CREATIVE WRITING

Reviewer by Reniel Jovellanos

CCOVERAGE:
xm achieve their very purpose. These written works
can be much more appreciated when they can
1. Imagery bring out the innate capacity of people to feel,
imagine, and behold. As such, the use of sensory
2. Figures of Speech
details in stimulating the senses is of great
3. Forms of Poetry importance to creative writing (Ramos and
4. Poetry Writing Talisay 2017, 16).
5. Settings and Characters
6. Fiction Writing FIGURES OF SPEECH

Figurative language is commonly used in

creative writing. Unlike our usual everyday
IMAGERY
language, figurative language uses figures of
speech. Figures of speech are not meant to be
The Five Senses taken literally. The use of figurative language
It has been said that we think in images – not allows readers to engage in his reading of literary
just visual imagery – but one that evokes all the pieces and it is a way of the writer to let his
five senses (Vazquez and Lee 2017, 22). Imagery message come across with his readers in his own
then refers to words that affect any of the senses: unique style.
a. Auditory (sound)
b. Tactile (touch) Here are the different types of figures of speech
c. Olfactory(smell) (Bernales 2017):
d. Gustatory (taste) 1. Alliteration - This refers to the repetition of an
e. Visual (see) initial consonant sound. Example: Don’t delay
dawn’s disarming display.
In communication, these five senses are 2. Assonance - This refers to the identity or
essential. Similarly, in creative writing, the ability similarity in sound between internal vowels in
to tell what is going on in a literary piece. Notice neighboring words. Example: It beats…as it
that, these five senses pertain to non-verbal sweeps… as it cleans.
communication, thus, it is very important for 3. Consonance - Like alliteration, this is a
writers to describe something for the readers. repetition of consonant sound, but in the final
position.
Imagery Example: Once you go black, you can never go
―A poet shares his experience with the back.
reader through vivid images.‖ In other words, a 4. Onomatopoeia - This is the use of words that
poet is often painting a picture in words and he imitate the sounds associated with the objects they
suggests colors, sounds, and movements. Words refer to.
contain an image when they appeal to the senses, Example: The clock’s tick-tocks remind the old
when they call to mind the sensations described. man of his impending death.
These words are called imagery because they are 5. Anaphora - Same word or phrase is repeated at
joined to actions or things in the physical world to the beginning of successive clauses or verses.
illustrate a mental duplication of a sense of Example: I’m not afraid to die. I’m not afraid to
impression (Tan 2001, p12). live. I’m not afraid to fail. I’m not afraid to
However, there is more to imagery than its succeed. I’m not afraid to fall in love. I’m not
literal meaning. Words like wrinkled, broken, afraid to be alone. I’m just afraid I might have to
green, gold, chapped, and the like can be taken stop talking about myself for five minutes.
literally. There are imagery-words that present 6. Epiphora - What is repeated is a word or phrase
mental images on a non-literal meaning and at the end of succession of clauses or verses.
express figurative meaning and present an Example: Fie, fie, thou shamest thy shape, thy
artificial extended meaning called figures of love, thy wit… Which should bedeck thy shape,
speech (Tan 2001, p.12). thy love, thy wit.
Creatively crafted literary pieces are not 7. Anadiplosis - This is different in that the last
just meant to be read, for like no other works of word of a verse or sentence is repeated at the
art, they must entice the basic senses of people to beginning of the next one.
 CREATIVE WRITING
Reviewer by Reniel Jovellanos
Example: Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. 18. Anticlimax - This is the opposite of climax.
Hate leads to suffering. Example: He has seen the ravages of war, he has
8. Smile - This is a stated comparison usually known natural catastrophes, he has been to singles
using like or as between two fundamentally bars.
dissimilar things that have certain qualities in 19. Oxymoron - This figure of speech uses
common. incongruous or contradictory terms usually side
Example: On the ring, Muhammad Ali floated like by side with each other.
a butterfly, but he stung like a bee. Example: She cannot be trusted. She is a real
9. Metaphor - This is an implied comparison phony friend.
between two unlike things that actually have 20. Parallelism - This refers to repeated
something in common. syntactical similarities introduced for rhetorical
Example: My heart is a lonely hunter that hunts on effect.
a lonely hill. Example: When you are right, you cannot be too
