Flash Fiction Shorter than you thought fiction could be.
And flash fiction is…?
A sort of definition: ⦿ Extremely brief (usually < 1,500 words) ⦿ Aka short shorts, immediate fiction, microfiction, etc ⦿ Still contains all the usual elements of fiction (do you remember the 5 that we discussed yesterday?) ⦿ Known affectionately as the “obscure little sister” of the typical short story
Some Flash Fiction Elements ⦿ Few characters › Explaining 8 people wastes words ⦿ Descriptions that tell show › Maximize impact with vivid scenes ⦿ Efficiency of a poet › Big impact in a small package ⦿ Clear Vision › Avoid “but what happened then?” at the end
Keep in mind… ⦿ Be realistic. › A few elements done well can substitute the usual painting of setting / characters ⦿ Is every word essential? › No adverbs. ⦿ Make a point and drive it home hard. › Leave the reader changed and breathless. ⦿ On “needing” change: › When presented with the opportunity to change, deciding not to change counts
A Few Quick Examples “Snow” by Julia Alvarez • “Night” by Bret Lott • “Buddy” by Me •
Night” By: Bret Lott He woke up. He thought he could hear their child’s breathing in the next room, the near-silent, smooth sound of air in and out. He touched his wife. The room was too dark to let him see her, but he felt her movement, the shift of blanket and sheet. “Listen,” he whispered. “Yesterday,” she mumbled. “Why not yesterday,” and she moved back into sleep. He listened harder, though he could hear his wife’s breath, thick and heavy next to him, there was beneath this the thin frost of his child’s breathing. The hardwood floor was cold beneath his feet. He held out a hand in front of him, and when he touched the doorjamb, he paused, listened again, heard the life of his child. His fingertips led him along the hall and to the next room. Then he was in the doorway of a room as dark, as hollow as his own. He cut on the light. The room, of course, was empty. They had left the bed just as their child had made it, the spread merely thrown over bunched and wrinkled sheets, the pillow crooked at the head. The small blue desk was littered with colored pencils and scraps of construction paper, a bottle of white glue. He turned off the light and listened. He heard nothing, then back out of the room and moved down the hall, back to his room, his hands at his sides, his fingertips helpless. This happened each night, like a dream, but not.
⦿ How does this story leave the reader feeling?
⦿ In flash fiction, the reader and the author are sharing a small, intimate space. › Be sure that you’re respecting that as an author. ⦿ Moods mix with happenings, characters develop through tiny instances, the ride is short and fast but worth the wait.
Activity Options
Inside Option: ⦿ Write down three instants, three small moments that have the potential to alter someone’s life, even if that change is small. › Slipping in the shower, seeing an ex across the room at a party, picking a shade of lipstick, etc › (good potential for nonfiction here, btw.) ⦿ Pick one and write a flash fiction piece that is fewer than 750 words.
Inside/Outside Option ⦿ Take a classic story and make it flash fiction. This could even be a quote or something you heard someone say and give it a story. ⦿ Examples! › The times were good. Also bad. “A Tale of Two Cities” › Kids sneak around, get married, die. “Romeo and Juliet” › Desperate, noble poor get shafted. Repeatedly. “The Grapes of Wrath”
Outside Option: (This option is intended to open up the range of writing to include poetry, nonfiction (dialogue recreation, and flash fiction) ⦿ Go outside and listen to at least two separate conversations. Don’t be rude/obvious. (Be cool, man, be cool.) › Write down general notes about the conversation and what’s being said. Make no attempt to gather verbatim what is being said; rather, get the gist written down. ⦿ Take those notes and either recreate the conversation, create a poem out of it, generate a flash fiction scene out of it, just do something with the notes.
Inside Option: ⦿ Think back to a time where something hit you emotionally ⦿ Now think about that same memory but in a different light. Maybe your friend’s perspective? ⦿ Now think about that memory but add a little twist to it. ⦿ Write!
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