Guide to Writing Flash Fiction: Building Your Portfolio For College Sarah O’Neill Chester County Supreme Editing

 

Who Invented the Name Flash Fiction?

We create our world through language, through naming.” Writer Robert Kelly used the term sudden fiction because the stories “are all suddenly — just there”. Thus, the name of the anthology came into being. James Thomas titled his 1992 anthology, Flash Fiction: Seventy two very short stories.

Short Stories Versus Flash Fiction

Defined as being between 2,000 to 5,000 words (some say 10,000), short stories are more flexible, and unlike flash fiction, may take a couple of sittings to read. There is more space to develop ideas, plot, character, and theme; at most, one plot and a small subplot or a plot and a half. Flash fiction shouldn’t be more than one plot and one theme.

Defined as being only up to 1,000 words, Flash Fiction is punchy and to the point, a story of extreme brevity with the plot pared down to the core of the story. Every detail, every character gesture, every description counts; each word has its place. Take one word away and the meaning is lost.

Commonalities

Begin with a crisis or conflict immediately and avoid describing the origin of the conflict or setting up long character histories. Works off one idea for plot and character and, like a short story, tells a complete story with a beginning, middle and end with the elements of storytelling in place. Writing both types of story requires writing that is clear, tight and concise.

To get that tightness, cut unnecessary descriptions, get rid of adjectives and adverbs, remove the word “that” and other empty words, and eliminate details that don’t matter. With both short stories and short shorts, show, don’t tell with the action. You want the reader to get in and get out and the emotional impact of what you’ve written to resonate beyond the words. Quick and short, they can have that lasting power.

Some Nicknames

Micro Fiction, Short Storts, Micro Stories, Nano Fiction, and Postcard Fiction

A beginning, middle, and end:

In contrast to poem, most flash fiction emphasizes plot. While there are certainly exceptions to this rule, telling a complete story is part of the excitement of working in this condensed form.

•A twist or surprise at the end:

Setting up expectations and then turning them upside down in a short space is one hallmark of successful flash fiction.

There is no universal agreement about the length of flash fiction, but it is usually fewer than 1,000 words long.

Just FYI:

Esquire magazine, for example, held a flash fiction contest, the word count was determined by the number of years the magazine had been in publication.

National Public Radio’s Three-Minute Fiction contest asks writers to submit stories that can be read in less than three minutes. While the contest does have a 600-word limit, clearly the length of reading time is more important than the exact number of words.

Skeptics

Though some writers initially eyed flash fiction with skepticism, others embraced the challenge of telling a complete story in the fewest words possible, and readers responded enthusiastically. It’s safe to say that flash fiction has now gained mainstream acceptance.

The Purpose?

•With its seemingly arbitrary word limits, you might be wondering about the point of it.

• Well, when every writer works within the same constraints — whether it’s 79 words or 500 words — flash fiction becomes almost like a game or a sport. Rules demand creativity and showcase talent.

How to Write a Flash Fiction

Micro-stories can provide the opportunity to experiment in a low-stakes environment — challenging you to spotlight a slight story while hinting at a larger one and squeeze more out of every word and detail. They also allow you to engage readers who may be short on time (or attention).

Plot Map Flash Fiction Style

Write Your Own: Generate Ideas

1. Generate a list of topics/issues/ideas for flash fiction stories. Make sure you’d be interested in reading about these ideas! Share.
2. Select at least one idea from our shared list.
3. Write about it, at length. It can be revised for length if you choose to turn it into flash fiction.

Idea Generation

1. List what matters to you, right now.
2. List social issues that demand your attention.
3. List people, places, things, ideas, that mean something to you.

Choose one idea from our shared list or a new idea you have thought of. Write about that idea, at length.

Molding the Characters

MAKE YOUR CHARACTERS like real people. Make them believable. Create character profiles that bring the characters to life.

Name:

Age:

Appearance (physical description):

Relationships (family, friends, etc.):

and the juicy stuff….

•The Fear (what are they scared of?)

•The Secret (what are they hiding?)

•The Flaw (what makes them “human” — what they may consider wrong with themselves, or why others may judge them)

• The Quirk (what makes them unique?)

What Do Your Characters Do?

What do(es) your character(S) want? What happens/will happen if HE/SHE/they do not get what they want? What motivates your character(S)?What stands in your character’s way?

Flash Fiction Drafts

Using a PLOT MAP, BUILDING CHARACTER, AND CHARACTER MOTIVATION, DRAFT YOUR STORY. Do not concern yourself with length right now, just make sure all elements of Flash Fiction are present!

Shorten It & Revise It

REMOVE ANY Unnecessary DETAILS, SCENES, CHARACTERS, CONFLICTS. DO A WORD COUNT. Is it less than 1000 words? Does it deliver the message/theme you intended it to? Continue to remove any unncessary detials, scenes, characters, conflicts.

