What is the difference between a flash fiction story and a regular-length short story? They’re both about a “significant event given closure”. It’s just that a flash fiction story is a lot shorter. That’s it. Any other definition only muddies up the water. Which means, if you can write a complete short story within 300 to 600 words, more power to you. However, the story has to have story development, characterization, character inter-action, some terse dialogue is always a good thing and of course a resolution.
The story can be about love, war, sex, friends, men and women, relationships and marriage or any random subject. Can’t be done. Sure it can. Just check out the stories in the sidebar on the right under “Great Flash Fiction Stories To Read”.
And if you want to know how to write a flash fiction story, just check out the articles in the sidebar on the right under “More Flash Articles”.
Filed under: Commentaries Tagged: | articles, characterization, dialogue, flash fiction, friends, love, marriage, men and women, random, relationships, resolution, sex, short story, story development, war, Writers
darkwasthenight:
I couldn’t agree more. I think the modern reader is flooded with information. So, when it comes to fiction the reader tends to scan just like you pointed out. To scan well-written flash fiction is a mistake.
I’ve found that a reader’s approach to flash fiction possibly needs to be modified. In as much as longer fiction lends itself to scanning. What I mean by that is that there is a tendancy to flit over the pages of a longer piece of fiction. if you do this with flash fiction, you’ll miss something vital to the piece and find yourself lost. With flash fiction, every word, every sentence needs to be absorbed to best appreciate the writing.