I'm working on a diostory now and I've become halted as far as effects. I need a good way to show explosions, gun flashes, and stuff. Whgat do you guys do?

gif animations!
http://sftrance.com/images/mm.gif

http://sftrance.com/images/temp/joerider.gif

depends on which software you're using. If you use photoshop, there's a lot of cool free fire and explosion plug ins you can download.