10. Personification - This is a figure of speech in radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too
which an inanimate object or abstraction is conservative.
endowed with human qualities or abilities. 21. Sarcasm - This makes use of words that mean
Example: The picture in that magazine screamed the opposite of what the speaker or writer wants to
for attention. say especially in order to insult someone, to show
11. Hyperbole - This is an extravagant statement irritation or to be funny.
or the use of exaggerated terms for the purpose of Example: Nice perfume. Must you marinate in it?
emphasis or heightened effect. 22. Irony - This refers to a statement or situation
Example: I’m so busy trying to accomplish ten that is contradicted by the appearance or
million things at once. presentation of the idea.
12. Understatement - This figure of speech Example: Who would expect that Bill Gates
deliberately makes a situation seem less important would win a computer in his company’s raffle
or serious than it is. draw?
Example: (Referring to a dent in a car) It’s 23. Paradox - This refers to a statement that
nothing. It’s just a scratch. appears to contradict itself.
13. Metonymy - This is a figure of speech in Example: I must be cruel to be kind.
which one word or phrase is substituted for 24. Apostrophe - This figure of speech addresses
another with which it is closely associated. an inanimate object, an abstraction or an absent
Example: (Referring to the movie industry) person.
Hollywood is undeterred by the mass actions Example: Moon river…whenever you’re going,
against stereotyping organized by the minorities. I’m going your way.
14. Synecdoche - This is a figure of speech in 25. Prosopopoeia - An imaginary character or an
which a part is used to represent the whole or the absent person is represented as speaking.
whole for a part. Example: (Wisdom speaking) From the mouth of
Example: Rationalizing guilt is a common trait of the Most High I came forth, and mist like covered
white-collar criminals. the earth…
15. Euphemism - This refers to the substitution of
an inoffensive term for one considered offensively FORMS OF POETRY
explicit.
Example: Most of the informal settlers have been “Poetry is language at its most distilled and
relocated outside Metro Manila. most powerful.” - Rita Dove, American poet
16. Rhetorical Question - This is a question that (BrainyQuote 2020)
needs no answer. Its purpose to impress to the Poetry is language arranged in lines. It
listener or reader an intended message. attempts to recreate emotions and experiences like
Example: Marriage is a wonderful institution, but other forms of creative writing. Poetry, however,
who would want to live in an institution? is more condensed and suggestive than prose.
17. Climax - This is a figure of speech in which a Because poetry frequently does not include the
series of phrases or sentences is arranged in kind of detail and explanation found in prose,
ascending order of rhetorical forcefulness. poetry tends to leave more to the reader’s
Example: Let a man acknowledge his obligations imagination. Poetry also may require more work
to himself, his family, his country, and his God.
 CREATIVE WRITING
Reviewer by Reniel Jovellanos
on the reader’s part to unlock the meaning c. Caesura – is a strong pause within a line and
(Applebee, et al. 2000). may be marked like this //.
Example:
Poetry can be categorized into two: Excerpt from Act II, Scene I of Shakespeare’s
Winter Tales
The Conventional Poetry It is for you we speak, // not for ourselves
A traditional or conventional poem is a You are abused // and by some putter on
poem that adheres to a definite verse structure
or set of characteristics. It is characterized by
Types of Conventional Poem
the following elements: 1. Haiku – A traditional Japanese haiku is a
a. Meter is the repetition of a regular rhythmic three-line poem with seventeen syllables,
unit in a line of poetry. The meter of a poem is written in a 5/7/5 syllable count. Often
like the beat of a song in that it establishes a focusing on images from nature, haiku
predictable means of emphasis. (Applebee, et emphasizes simplicity, intensity, and
al. 2000) Each unit of meter is known as a directness of expression (Academy of
American Poets n.d.).
foot, with each foot having one stressed ( ˊ )
or one or two unstressed ( ˘ )syllables. An old pond!
Types of metrical feet A frog jumps in—
Lamb – Unstressed syllable followed by stressed the sound of water.
syllable ( ˘ ˊ ) Written by Matsou Basho
Trochee – stressed syllable followed by
The light of a candle
unstressed syllable ( ˊ ˘ ) is transferred to another candle—
Anapest – two unstressed syllable followed by spring twilight.
stressed syllable ( ˘ ˘ ˊ ) Written by Yosa Buson