Revise writing — more is less. If words do not say anything, lose them! Do a word count. Is it less than 10000 words? Does it deliver the message?

Cut All Unnecessary Words

1. Practice on X (aka Twitter)
2. Pretend you only get one single solitary tweet to get the idea across. Can you do it?
3. Try this writing exercise and redo this sentence:

Pretend you only get one single solitary tweet to get the idea across to convey your idea.

Pretend you only get one tweet to convey your idea.

Look, I just saved 3 words by editing that sentence. That’s GOLD in flash.

Don’t Use Too Many Adjectives

Just use stronger nouns and verbs to do all the heavy lifting. For example, don’t say ‘walk leisurely’ when you can say ‘saunter’. Don’t say ‘small dog’ when you can say ‘Chihuahua’. Your specificity will build a better story with a smaller word count. The exception is for dialogue tags. You’re better off just using “said”, as other verbs related to speech tend to be distracting.

Choose An Emotion to “Color” The Story

Readers love it when they feel something.

Caution: do not manipulate the reader with melodrama.

[melodrama: noun. a dramatic form that does not observe the laws of cause and effect and that exaggerates emotion and emphasizes plot or action at the expense of characterization.]

Try ending in a different emotional place than where you start.

Pick a Strong Image

Now, describe it in words!

Limit Your Number of Scenes & Characters

One scene might be best. Otherwise, the world-building and setting can take up too much word count. The key is choosing a small but powerful moment in a character’s life and placing your story there.

You also don’t need more than 1 to 2 characters. More than that and it gets dicey. Too much dialogue, and too many interactions. For instance, Twelve dancing Princesses are suitable for a short story or novel. One dancing princess is suitable for flash fiction. Just say no to character clutter.

Point of View

You’re better off using a 1st person or 3rd person limited points of view which stick tightly to the protagonist. Pick just one point of view for a short story and utilize that throughout. Head hopping is particularly jarring in flash fiction. And avoid third omniscient, which also brings in too many points of view and character baggage for such a small space. One character, one carry-on, no suitcases. Airplane metaphor.

Use a Small Idea

Big ideas belong in BIG stories.

What’s the difference between a small idea and a big idea? The main difference is how you explore your concept. With a small idea, you keep it simple and only probe one aspect with a very narrow, laser-type focus. Consider it tunnel vision. For a big idea, you get to dive into multiple aspects and complex bits in detail. Big ideas are more like a 360-degree panorama, a lot is happening. You know you have a big idea on your hands when it feels ripe with possibility, you’ll be reluctant to only spend that one moment in the world, and you’ll be imagining more themes, plot lines, and characters than I recommend here.

Big idea= “A civil war breaks out among several noble houses for the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms.” That’s A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. Can you imagine this as a satisfying flash fiction piece? Not me. The indicators that this is big: “civil war” “several noble families” “seven kingdoms.” George R.R. Martin couldn’t even keep his idea(s) to one large book, because he had so much he wanted to explore!

Small idea= “A sentient bee microbot faces its demise and that of its companion bots.” That’s “Death Comes for the Microbot” by Aimee Picchi. Check out her interview with FFO to see how she developed her story idea. What makes this one small? It jumps in right before the demise of the bots and ends right after. Do we need their origin story or the rest of the world after the bots are powered down for the last time? I don’t.

No More Than One Theme

Make it count, but don’t hit us over the head with it either. A subtle theme is better than a hardcore one. Humans don’t respond well to stories that are more about a lesson than entertainment.

Focus On One Main Plot & Begin in the Middle

Skip the subplots.

JK Rowling is a master of subplots. So if this were a Harry Potter flash, it would be stripped of everything else but the main conflict of Harry vs. Voldemort. Harry wouldn’t be involved with Cho, Hermione wouldn’t campaign to free the House Elves, Ron wouldn’t play Quidditch, Fred and George wouldn’t quit school to open a joke shop, and a million other things just wouldn’t fit.

Start in the middle, at the beginning of the conflict.

Avoid backstory or prologue. And it’s best if you do not use flashbacks or flash-forwards either. They don’t work as well in such a small space.

Story Generation Ideas!

1: Write a story in which something transforms into something else.

2: Write a true story that is so ___________(insert adjective here) that no one would believe it’s true. But it is.

3: Find a story you’ve written that isn’t quite working. Chop it down to exactly 100 words. Give it a new title.

4: Write a story that is based in or uses elements of mythology–any mythology from any culture or time period.

5: Bibliomancy–open the dictionary to any random page, place your finger on any random word and poof! That is the title (or part of the title) of your next story.

In the end, writing a flash fiction story can be quite fun and you can submit it to contests to build your college resumes!

Don’t forget the ABCDE chart!