Writing influenced
by Beckett.

Beckett proved that you can build a universe from almost nothing. He then took the almost away.

Radical compression · Dark comedy · Language at its limit

Beckett is the influence that justifies the extreme end of the Tumbleweed Words compression project. He demonstrated that a complete human world — with suffering, comedy, hope, futility — could be created from a very small number of words, provided those words were chosen with absolute precision. His later work — the prose poems, the short plays, the pieces written in French and translated into English by himself — are formal achievements that nothing in the realistic tradition can match.

"Beckett's characters wait. They talk while they wait. The talking is not about the waiting. The talking is the waiting. This is also what the best flash fiction does."

David — Tumbleweed Words — on Beckett

Beckett's formal lesson: reduce until reduction is no longer possible, then reduce again. The thing that remains is the thing you are actually writing about. Most writers stop too early. The material has not been compressed to its essential form — it still has the support structure of explanation and context around it. Remove the support structure. If the thing stands, it is finished. If it falls, it was not ready.

David — Tumbleweed Words Flash fiction and poetry in the minimalist tradition. Published in Litro, Adelaide Magazine, Cleaver Magazine. Pushcart-nominated. Read the newsletter.