![]() ![]() Chapter V, In Our Time, by Ernest Hemingway.Don’t believe me? Check out the following titles and tell me you’re not entertained: A good flash fiction story will always be satisfying despite its brevity. ![]() Reading flash fiction is a great way to pass time. The second reason to read great flash fiction is that they’re fun. That way you can find inspiration while learning the ins and outs of a good flash story. In fact, don’t even start writing until you’ve read ten or twenty flash stories from professional writers. You should be reading their work for two reasons:įirstly, you can’t master a form of writing without first reading that form for a few hundred hours. There are many professional writers who have mastered flash fiction. What they don’t want are stories that are spoon fed to them with tedious narration. They want to excavate narratives and find meaning on their own. Readers love stories that challenge them, stories that put their imagination to work. Spend your words on vivid imagery and powerful prose instead. Hint at setting, characterization, and backstory, then let readers fill in the blanks. If a character is walking down a street and a stranger points a gun at them, don’t explain to readers what's happening. Every word should push the story forward. You don’t have room for extraneous dialogue or narration. In flash fiction, you need to cut your story down to the bare bones. Those writers knew how to subvert expectations with endings that felt earned. Readers will see it coming from a mile away.įor examples of effective short story endings, watch a season of The Twilight Zone. Surprise them! Don’t come up with a silly twist ending that doesn’t fulfill your narrative, but avoid writing the first ending you think of as well. Then, end the story in a way that pays off for readers. Make sure those stakes are enough to keep readers interested. To create stakes, your characters must be at risk of losing something. What matters is that you resolve your story’s conflict. ![]() Remember, stories don’t always need a happy ending. With the stakes established, make sure to end your story in a way that resonates with readers. Just make sure your conflict is clear and identifiable to readers. Think big - as in career, marriage, or life-ending stakes - or stay small. With flash fiction, you don’t have much room to establish stakes, so don’t be cryptic. What stands between your character and their goal is your story - the conflict that keeps your readers engaged.Ĭhoose conflict that is worthy of your readers’ time. Save all that beautiful narration for your debut novel, limiting your flash fiction to only the words you need to push the story forward.Īs with any story, the main character in flash fiction should have a goal. However, you can’t spend four paragraphs describing a tree. Flash fiction requires a sense of movement, with every word pushing the narrative forward. Keep your dialogue and imagery succinct yet powerful. Choose a single setting with one or two characters. The limited real estate in this medium means you must tighten your prose. Can you tell a good story in 1,000 words? If you can, then congratulations. In a novel, writers can devote pages to one character or a single setting. Sounds like blasphemy, right? Stick with me here. ![]()
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