Compression: Kelly Fordon
“Sometimes with emotionally fraught material, the images are stark and hard to place in time and space. Compressing them is a means of increasing the likelihood that the experience will have an impact on the reader.” — Kelly Fordon
Compression: Jared Joseph
“Compression in this case expresses a means of so purely refining experiential matter that instead the letters left trace a small yet unbounded dilation of the possible. Grammar here recedes to make way for trauma & history, though the ampersand remains & points elsewhere.” — Jared Joseph
Compression: Jewel Beth Davis
“Writing in this way captures a memory and a moment completely with accompanying return of emotions.” — Jewel Beth Davis
Compression: Laurence Ross
“Everyone enjoys the cocktail hour before the wedding reception much better than the wedding reception itself. The slices of roast beef, the potatoes, even those couple spears of asparagus—they get in the way of the mingling, of the dancing, of the chatter chatter chatter. What we want, of course, are little bits of cheese on toothpicks. We want mini-quiches. We simply want the olive at the bottom of our glass. These things, in their own way, are nourishment. ” — Laurence Ross
Compression: Gra Linnaea
“I think compression is the key to all art. Filtering, honing, compression.” — Gra Linnaea
Compression: Peter Clarke
“Every sentence, taken in or out of context, necessarily holds clear entertainment and artistic value.” — Peter Clarke
Compression: GC Perry
“I like the idea of compression in writing because life is a series of moments. Most moments are inconsequential. Some are hugely dramatic. And some seem inconsequential, but actually speak of great or climactic events. Compression, to me, is a way of accessing this dynamic. The trick is what needs saying and what can be left unsaid. It’s a trick I’ve still to master, I think.” — GC Perry
Compression: D.N.A Morris
“The hallmark of any good compressed prose piece is its ability to portray all elements of a story quickly and sufficiently, using the most precise diction possible. It is my philosophy that the best writing of any genre has an emotional element that is easily identifiable and relatable, and if the compressed prose is to work, it too must move the reader towards some kind of passion. Flash fiction, micro-fiction, compressed prose—these are all names for the same thing: a short burst of creative, imaginative, unforgettable poetic brilliance, leaving a ghostly affect on the mind and heart similar to that of having gazed upon the Sun itself.” — D.N.A Morris
Compression: Elise Stephens
“I’ve found that the condensed form for writing forces the strongest images to the surface, cutting away the less powerful flotsam that often works its way into longer pieces. Thus, having to compress my thoughts on trying to be an artist in a world where English majors and such are the butt of many jokes forces me to work with images, rather than with unfocused rants. The image bypasses the argument, hitting the heart as fast as a scent triggers a memory. This is the condensed form: images.” — Elise Stephens
Compression: Dawn Sperber
“Compression can allow a story to revolve around a single image. Our minds and intimate realities tell much of our own lives’ stories visually. Sometimes, the arced structures of traditional stories just can’t speak the evocative compression of a lasting image.” — Dawn Sperber
Matter Press is now offering private flash fiction workshops and critiques of flash fiction collections here.
Upcoming:
03/23 • Kenneth Pobo
03/30 • Roberta Allen
04/06 • Avril Shakira Villar
04/13 • TBD
04/20 • TBD
04/27 • TBD
05/04 • TBD
05/11 • TBD
05/18 • TBD
05/25 • TBD
06/01 • TBD
06/08 • TBD
06/15 • TBD
06/22 • TBD
06/29 • TBD
07/06 • TBD
07/13 • TBD
07/20 • TBD
07/27 • TBD
08/03 • TBD
08/10 • TBD
08/17 • TBD
08/24 • TBD
08/31 • TBD
09/07 • TBD
09/14 • TBD
09/21 • TBD