October 10th: Brevity

While deciding what to read within the magazine “Brevity,” I chose the nonfiction flash-fictions from the month of May 2019 (May is my birth-month so yes I play favorites). I read “What Happens When You Drown” by Sarah Beth Childers, “My One and Only” by Michaella A. Thornton, and “Whenever Men Think I’m Smiling” by Megan Pillow Davis, all of which deal with three sad, yet interesting, factors of life. Suicide, fertility and women’s safety raise concerns in my life because death due to mental health, whether I even want children when I get to that point in life and simply being a woman are all stereotypes and problems I face on a daily basis. But what I found most interesting despite my relation to these previous topics happened to be “Ten Things You Need to Know About Listicles” by Deborah Thompson.

I related to this story most, not due to the topic but rather the writing style. At first I avoided this post simply because I had no clue what listicles were; but I searched “listicles” and Google came up with: “a piece of writing or other content presented wholly or partly in the form of a list.” What I didn’t realize (and what was most obvious) occurred to me as I continued reading – the post itself was indeed a listicle! Throughout her piece, Deborah Thompson illustrates the different varieties of a listicle despite what the definition states them to be. Her various listicle lengths depict a sense of being “outside of the box,” so to speak, in a literary fashion and provide the audience a visual representation on how literary techniques do not have to play by the rules. Within her listicles she demonstrates how listicles aren’t simply grocery lists or bucket lists, but essays, collections, chapters, ideas (“top ten”), and in general a variety of things you wouldn’t consider. Most listicles probably don’t reach closures or conclusions but offer insight onto something which is what we read things for anyway, right?

I resonated most with Thompson’s writing because of her insight. I believe that whenever I write something it’s to offer something either about myself, my life, something I’m interested in and want to learn more about, something I’m passionate about, etc… and her flash-fiction piece put the ideas and concepts of listicles right into my lap – literally providing me a new literary technique to utilize.

I’ll end with the specific piece of her flash-fiction that hit me like a truck:

“7. Or maybe listicles aren’t new at all. We’ve always loved lists. The Four Noble Truths; the Five Stages of Mourning; the Six Days of Creation; the Seven Deadly Sins.”

Buddhism; Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance; Life; Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Pride; the list of human characteristics define why we make lists in the first place. Are they to help us navigate our way or cope with the imperfections of life? Thompson’s flash-fiction allowed me the opportunity to connect a literary technique with an actual example within itself. I truly appreciated her writing.