A line of poetry is named not only for the type of 2. Tanka – The tanka is a thirty-one-syllable
meter but also for the number of feet in a line. poem, traditionally written in a single
Types of metrical names unbroken line. A form of waka, Japanese song
Trimeter or terza rima – three-foot line or verse, tanka translates as "short song," and
Tetrameter or quatrains – four-foot line is better known in its five-line, 5/7/5/7/7
Pentameter or cinquains – five-foot line syllable count form. (Academy of American
Hexameter or sestet – six-foot line Poets n.d.)

b. Rhyme – Words rhyme when the sound of Though love has grown cold
The woods are bright with flowers,
their accented vowels and all the succeeding
Why not as of old Go to the wildwood bowers
sounds are identical (Applebee, et al. 2000). And dream of--bygone hours!
Types of rhyme Written by Sadakichi Hartman
True rhyme – the consonants that precede the
vowel must be different. 3. Blank Verse – It refers to poetry that does not
Example: day - May rhyme but follows a regular meter, most
mat – pat commonly iambic pentameter. Shakespeare
End rhyme – it occurs at the ends of lines of famously used iambic pentameter across his
poetry. writings, such as in this excerpted monologue
Example: ―With social figurines, from Act 1 of Macbeth (Academy of
Sleeping like margarines.‖ American Poets n.d.)
Off rhyme – end rhyme that is not exact but
approximate like other and bother O, that this too solid flesh would melt,
Internal rhyme – that occurs between a single line Thaw and resolve itself into a dew!
Ex: Once upon a midnight dreary, while I Or that the Everlasting had not fixed
pondered weak and weary His canon gainst self-slaughter! O God, O God!
How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
 CREATIVE WRITING
Reviewer by Reniel Jovellanos
4. Sonnet – Traditionally, the sonnet is a of the previous three stanzas, often creating an
fourteen-line poem written in iambic epiphanic quality to the end.
pentameter, employing one of several rhyme
schemes, and adhering to a tightly structured My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun (Sonnet
thematic organization. The name is taken from 130) – William Shakespeare - 1564-1616
the Italian sonetto, which means "a little sound (Academy of American Poets n.d.)
or song." (Academy of American Poets n.d.) My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
Types of Sonnet If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
- Petrarchan Sonnet I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
The first and most common sonnet is the But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
Petrarchan, or Italian. Named after one of its And in some perfumes is there more delight
greatest practitioners, the Italian poet Petrarch, Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
the Petrarchan sonnet is divided into two I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
stanzas, the octave (the first eight lines) That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
followed by the answering sestet (the final six I grant I never saw a goddess go;
lines). The tightly woven rhyme scheme, abba, My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
abba, cdecde or cdcdcd, is suited for the And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
rhyme-rich Italian language, though there are
many fine examples in English. Since the - Spenserian Sonnet
Petrarchan presents an argument, observation, The Spenserian sonnet, invented by sixteenth
question, or some other answerable charge in century English poet Edmund Spenser, cribs its
the octave, a turn, or volta, occurs between the structure from the Shakespearean—three quatrains
eighth and ninth lines. This turn marks a shift and a couplet—but employs a series of "couplet
in the direction of the foregoing argument or links" between quatrains, as revealed in the rhyme
narrative, turning the sestet into the vehicle for scheme: abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee.
the counterargument, clarification, or
whatever answer the octave demands ―Amoretti #75‖ by Edmund Spenser, 1594
(Academy of American Poets n.d.). (Literary Devices 2017)
One day I wrote her name upon the strand,
Ways apt and new to sing of love I'd find, But came the waves and washed it away:
Forcing from her hard heart full many a sigh, Again I write it with a second hand,
And re-enkindle in her frozen mind But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.
Desires a thousand, passionate and high; Vain man, said she, that doest in vain assay,
O'er her fair face would see each swift change A mortal thing so to immortalize,
pass, For I myself shall like to this decay,
See her fond eyes at length where pity reigns, And eek my name be wiped out likewise.
As one who sorrows when too late, alas! Not so, (quod I) let baser things devise
For his own error and another's pains; To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:
My verse, your virtues rare shall eternize,
See the fresh roses edging that fair snow And in the heavens write your glorious name.
Move with her breath, that ivory descried, Where when as death shall all the world subdue,
Which turns to marble him who sees it near; Our love shall live, and later life renew.
See all, for which in this brief life below
Myself I weary not but rather pride
That Heaven for later times has kept me here.

