  I know that last statement is very cliché, but the very real tingle that creeps up a person’s spine whenever he/she thinks about a situation in that they have grown or learned something is nothing short of a miracle.  I often think back to when I knew and cared less, and, although I enjoy who I am and where I’ve been, the longing to go back to those profound moments is keen.

Aside from my mini-rant, the point of view really takes the reader back to a time when the world was still unknown yet less complex.  Emotions are powerful, and Harrison’s writing really explores that notion.  We’ve all been like Justin, well, maybe not sleeping with married women, but making incredible mistakes and living to tell about them is a necessity in life.  The first person point of view really made me think of my own experiences more so than the actual narrative of the story.  It was cathartic, and, in terms of craft questions, I still don’t know how he did that.

1. Children ran rampantly through the house as a thirty-year-old man sprawled out on his bed in the back bedroom.  He pulls his pillow up around his ears to quell the storm.
2. Eric closed his eyes, wishing that those damn nephews of his would just go back home.
3. He wondered just how long he would have to put up with this.  He hadn’t eaten yet and it was 1 o’clock.  The brats needed to leave.
4. He really needed to get up and go look for a job, but his car was on empty and mom still hadn’t given him any gas money.
5. She had better get control of this situation.  Her lasagna was terrible last night and I have half a mind to blow up on her ass.  Geez, the shit I have to put up with.

The grass crumpled under the weight of their bodies.  The frosty blades began to melt into a soggy silhouette as he thrust repeatedly.  The friction of their bodies began to chafe him.  He wished that he could stop.  Leftover pizza isn’t the only thing best served cold.

Slim Pickin’s

Eating and talking.  Not finishing stories.  Dropping half that food.  Acting childish, stealing my childhood.  Empty plate, food laying around it.  Getting some drugs.

Picking up the remote, can’t change the channel. Gotta sit down.  Gotta go to work.  Can’t find my shoes.  Can’t change the channel.  Looking for my newspaper.  Try to dial the phone.  Supper time.

How’s dad doing?  Oh, well if there is anything I can do, let me know.  Well I’m not going to be in town until Wednesday.  Just make sure you give him his pills.  Don’t try to lecture me, I’ve done it too.  Greg starts his job next week so it’ll have to be after that.  Love you. Bye.

These narratives tend to take a moment in time, whether long or short, and explore emotions or ideas that carry various levels of significance.  In terms of how they function as fiction, the characters in each of these stories are more “essence-centric,” the reader gets an idea about the characters based on their thoughts or actions.  The straightforward physical descriptions don’t seem to have the luster of these action-based descriptions.  This allows the reader to perform a sort of “closure.”  We get to come to these characters and their respective situations on our own terms.

Flash fiction gives the reader a greater sense of autonomy concerning characters and plot.  We are allowed to use the author’s framework to construct our own personal realities within the story.  Our opinions and ideas are allowed to hang loosely upon the author’s clues, and, as a reader I enjoy that aspect of storytelling.

I’m of the opinion that a story can be told in as many words as the author wants it to be told.  The story should definitely have some sort of structure or baseline narrative, but the amount of words is irrelevant if a writer can effectively deliver enough of these basic narrative tools to allow the reader to utilize his/her imagination to fill out the narrative.  I feel that this interaction occurs in all forms of creative writing, and fiction actually allows it to happen more frequently.  The interaction is the key, however, because it allows the reader to get something out of the story.  Now, depending on whether or not the reader or writer is savvy enough to hold up their end of the bargain, the story is either successful or fails.  Personally, I believe that if the writer shows enough skill, the story can be amazing regardless of the reader’s level of competence.  Nonetheless, a good reader can generally find meaning in just about anything.  The only real example I have where this analytical or entertaining aspect of narrative is inexplicable to all but the creator is Samuel Beckett’s “Breath,” and the rules only loosely apply because it’s a stage-play and video.

Anyway, I should stop digressing though.  Casey Hannan’s “Trigger Shy” was very, for lack of a better word, mysterious.  Hannan really allows the reader to jump to multiple conclusions throughout the story, and the amount of conclusions I thought I was coming up with was easily in the double-digits by the time I was finished reading.  Considering how short the story was, this was pretty amazing.  The suspense of the story was phenomenal, and the characters were just hanging out on a porch smoking cigarettes.  I feel like I could write fifty stories by simply elaborating the hints that Hannan gives in that story, and, to me, that is a good barometer to determine the potency of flash fiction.