It seems I can't do flash fiction - at least, not within the 500 word definition of the forum. I treat it as a shortened short story, and that doesn't seem to work. I struggle to tell a complete story in 500 words. So what makes a good flash? Plot? Imagery? Something else?
I've always found Flash Fiction to be the most intimidating art form of writing, more so than poetry. Poetry at least has the advantage of being vague on purpose (I know there's more to it, but it's late, and I ask you to humor me on this), whereas with flash fiction, there's the expectation of a full, complete story. Most flash fiction feels unfinished, and it usually is. I think maybe instead of looking at it as a shortened short story, try actually telling it in 500 words. I know, you said you struggle, but maybe this is something you personally can challenge yourself to do. From what I've read of your stuff, you have the capability of telling a solid story. I think for me, what makes a good flash fiction is a purpose to the story. In a sense. I know I said above that poetry has an advantage of being vague, but sometimes if you do it right, flash fiction can be vague too, while still getting a purpose across. It's almost like I want you to convince me this 500 word piece is worth my time. It's not a lot of room for wiggling, but sometimes the best stories are the smallest in terms of word count. I know I'm just saying a lot of the same thing over and over again, but I'm not sure what else to say about it now. I lost my train of thought... Sorry.
I'll be very interested to see how this thread develops. I am one of those old fogeys who doesn't find the concept of flash fiction the least bit attractive. Why? Basically, because I read stories for immersion. I want to exist inside another reality as I read for pleasure—put it down when I have to stop reading, then resume later on, etc. It's the journey that keeps me interested. And the development of character and situation. And the gradual unfolding of some principle I can take away, into my own life. Flash fiction just doesn't give me that sense of journey at all. I'm not sure what the purpose of flash fiction is, tbh. It's almost like telling a joke ...a camel, a donkey and a horse go into a bar and the camel says ...etc. The only real purpose of the story is the ending? The clever punch line? And the sooner we get there, the better? Yet it's become very popular. I'd love to hear from people who do like it. What is it that attracts you to flash fiction?
I was actually talking to a friend on here about this few days ago, so it's funny you mention it. I like to think of flash fiction in likeness to a joke, not for comic value, but for structure. You're pitching a set-up for a structure of the joke, and then attempting to hit a line drive with a solid punch-line at the end to leave the reader chewing on. Best to strive for one core analogy or metaphor to drive off of and use as your momentum for reader contemplation and interest, then punch home with a solid realization or on-liner that flips it on its head. This kind of goes against traditional story building concepts, because you lack the room, and this also means that the words need to be controlled like poetry. Abstraction can definitely be a tool to use here, because pulling the strings tight at the end is part of the natural form of flash. I personally like to experiment with flash for the purpose of learning how to control abstraction and metaphors. They're contained, so you don't have too much to sift through, but the diction choices are critical. I find that looking for the precise descriptor that moves the plot forward as well as supports the core message is key to solid flash. Make it all count, and don't reach too far. Less is most certainly more, and abstracting the mundane items of regular daily life can put a refreshing view and image for the reader to take pleasure in.
How interesting, that you think of it as being more akin to poetry than to short story/novel writing—requiring precise imagery and total focus on purpose. That might well be the key. I think I'll go take a look at some of the Flash Fiction contest entries, with that in mind. Excellent. Thank you for the 'insight of the day' for me. Mind you, it's only 6am here at the moment. The day is young!
Just visited the Flash Fiction contest thread. I've easily picked my favourite thus far. It's tight, and the twist at the end is crucial to the story in many ways. I'm now intrigued by the possibilites of flash fiction. Hey.
I'm still very new to this whole flash fiction genre, but the way I think about it when writing one is to make a self-contained, slice of life story. You do have to be efficient while writing, but that can help get rid of passive voice and excessive adverbs. So I do like how writing them trains you to be a tighter writer. Though I do think I'm an underwriter so it might fit nicely with my natural tendencies.
