Flash Me!

So, what is flash fiction anyway? To put it simply, flash fiction is just very short fiction, running from as few as 100 words up to 1,000 or even 1,500 words.

This is not to say you can get away with fragmented storytelling. It is not a prose poem, nor an extended paragraph used to set up a punch line, nor an anecdotal slice-of-life. The challenge of flash fiction is to tell a complete story in as few words as possible. It must begin immediately and move quickly toward the end--no long descriptions, no unessential words.

Flash fiction forces the writer to compact the story. Strip away those wordy descriptions and character developments. Define your character by having him do something instead of creating lengthy histories and motivations.

It can be any form, style, or genre. It can be whimsical and entertaining or literary and sublime. It can be controversial or unconventional. It can be troubling, unsettling, or unpredictable. The best stories are often about the human condition, showing it in an insightful way that isn’t always obvious.

The easiest way to write flash fiction is to just tell the story. Throw yourself into your writing and write a story, regardless of the length. Then grab a red pen and have at it. Get rid of every adjective and adverb you can find. Trust me, you’ll be surprised by how much emotion and description can be conveyed without using descriptive words.

Read the story again and ask yourself these questions:

Is there a clear beginning, a strong middle, a definitive ending?
Is the character compelling?
Does the story make its point and drive it home?
Is every word absolutely essential to the story, the language precise and clear?
Does the story have action, not activity?
Does every sentence move the story forward?
Is the ending understandable, whether it’s unexpected or inevitable?

Keep in mind that good flash fiction, like all good writing, should have some point to it, a reason for being. The best flash fiction lingers in the mind long after the story has been read--the way of all great literary works of art.

Places to submit your flash fiction:

Flash Fiction Online
The Drabblecast
Flash Me Magazine
The Vestal Review
Every Day Fiction
Flashquake

Ten Commandments For Writers

I

Thou shalt not sprinkle characters into a pre-conceived plot lest thou produce hackwork. In the beginning was the character, then the word, and from the character's words is brought forth action.

II

Thou shalt imbue thy heroes with faults and thy villains with charm, for it is the faults of the hero that bring forth his life, just as the charm of the villain is the honey with which he lures the innocent.

III

Thy characters shalt steal, kill, dishonour their parents, bear false witness, and covert their neighbour's house, wife, manservant, maidservant, ox, and ass for readers crave such actions and yawn when thy characters are meek, innocent, forgiving, and peaceable.

IV

Thou shalt not saw the air with abstractions for readers, like maidens, are seduced by particularity.

V

Thou shalt not mutter, whisper, blurt, bellow, or scream for it is the words and not the characterization of the words that must carry their own decibels.

VI

Thou shalt infect thy reader with anxiety, stress, and tension for those conditions that he deplores in life, he relishes in fiction.

VII

Thy language shall be precise, clear, and bear the wings of angels for anything less is the province of businessmen and academics and not of writers.

VIII

Thou shalt have no rest on the sabbath for thy characters shall live in thy mind and memory now and forever.

IX

Thou shalt not forget that dialogue is as a foreign tongue, a semblance of speech and not a record of it, a language in which directness diminishes and obliquenes sings.

X

Above all, thou shalt not vent thy emotions onto the reader for thy duty is to evoke the reader's emotions, and in that most of all lies the art of the writer.