- Shakespearean Sonnet
The second major type of sonnet, the
Shakespearean, or English sonnet, follows a
different set of rules. Here, three quatrains and
a couplet follow this rhyme scheme: abab,
cdcd, efef, gg. The couplet plays a pivotal
role, usually arriving in the form of a
conclusion, amplification, or even refutation
 CREATIVE WRITING
Reviewer by Reniel Jovellanos
The Free Verse came into popular usage to describe poetry written
Free verse is poetry that does not contain or composed exclusively for performance and not
regular patterns of rhyme and meter. The lines for print distribution. (Language is a Virus 2020)
in free verse often flow more naturally than do Example of this is spoken word poetry
rhymed, metrical lines and thus achieve a which is a word-based performance art where
rhythm more like everyday human speech. speakers engage in powerful self-expression by
sharing their views on particular topics for a live
audience, focusing on sound and presentation.
a. Hypertext Poetry Spoken word performances require memorization,
Hypertext poetry is a form of digital poetry performative body language (like gestures and
that uses links using hypertext markup. It is a very facial expressions), enunciation, and eye contact
visual form, and is related to hypertext fiction and with viewers (MasterClass 2020).
visual arts. The links mean that a hypertext poem
has no set order, the poem moving or being d. Shape Poetry
generated in response to the links that the Shape is one of the main things that separate
reader/user chooses. It can either involve set prose and poetry. Poetry can take on many
words, phrases, lines, etc. that are presented in formats, but one of the most inventive forms is for
variable order but sit on the page much as the poem to take on the shape of its subject.
traditional poetry does, or it can contain parts of Therefore, if the subject of your poem were of a
the poem that move and / or mutate. flower, then the poem would be shaped like a
b. Prose Poetry flower. If it were of a fish, then the poem would
Prose poetry is a type of writing that combines take on the shape of a fish. (Shadow Poetry 2000)
lyrical and metric elements of traditional poetry
with idiomatic elements of prose, such as standard POETRY WRITING
punctuation and the lack of line breaks. Upon first
glance, a prose poem may appear to be a wholly
unremarkable paragraph of standard prose, but a Processes of Creative Writing (Morley 2007,
reader who chooses to dig in will note poetic 125 – 131)
overtones within its meter, repetition, and choice PREPARING. The creative process begins in
of language. preparation, which includes active reading,
imagination, research, plays and reflections. All
Whole Again by Lang Leav conscious actions (Morley 2007, 125). This means
I have moved so far away from you that I have become then that one cannot write creatively when one
a myth; a lie you tell yourself each night. I am the one does not read a lot. Imagination plays a crucial
true thing you‟ve held in the palm of your hand, the play in writing. Research is vital, too. Reflections
key assist writers on developing the characters or
to everything you wanted.
speakers in their writing. A writer should think
Your name smiles at me from a crumpled envelope, about these questions in preparing according to
addressed to the past, unsent and unseen. Inside there Morley (2007): What am I preparing for? Which
is genre do I want to adopt for my next project?
a letter where I tell you a story about the moon, how
night after night the darkness carved at the pale curve PLANNING. Planning can include research but
of her body until she became half the women she was. also other factors like acts of premeditation. For
example, a poet may choose to produce a
collection of poems that possesses a governing
There is a word that hurts my heart−one I don‟t ever architecture, mentally structuring a whole book of
say out loud. Like the shadow that lingers in the light, say, connected confessions, or a book with one or
I can‟t separate myself from your memory. But there
two leitmotifs running through every poem; or a
are some nights when I look up into the sky, and the
moon is whole again. poetic sequence (Morley 2007, 127).