I had half a post written last night before going out saying basically this, and I come back this morning to find you've conveniently said it better One thing I'd add is that you can use cultural context, especially for the shorter flash, in a way that you probably wouldn't in longer forms. As an example, this is the opening line to one I wrote a while ago: We're all familiar with idea of a genie and 3 wishes. In a full story you probably explain more about how Emily came to meet the genie. Here, this was a 100-word story so space is at a premium, and the phrase 'for her final wish' loads all the setting information needed for anyone familiar with the trope.
Interesting. I had never heard of flash fiction before I joined up here. Imagery isn't something I generally do very well. Perhaps that's part of the problem. You mentioned you didn't like twist endings. Do you see a purpose to it in flash?
In this particular case, yes. It made the whole little story take on a different tint, at least for me. The story would have worked even without the twist, by the way. But it gives the meaning push in a slightly different direction. I'll be interested in finding out who wrote it. By imagery, I suspect what I meant was 'specificity.' The more specific the details are, the more universal they become ...in an odd way. They're the opposite of lofty, generalised analysis. Good imagery just nails the situation—and you, the reader, are there. And so you are gently led to see, feel and think what the writer did. And you 'get' what the writer wanted you to understand, without being coached. To paraphrase one of my favourite poems from one of my favourite Scottish poets, Norman McCaig ...he has a poem in which he says something like, "I herd my flock of beliefs along a narrow path; they behave well until they pass your house." That's a very specific image. He could, instead, have rabbited on for several lines about how, "You are the one who always challenges my beliefs." That's the difference. You'll remember that first image, but you probably won't remember the lofty analysis. I don't know if you've taken a look at the current contest, or not, but it's worth while. A big variety of entries and levels of sharpness. And a few twists that felt gimmicky to me as well. Which can be a problem with flash fiction, in my opinion.
I have indeed. I suspect I know which story you are referring to, but we'll have to wait until perhaps after the voting to see. See, I've entered but I suspect my story will not do well. I usually come dead last. Last month, the story I felt was strongest didn't get any votes other than mine, and a story that didn't work for me won (that is absolutely NO reflection on the author or the story, it's just my personal feeling) I just don't really "get" what makes a good flash piece, that's what I'm trying to understand. When I wrote "The Ship", I conceived it as a short story, and wrote it more or less as a truncated scene. It sort of worked, but came across as a scene from a longer story - which it pretty much was.
Flash fiction is the average of a poem and a short story. Some conflict has to be presented and resolved and it has be written beautifully. That's my own criteria.
Flash is about what isn't written. It's about implications. You don't have enough words to explain a situation, so you need to sneak around the limits of the word count. Metaphors and imagery help, I agree, and precise descriptors do too. I always think of Wodehouse's description of Jeeves "trickling into the room." It's funny how that one word seems to hold a paragraph. The twist ending is really not necessary. It can be there. It sort of rolls its implications backwards at the last possible moment, so it's neat when it works, but don't rely on it. Don't judge any contest as deciding what's best, and always be ready to lose. You're playing to the moving target that is the audience, and they're volatile in the extreme. The winner is just what this month preferred. So I guess I'm saying don't give up! Keep entering. Losing isn't really a loss. It's not a judgment upon you or your skills. I've never given any flash advice here, but there are two aspects of flash I'd make sure in place. Neither is easy. This is probably just an IMO thing, so don't get mad. It obviously works for me, and I've seen many, many stories where it would have helped. 1) Concise editing Spoiler: the long of it While it's possible to have a lot of verbiage and wordy padding—if you're capturing an instant in time that contains a story, let's say, and the sloppiness holds a necessary voice—for the most part you want to minimize all the empty connectives in a sentence. This is just a mechanical skill, really. Get the sentence as tight as you can and then add modifiers/phrases to it that expand the moment rather than just hold an average thought together. I don't mean that you should be overblown and shoot for fancified prose, just give meaningful sensory details that emote. Make it unique. Also, I'm not talking about minimalism. (I actually hate the empty stage. It seldom works. Setting is very important.) I'm not saying that a rambling voice can't be used. I'm talking about those empty connectors holding a line together. It's like how a brick wall needs mortar to hold, but the mortar isn't the wall itself. You don't want it slopping down the brick face. You don't want three inch joints because then the wall (sentence) topples. 2) Avoid story-long dialogs Spoiler: my personal opinion This one's really an IMO thing, but I'm flipping through my flash fiction books right now (I have several) and I don't really see many stories like this. I do see a lot of them here. Yeah, there are conversations in flash, and there is the occasional story that is mostly a dialog, but even it is built up around the edges so that it says more. Dialog is easy to write because every time we open our mouths to speak it's to start/continue a dialog, so it flows naturally onto the page. It's fun to write because it's easy. That doesn't mean it makes a great story. I guess that I feel these types of stories are almost in the wrong medium. They're more like a sitcom comedy or a cinematic drama than prose. All of them could have been shifted out of dialog, compressed and used to carry a bigger story, and flash wants that. It almost demands it. These stories would have had more impact that way. Of course there are exceptions.
