What is Flash Fiction and Why Should You Care?

Flash fiction is a short story under 1,000 words. Sounds simple right? I’ve had six stories published in Splickety/Spark Magazine and writing flash fiction is fun, challenging and a great way to learn your craft but it is not easy.

Flash fiction gave me my first publication credits, so I encourage every author out there to give flash fiction a try. Don’t take my word about the benefits of flash fiction.

James Scott Bell says that flash fiction causes you to use your plotting, characterization and editing muscles in a concentrated way.

There’s a famous tale that supposedly happened to Earnest Hemmingway. He and a few other authors were having lunch and Hemmingway boasted that he could write a short story in six words.

They all laughed but he bet them ten dollars, took a napkin, and wrote these six words

For sale, baby shoes, never worn.

The writers gave Hemmingway the money.

Here are some editing rules for Flash Fiction that apply to all writing. The major difference is that in a book of eighty thousand words you can get away with more mistakes than you can in a story of one thousand words.

• Biggie rule we have all heard: Show don’t tell
• Stick to one Point of View in flash fiction
• Something must be at stake in the story or it won’t be interesting

• Story must be cohesive – beginning – middle – end
• Events must be written in the order they happened
• Check for problem endings – abrupt stop – no real conclusion
• Look for “filtering” words (examples, heard, looked, saw, smelled, thought, felt, knew, wondered, realized, noticed)
• Don’t overdo dialogue tags (primarily use said when you need a tag)
• Vary sentence length and structure
• Don’t have much backstory
• Sentence variation
• Look out for weak modifiers – especially (ly)

Now that you’ve learned the basics, grab a pen, start writing, and have fun!

BTW, Splickety is out of business but Spark magazine is still accepting stories.

www.sparkflashfiction.com

Don’t forget to comment below. You may win a free book.