Let’s talk about form. While I was working on my MFA in writing I taught as a Teaching Assistant two terms of Composition and one term of Creative Writing and one term of Fiction Writing at the University of Pittsburgh between 2004 and 2006. For the Fiction Writing class I tried to explain in simple, logical language several elements of the short story that I had found out about through constant experimentation. Now experimentation can be a very slow process. So, here are a few insights about the form of the short story.
As far as I can tell, and I may be wrong, but the basic form of all short stories is: the setup, the buildup and the payoff no matter what length the story is. That’s it. Don’t believe me? Go to any stories of your favorite, successful authors and re-read them; you will find this form. Some writers are more skilled at hiding the form, but it’s there all right and I would guess that this form has not changed for successful story telling since our ancestors painted stories on the wall of caves.
For a piece of flash fiction (around 1,000 words) the setup might be one, two, three, maybe four short paragraphs. The setup will probably give the location of the story, maybe introduce the main character(s)–best to keep the number of characters small like two or three–and plunge the reader into the action.
The buildup will usually be the body of the story and will contain most of the action, conflict and tension.
The payoff will contain the resolution.
That’s all there is to it. Nothing here is meant to be a hard, fast rule; but it will give anyone who wants to write flash fiction a rope to hold on to as he or she enters the swirling waters of the very short story.
