The Drowsy Swallow

Authors

Abstract

Because of its brevity, flash fiction requires new thinking on behalf of the reader. The reader must learn to forego multiple characters, complicated plot, and exposition. Flash readers learn that what is not visible is as important as what is on the page – hints are key. The reader needs to slow down and revel in the word-by-word experience of a flash story – language is crucial – and she learns to watch for clues. Concision in flash is vital and also an element of surprise. Flash is a difficult form to define but its hallmarks are profundity and brevity and a feeling of completeness. The flash story begs to be re-read to uncover further riches.

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Author Biography

  • Nuala Ní Chonchúir, Creative writer. IrelandNuala Ní Chonchúir10 Mountpleasant AveOld Mountpleasant, BallinasloeH53 R970, Co. Galway, Ireland

    Nuala Ní Chonchúir was born in Dublin and lives in East Galway. She holds a BA in Irish from Trinity College Dublin and a Master’s in Translation Studies (Irish/English) from Dublin City University. She has published three novels and three poetry collections. Her third novel, Miss Emily, about the poet Emily Dickinson and her Irish maid, was shortlisted for the Bord Gáis Energy Eason Book Club Novel of the Year 2015 and longlisted for the 2017 International DUBLIN Literary Award. Nuala has published four short story collections and one flash fiction collection, Of Dublin and Other Fictions. Her fifth short story collection Joyride to Jupiter was published by New Island in June 2017. Her fourth novel, Becoming Belle, will be published in 2018 and she is also working on her fourth poetry collection. 

References

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Published

28-11-2017

Issue

No. 2 (2017): Cartografía de un género literario en expansión Coordinadoras: Aviva Garribba, Cristiana Pugliese y Anna Isabella Squarzina

Section

Testimonials and Interviews. Creation

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Microtextualidades. Revista Internacional de microrrelato y minificción is an open access journal. All of its content is available free of charge, at no cost to the user or their institution.The works are published under an Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (legal text). 

NOTE: The journal changed license type on May 1, 2022. All articles published prior to May 1, 2022, are under the Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). 

How to Cite

Ní Chonchúir, N. (2017). The Drowsy Swallow. Microtextualidades. Short Short Story and Minifiction International Journal , 2, 128-131. https://revistascientificas.uspceu.com/microtextualidades/article/view/152