Fiction Trail Update : March 9th, 2018

The three main types of Fiction on Steemit.
Flash Fiction, Short Stories, Serial Novels.

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The following is my opinion only and does not represent a definitive guide. But it should help you pick some posts that you like and see how to get around in them. - @baerdric

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Flash Fiction : Good flash fiction is difficult. To engage the reader you really have to develop at least two characters, even if one of them is an obstinate microwave oven. You have to build a setting. Then your narrative has to start somewhere, and go somewhere else. It can't just be a joke or a description of a single scene. I mean, those could be flash fiction, but it would be almost impossibly difficult to make it good flash fiction. It may not have to have the classical points of a full fiction plot, but it absolutely has to pass near a couple of them at some point. These stories are about a page long and can be read completely while browsing the internet. I was surprised when I learned the name of them, because I have been writing them all my life. I have a spiral notebook somewhere from 40 years ago with 60 pages of one story per page.

Short Stories : There is a lot more room for development of characters and settings in a short story. For a while they seemed to predominate Steemit because of that and the low risk of investment for the reader. For the same reason as Flash fiction. Few people want to sit down for more than a few minutes to read one thing. So short stories will be about the depth of a TV show. If you can't read it in 15-45 minutes, many people won't bother to start. This leads us naturally to the third type of fiction.

Serial Novels : And there are two main types of these, both of which have good points. One is the novel which has been serialized. Someone wrote a novel, then re-edited it for Steemit so as to match the shortcomings of the medium and the desires of the audience. You get a full plot, with a goal that the author had in mind while writing the story. The other is actually written serially, and each episode, or group of episodes, may be a complete story - and the larger writing may be either a continuation or an actual separate story in the same universe. This method goes well with a writing style I have seen take form over the last 20 years or so, where the writer creates a character with certain attributes, then places them in settings and then just sees what happens. It's like the situation comedy but for regular fiction.

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All of these types can be enjoyable at different times for different reasons. I look for flash fiction when I am just scrolling through Steemit, a short story when I want to slow down for the night, and I might keep a serial open on my tablet to read while smoking a pipe or otherwise relaxing away from the computer.

Examples Follow -

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Flash Fiction

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"The Mango Seedling" by @bhop42moro
This is a great example, several characters with clear atributes, a realized settting, and a path from begining, to climax, to conclusion.

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Short Story :

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"The Block" by @nobyeni There are so many stories about the blockchain or crypto that it's easy to pass them by. Some are just gimmicky to make a point, others like "The Block" take the idea further into the lives of their characters.

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Serial Fiction :

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"A Stranger Death" by @appent
It's hard to get my attention with a serial story. I feel like I need to have some assurance that I'm not going to read several episodes and then be disappointed. Starting to read it in the middle is especially bad... unless the writing is especially good. And of course, the subtitle, "Serialized Fiction" assured me that the story was already told, and I could be fairly certain of reading to the end. I'm setting this one aside for enjoyment later.

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Self Promotion is discouraged.

But @fiction-trail would love to hear about Authors you've read and enjoyed.