In the flash fiction story Permission, i feel the parent is fearful to give the children left in their family after a sibling dying freedom.  The parent is struggling to continue on with the healthy raising of the children left alive in the family.  The parent seems to be suffocating to some degree the children in the attempt to keep them safe.  The headmistress was supporting the parent with the struggle to let these children move on and hopefully be less harmed by the loss of such an important family member. The headmistress was fully aware that the parent was holding on by a thread the ties to sustain themselves and the family.  The hurt was so close to the surface of the entire story.  Showed to me the "going through the motions" that many times happen when a tragedy takes place.

Permission response

I am having trouble understanding these kind of short stories. I feel like they are all  over the place which keeps me interested but left confused. The man in the story seems attached and overprotective of his children. He speaks of seeing his dead son in the water with his wife talking about mundane things. This was odd and I do not quite get the point of that being in the story. I am also not sure what the headmistress has to do with this man's life and why she is involved in it. The story just makes the character seem weird, needy, and maybe even missing a few screws.

Thoughts on Flash Fiction

I actually enjoy reading flash fiction even though I first thought I wouldn't be into it. The A-Z exercise really showed me just how creative a person can be in such a small amount of space. The challenge is something I really enjoy. While I normally like a story to unfold over a longer period of time with character development and different events taking place, I think it is interesting to try and know a character or understand the plot in flash fiction. However, I won't always be able to know just by reading because of the short length and that is what makes it exciting. I feel almost forced to read between the lines and understand a bigger picture than what is being presented on the page.

A-Z Flash Fiction

As I get ready for bed with music still ringing in my ears, I gently place my new Rush 2015 Tour shirt on the chair by the window. Behind me, their debut album still rests on the turntable from earlier this afternoon. Coughing seems endless tonight, thanks to three hours in that pot smoke-filled arena. Dozens of beers later and I am ready to pass out. Every time they perform in New York, I promise to go see them, but never did until now. Finally, I happened to be free for a concert with enough money for a front row ticket. Gas money provided by one of my friends, tail-gating beer and food by my other friend, and the Moving Pictures album blasting on my stereo the whole ride there contributed to an amazing night. Having to get up early the next morning wasn’t on my mind at all. In my mind, times when I get to see some of my musical heroes play live give me more motivation to be the best musician I can be. Just as I close my eyes, I can’t seem to get “Tom Sawyer” out of my head and start humming the chorus over and over. Kids today don’t always realize what amazing music came before them. Late into the night, I wake up from a dream about getting to hang with the band backstage and reliving the whole night over and over. Many times I would dream about things like this, but this time it felt so real and I was disappointed when I woke up. Never again will I experience their live show because this was their last tour. Of all the bands I’ve seen live, they probably have the best musicianship, which really shows during their performance of the classic, “Xanadu”. Pressured by the fact that I have to get up early, I try once again to fall asleep. “Quit having dreams and go to sleep”, I tell myself. Rush playing an amazing show at the Garden is what's keeping me from falling asleep tonight. Silence finally fills the room, but it makes me uncomfortable. Thoughts of excitement and music rush through my head because of the adrenaline still racing through my veins. Under the big stack of records on my shelf, I pull out the album, "A Farewell to Kings" and place it on the turntable because I haven't had enough just yet. Vintage speakers sing with such a warm tone. With great enthusiasm, I jump up and start playing air guitar to "Closer to the Heart".
"Xanadu" then comes on and I get lost in my own world. Years from now, I will still be thinking of this night. 
Zipping across the room, I finally feel that it's time to sleep.

CORRESPONDENCE

 The first paragraph, the author described past events.  Narrator and the man in picture knew each other before and they grew up together. But they went different way of their life. And they could not see each other. The man in picture is a criminal. however, narrator wanted to keep his picture.  second paragraph, “1988: nearly the end of a decade. we wore Bermuda shorts and decorated our roller skates with Day-Glo laces." they played at same the place, they were poised, on the cusp. they wanted it and they didn't. the narrator loved the man in the picture. her love was cherish, and unreciprocated. third the author described present, she loved him but could not express her mind to her family. "Life without the possibility of parole." the man in the picture were in the penitentiary. the narrator wrote the letters so many times to him, but never send. later his picture and her letter faded. They were getting old.     

Reading

Hi all:

Just a reminder that there is this reading this coming Sunday with creative writing faculty all across CUNY (including me!). It's free and open to the public and in protest of austerity funding at CUNY. It can count as your public fiction project. All are welcome.

best,

jt

Finishing up w/ Small Fictions

First, may I say that you guys have written some awesome A-Z flash fictions? Thanks for sharing.

I'd like you to use this space this week to make some final statements about the flash (or small or micro) fiction. What are some qualities that you've noticed about this genre? How is it different from/ the same as fiction you've been familiar w/ in the past? Phong Nguyen, editor of Pleiades, defines flash fiction in his interview on p. 140, says that successful flashes "suggest a much larger context--a story that is far vaster than the words on the page." Apply this criteria to any flash in the collection that you've been drawn to for whatever reason. How does this story achieve this effect? Quote a specific line or section that points to words/events/images outside the frame of the story.

Nguyen also says that flashes establish voice quickly and are experimental by nature. How does this story establish voice quickly? At what sentence and why? How is it experimental (i.e. different (or weirder) than other fiction you've read)?