Readers of fiction are usually most familiar with the classic form of a novel, consisting of pages upon pages of character development, worldbuilding, and dialogue, which all combine together to create a full and cohesive plot. Whether enjoying a relaxed two-hundred-page beach read or investing hours in an eight-hundred-page epic, reading fiction is a beloved way to escape into a new world. Some of the most impactful and memorable fiction stories, however, aren’t even a single page long.
What is Flash Fiction?
Flash fiction (often referred to simply as ‘flash’) is a fascinating subgenre that seeks to tell complete stories in a very short amount of space – generally under one-thousand words, and sometimes as fleeting as only six words. A ‘drabble’ is a common type of flash fiction that is exactly one-hundred words long.
Flash fiction still operates under the principles of normal fiction, as it seeks to tell a complete story with characters, setting, and plot — it just presents the challenge of doing so very briefly. A famous example of flash is “For sale: baby shoes, never worn,” an anonymous six-word snippet that is popularly misattributed to the minimalist writer Ernest Hemingway.
“For sale: baby shoes, never worn” is an exemplar because it exhibits the power of implication. It implies characters (a mother and a father) who have experienced a tragedy (a lost child). The format creates a sense of setting, allowing the reader to picture someone flipping through the advertisement section of a newspaper. It does all this without explicitly mentioning any characters or setting!
Because of the power of implication, a skillful piece of flash fiction should allow readers to glimpse the edges of the broader story, without being told too much by the writer. When writing flash fiction, you don’t need to limit yourself to the extreme of six words, but each word you do use should imply or provide something crucial to the overall story.
Developing Narrative
Even though the goal of flash fiction is to work with a limited word count, the genre still aims to tell a complete story, and so there must also be development and tension of some form. Traditional fables from around the world often appear as flash fiction, and are time-tested models of how interactions and events can be communicated through the short form. This West African folk tale about Anansi, a spider trickster, uses clever dialogue to build tension in a scene.
Anansi heard Tiger roaring. He looked around. There was Tiger, trapped in a deep pit. Tiger was leaping and jumping, trying to escape. Anansi looked down and smiled.
“Hello, Tiger!” he said. “Having trouble down there?”
That made Tiger mad! Inch by inch, he started clawing his way up the pit.
“You can do it, Tiger!” Anansi shouted. “Come on! Come on!”
Near the top, Tiger gasped, “No… more… strength…”
“Just pray!” said Anansi. “Put your paws together and pray for strength.”
And when Tiger put his paws together, he slid all the way back down. Anansi ran off, laughing.
Even though it's only one-hundred words, this memorable fable has a classic plot structure with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Just like when you share a joke or an anecdote, the final few lines break the tension and reveal the comedic purpose of the story. Flash fiction can be humorous, sad, heart-warming, shocking, or anything in-between — but it achieves its intended effect by using narrative to facilitate plot or character development. When you write flash, make sure your story has a clear purpose that fits within the constraints of your word count.
Vivid Vocabulary
Because each word is so valuable in flash fiction, a good strategy when writing is to open up your thesaurus and find strong adjectives and verbs that will generate vivid action and setting. In his piece “A Prayer”, Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz exemplifies this approach:
I was less than seven years old when I said a prayer for the revolution.
One morning I went to my primary school, escorted by the maid. I walked like someone being led off to prison. In my hand was a copybook, in my eyes a look of dejection, in my heart a longing for anarchy. The cold air stung my half-naked legs below my shorts. We found the school closed, with the janitor saying in a stentorian voice, ‘Because of the demonstrations there will again be no school today.”
A wave of joy flowed over me and swept me to the shores of happiness. From the depths of my heart I prayed to God that the revolution might last forever.
With words such as ‘escorted’, ‘dejection’, ‘stung’, ‘stentorian’, and ‘swept’, Mahfouz doesn’t waste any space, but rather uses efficient and visceral vocabulary to elevate his one-hundred and twenty word story. When writing flash fiction, finding the best words to use will take multiple rounds of revision as you whittle the story down to its most vivid and compressed version.
For the first draft of your flash fiction, try to write without limits. Then, through editing, see how much you can trim away. You might be surprised by how much you can cut, combine, and condense while still preserving the heart of the story!
Ambiguous Endings
Whether a centuries-old fable or a contemporary vignette, a key characteristic of flash fiction is that it’s memorable and offers layers of meaning. The best flash fiction is that which can be reread or retold over and over again, because it contains questions that can be continually pondered. The story “Give it Up!” by Czech writer Franz Kafka presents a clear scene and narrative, but has a relatively ambiguous ending that is left open to interpretation.
It was very early in the morning, the streets clean and deserted, I was walking to the station. As I compared the tower clock with my watch I realized that it was already much later than I had thought, I had to hurry, the shock of this discovery made me unsure of the way, I did not yet know my way very well in this town; luckily, a policeman was nearby, I ran up to him and breathlessly asked him the way. He smiled and said: “From me you want to know the way?” “Yes,” I said, “since I cannot find it myself.” “Give it up! Give it up,” he said, and turned away with a sudden jerk, like people who want to be alone with their laughter.
Kafka’s story describes a straightforward scene, but the last few lines add an intriguing depth that leaves the reader with questions about the overall intent and purpose. Had the policeman simply given the narrator the directions he needed, the story would have been pretty boring. Instead, Kafka twists the policeman’s response into something unexpected, and offers a creative and thought-provoking interpretation of his response. The story is complete, but the events are mysterious, resulting in something that will likely stick with a reader for a long time.
Your turn to write!
Flash fiction can be intimidating, but it’s one of the most rewarding genres to read and to write. It’s a challenge to fit a complete narrative into a handful of words, but when you do, the result is profound and satisfying.
Writing flash fiction is one of the best ways to truly learn the value of each word you use, and to stretch your imagination and vocabulary. And when you subvert the reader’s expectations and leave them with an unexpected ending, you’ll inspire questions and critical analysis and expand the impact of your story beyond the words themselves.
As you prepare to write flash fiction, consider these practical tips:
- Prepare yourself for lots of editing. Multiple drafts will be the key to refining and condensing your story!
- Stay in a small scope. It’s probably smart to stay focused on one or two characters at most, and to keep the details of their lives and world sparse. The smaller your scope, the more impact you’ll be able to have in the short form.
- Learn to be comfortable with the power of implication. You don’t have to tell the reader everything — trust that a few key details will be enough for them to paint the bigger picture in their mind.
- Have confidence in your twist. Whatever surprise or clever turn you include in those last few lines, write it boldly and without equivocation.
About Madison Zuñiga:
Madison Zuñiga recently graduated from university with degrees in creative writing and studio art. She never wants to stop learning about the craft of writing, and finds that the best way to do so is to read the work of others. She has recently enjoyed flash fiction stories from Jorge Luis Borges and George Saunders, and often practices writing her own drabbles in the notes app on her phone.
