In Stuart Dybek's chapter "Great Thoughts," he talks about the importance of keeping a notebook. Not a notebook for story ideas, just a notebook for things you notice or think. He said these notebooks gave him "not the gift of wholes, but a permission to lose myself in the making of fragments" (42).
I loved this chapter and this practice of writing down these "fragments" because that what's I used to do. I remember having a small notebook in my back pocket where I'd write down random things I overheard, strange things I experienced, curious thoughts. I didn't know where I'd use them later but it didn't matter, it was just the act of noticing and writing and remembering.
I took a sketch writing class in grad school and our instructor had us keep a similar notebook. There was a little more structure to it, though. He wanted us to write a certain number of entries in it each week. It didn't have to be an idea, and you didn't have to have a clue about how you could use the information later. Just write it down.
In the workshop itself, we'd take an idea and talk about it. We picked at it until we got to the truth of it, or we kept putting it in "What if?" situations to see what could happen. These workshops weren't funny. Well, on a good day, they got there eventually. But mostly it was twelve people asking, "What if the drum set had a face?" "What if the drum set was made of bananas?" You never knew when a random thought or question would lead you to the sketch.
I think flash fiction is very similar. You're noticing things around you and keeping them for later. (That helps with regular writing too, of course.) You don't need to know that it will spawn its own story, and you don't need to think about how it can fit into something you've been working on. You just need to notice it and have it for later. You'll find it one day and start thinking about how you can use it, or you'll read it and it will instantly fit into something you've been working on. You might not even know it was the missing piece until there it is.
I've gotten out of the habit of keeping these notebooks since that sketch writing class. I should start back; god knows I have plenty of pocket-sized notebooks. These days I always think I'll remember the thing I observed until I need it. Spoiler alert: I never do. Or it hits me so hard I immediately sit down and write something with it. And that's ok too, but I do miss the act of noticing and writing it down and moving on, letting it hide in my notebook or tumble through my thoughts until I need it.
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