c. Performance Poetry INCUBATION. Planning and incubation overlap

Performance poetry is poetry that is with the incubation stage, which can seem a
specifically composed for or during performance contradiction. This is a time for disciplined
before an audience. During the 1980s, the term idleness, and not reading. Importantly, it is not a
 CREATIVE WRITING
Reviewer by Reniel Jovellanos
time for talking about your project, but for may not need to convey all of this. Figure out
listening to it growing (Morley 2007, 128) what is needed for your story.
FLOWING. If you keep the discipline and habit 2. The senses: You can create a sense of space by
of daily writing, then continuing will not present using the senses. The impression of heat, a smell
any difficulty, not least because you will begin to that reminds us childhood, the hint of a hot curry.
enjoy the exploration and actively look forward to By using the senses, you are using your readers
seeing what happened next. own experiences to tell your story and to create
the scene.
SILENCE RESERVOIR. The writing process is 3. Dialogue: How can you use dialogue? By using
not unidirectional, but a total, an organic process. the phrase: ―Please pass the salt?‖ We can tell that
It is unwise to imagine that incubation wakes one the character is at a table. Now we can start asking
evening, beginning rises with the moon, and questions. Is it at home or a restaurant? How can
continuing follows like sunrise. You will find we add information to complete the picture?
your fluency naturally showing in order to allow 4. Body language and action: Make you
the reservoir of language and ideas within your characters do stuff. They must pick up objects,
unconscious mind to replenish. Leave the field. stub their toes, hum a favorite tune or punch a
Stop writing. Finish for the day and go for a walk. wall. This tells us more about the setting than we
Give yourself the time to recover your eloquence can imagine. Make them climb that mountain.
through silence (Morley 2007, 131). 5. Description: This is the easiest way to convey
setting, but it can take its toll on your word count.
BREAKTHROUGH AND FINISH LINES. Make sure that you use only what is required.
You will now begin to be able to gauge where Often, we underestimate our readers and want to
your work has reached in relation to the target you overcompensate.
set in the first place for this project (Morley 2007,
131). Character
Characters refer to real or imaginary
SETTINGS AND CHARACTERS individuals who take part in the action of a story.
The characters who are at the center of the story’s
Setting action are called main characters. Less important
The setting of the story is the time and place ones are minor characters. Characters may also be
in which the events occur. It also involves the classified as protagonists and antagonists. A
social and cultural context of the story. It plays an character that grows or changes as the plot unfolds
important role in writing since it has major is called a dynamic or round character. A static or
connection to the characters of a short story. flat character, on the other hand, remains
unchanged in the story. The development of
We need to get the following setting details characters in fiction is called characterization. It is
across: (Botha 2017) the process through which an author reveals a
1. Physical space: Where are your characters? A character's personality (Miller-Wilson n.d.).
room, a bus or a space craft?
2. When: Is the story set in the past, present or Direct Characterization (Miller-Wilson n.d.)
future? With direct characterization, the author will
3. Era: What are they wearing, driving and tell you in precise words what the character is
eating? 4. Time frame: Is it morning or evening? like.
Is it Christmas? For example:
5. Weather: Is it hot or cold, wet or dry? The confident woman strode into the pub and
6. Culture: Cultural differences and deviations? took the usually shy Seamus by surprise. Despite
7. Geography: A city, a mountain, a river or a his generally reserved nature, he got up the nerve
volcano? Which continent are they on? to offer her his seat at the bar.
When we read this, we know right away that
Five Ways to Sneak Setting into Short Stories the female lead character can saunter into a room
(Botha 2017) without a drop of fear. Likewise, we imagine the
1. You don’t need it all: Decide what is male lead is usually shy, keeping to himself.
important. In a single scene or short story, you There's no guessing about their inherent natures.
 CREATIVE WRITING
Reviewer by Reniel Jovellanos
Indirect Characterization FICTION WRITING
Indirect characterization is more subtle. It's
not something we learn straight away in one, short
passage. There are five ways a writer might reveal Fiction writing is as challenging as poetry
someone's character indirectly: writing in creative writing. Fiction is the product of
our imagination. We create our characters based on
1. Actions - How does the character behave? Is he people we have observed and inspired by places we
or she rash and spontaneous? Or, is he or she have been to. We put our characters into situations
quiet, reserved, and slow to making any sort of where we ask questions like what, if or what if.
change?
2. Effects - How is the character received by other Character Profiling
characters? Do people gravitate toward him or Had our classes been as normal as we used to,
her? Or, do they scatter to the wind when they one of the best ways to come up with a character is
know they're making their way toward them? through profiling. Most writers would ―people watch‖
3. Looks - How is the character described? Is he in restaurants, malls, or parks. Students taking up
or she well-polished, wearing the finest of frocks? creative writing classes create profiles of their
Or, are they more free-spirited, taking on the characters. Profiling of characters include the basics
(name, age, birthplace, gender and nationality),
mood of a hippie? appearance (hair color, eye color, height, weight,
4. Speech - What type of dialogue is created for tattoos piercing, mole, make-up), personality (best
the character? Do they stutter and stammer in trait, worst trait, mannerism, what they hate, what is
sheepish tones? Or, are they regal, commanding most important to them, secrets), family
the attention of the room whenever they speak? (parents/guardians, siblings, spouses, girlfriend,
5. Thoughts - If an author is omniscient, or able to boyfriend, children, pets), others (friends, best friend,
relay every character's thoughts, then we can learn enemies, worst enemy, acquaintances, salary, work,
a lot about the character through their thoughts. education).
Do they go home and brood angrily by the fire?
Do they worry and wonder through their days, Deciding on the Plot and Point of View
hoping they haven't offended a soul and garnered Basically, plot is what happens in a story. Plot is
created by the manner in which the writer arranges and
everyone's affection? organizes particular actions in a meaningful way.
Writers decide how long the story takes place.
Indirect characterization most often happens The plot can last for a few hours like How my Brother
over the course of a longer work of fiction, rather Leon Brought Home a Wife by Manuel Arguilla or it
than in a single paragraph or section. However, could present the life of two generations of a family
these shorter examples of indirect characterization like Footnote to Youth by Jose Garcia Villa or it could
in literature will help you see how this type of provide as many as angles as a story can have like In a
characterization works in practice: Grove by Ryunosuke Akutagawa.
The Freytag’s Pyramid is your guide in creating
“Cathy was chewing a piece of meat, chewing with her the plot: exposition, rising action, climax, falling
front teeth. Samuel had never seen anyone chew that action, and denouement or resolution.
way before. And when she had swallowed, her little You can decide to become a part of the story
tongue flicked around her lips. Samuel‟s mind when writing in the first-person point of view. Writing
repeated, „Something—something—can‟t find what it in the first person point of view brings the readers
is. Something wrong,‟ and the silence hung on the closer to the story whereas, the third person omniscient
table.” means the narrator has unlimited ability to be in
East of Eden by John Steinbeck various character’s thoughts.