I would say never underestimate the power of a sentence. One sentence can set the scene of the whole story. Can provide the twist or the conclusion. It can even be the bit that makes the reader go, 'Ahh, now I get it.' Every word and sentence is so much more valuable with a restricted word count. Just to add, I am not talking about the multiple comma sliced version either. For me at least I am trying my best to construct proper sentences that serve a purpose. Another very common issue I find is the author 'clearing their throat.' By that I mean the first two, three or more paragraphs are literally just ignored or wasted. So keen are we sometimes to tell the story beyond. I know I and others sometimes do this. It is important to remember that the reader may well bail out before they get to the bit that we want them to read. So, make sure they want to read all of it. I have begun to understand that writing slightly over the word count is something that works for me. Then it is just a case of cutting out unnecessary words, phrases, sentences and even paragraphs. I would not really call this editing as such, more like trimming the fat. What should remain is a better or best version. Well, these are just my thoughts anyway for what they are worth.
"The letter I have written today is longer than usual because I lacked the time to make it shorter." -- Blaise Pascal
I only recently tried to write it and I've found I Like it. It allows me to start and finish something fairly quickly. I have started making my own prompts to write about to get me thinking creatively. It helps me cut down on my tendency to pretend I am Charles Dickens and paid by the word. My process is I will write the short story, then check the word count. If too long, I go through and edit out extraneous words that I added because they sound good, but aren't really needed to add to the flow of the story. If it is under, I can go back and add more details. It's a challenge to get a coherent story at that level, but with the short word count it doesn't necessarily take a lot of time, so it encourages me to write more. If I turn out to really like the way a prompt led me, I can expand on it, make the flash fiction into a short story. If I don't, it was a creative process to help me improve my skills.
I think with Flash you really need to know where you're going. That's not to say the story needs a twist although the format does lend itself to that, but if you don't have the whole thing in your head pretty clearly when you start to write, it's not going to end up as a flash fiction piece. I found it very useful in curbing my verbosousness (that's a word, I promise) but now I'm trying to train myself to breathe more description into my stories. I still really enjoy reading flash though; sometimes my schedule only has five or eight minutes before my stop on the train and having something to entertain me in that space is great.
I know you contained this in one of your spoilers, but I think it's excellent. You said, regarding some flash fiction: "...capturing an instant in time that contains a story..." That really is similar to poetry, isn't it? It's RECOGNISING that instant in time that's probably the trick. It's what makes me attracted to certain poets. It's that click of recognition I get when I read a good poem that makes me go, "Omigod, of course. Why didn't I think of that?" I'm beginning to see that flash fiction is more akin to poetry than a short story. I always thought of it as a short short story—and I could never see the point, other than catering to folks who can't or won't take time to read a normal short story. I've had my eyes well and truly opened on this whole thread. I now have a lot of respect for flash fiction—what it is, and what it can do.
“Prose: words in their best order; poetry: the best words in the best order.” Samuel Coleridge. In that sense flash fiction is closer to poetry.
I really like this idea. In my limited experience, poetry lends a great hand to prose. I think that prose by its nature is unable to repay this debt, but that is of no matter. Maybe flash, shorts and novels may only borrow a phrase that is poetic and they are all the better for it.