“„First of all,‟ he said, „if you can learn a simple trick,

Scout, you‟ll get along a lot better with all kinds of
folks. You never really understand a person until you
consider things from his point of view […] until you
climb into his skin and walk around in it.‟”
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
 CREATIVE WRITING
Reviewer by Reniel Jovellanos
Creating and Resolving of Conflict
Deciding early on the type of conflict your story
will have is the key to an effective and exciting
conflict. Remember that most stories consist of man
versus man conflict revolve in a weak character
(protagonist) who undergoes a transformation in the
climax when he or she can resolve the conflict. This
transformation is effective only when the conflict is
resolved by the main character. This is achieved when
the protagonist has dealt with the crisis leading to the
climax of the story
Flash fiction is a fictional work of extreme
brevity. It is a style of writing which involves
producing very short pieces of fictional literature. This
is quite different to the concept of a short story, which
is usually several pages long and can notch up to
thousands of words.
The easier way to writing flash fiction is to begin
in the middle and by not introducing too many
characters. Remember to make the ending very
interesting. Flash fiction requires only up to 1,000
words, but of course you can come up with one which
is less than 1,000 words.

There are three main characteristics of flash fiction

according to Gaiman 2020:
1. Brevity. Flash fiction compresses an entire story
into the space of a few paragraphs. The commonly
used word limit in flash fiction ranges from just six
words on the short end to around 1,000 words on the
longer end.
2. A complete plot. A flash fiction also has a
beginning, middle and end.
3. Surprise. Great flash fiction often incorporates
surprise, usually in the form of a twist ending or an
unexpected last line.

Mini saga is a short story compiling of exactly

50 words excluding the tile. The 50 words must create
a complete story (Short, 2019).
According to Short (2019), mini sagas are
especially useful when working with reluctant writers,
who are happy to attempt a story of 50 words but
would be daunted by writing a longer narrative.
In addition, Short (2019) encourages the
following in order to reduce to exactly 50 words in
writing mini sagas: eliminating redundant words, using
shorter synonyms, using active not passive verbs,
using subject pronouns, using elisions/abbreviations,
creating one complex sentence to replace several
simple sentences and the using semi-colons instead of
connectives