Summer 2001

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Writer's Block



Yellow daisy

Feature
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Fitting a Story on the Head of a Pin

by Robbi Hess

Challenge yourself. Make every word count. Tighten up your prose. Experiment with that deceptively simple form of writing called "flash fiction."

Flash fiction — "short-shorts," "sudden," "postcard," and "microfiction" — refers to pieces of prose that range from 75 to 1,000 words. In China, such fiction is called "smoke-long stories": stories that are just long enough to peruse while smoking a cigarette. Whatever name you give it, these vignettes are made to be devoured quickly and their taste left to linger long after you have savoured the final word.

Flash fiction purists contend the art of the story lies in its brevity — the shorter the better. What these pieces lack in length, they more than make up for in content. The writing is tight, concise, compressed. Imagery, soul-stirring language, and ideals that resonate with the reader are crucial to these vignettes. A writer who can lead readers down one path and abruptly drop them at the story’s end has done his or her work. Flash fiction pieces are not necessarily slice-of-life stories, but rather a segment of the world carved out for our reading pleasure.

The resurgence of flash fiction has been explained by many as a by-product of our hurry-up world. Flash fiction accommodates our need for immediacy while nourishing the mind with prose that is oblique, enigmatic, thought provoking and above all, short. The proliferation of immediate access to information via the Internet has propelled our addiction to immediacy. The trend toward getting more information, faster feeds this addiction. Flash fiction satisfies our craving for speed. Who, in this harried world, cannot find the time to savour a story that doesn’t require the turning of a page?

The advent of online magazines has also fuelled the necessity for flash fiction submissions. While many people will sit down with a novel, few will sit hunched over a keyboard, staring at a computer screen to read the same book. For online reading, readers generally choose something shorter and that does not require scrolling.

Some stories are complete in less than 25 words while others encompass more than 1,500. These word counts, however, are merely stepping-off points in the world of flash fiction. Qualifying and quantifying the flash may be a task better left to the editors who publish it. Every market that accepts, and publishes, flash fiction has its own sets of guidelines. Acceptable word lengths for flash submissions are as varied as the editorial boards that accept them.

Owing to the brevity of flash fiction, many writers fall into the trap of thinking that plunging into the fiction pond will be easier with flash fiction. In fact, because of its brevity, not in spite of it, the task of composing a flash fiction piece is daunting. Unlike a novel, in which the author has more time and space to get his or her point across to the reader, flash fiction offers extremely limited space. All elements of a story — a beginning, middle, and end — must be present. Consider the following pointers when writing flash fiction:

  • Write the story, frills and all. Then, weigh each word on its own merits to determine whether it is worthy of inclusion. Show no mercy to extraneous adjectives and adverbs; if they lend nothing to the piece, eliminate them.
  • Start your story near the end, at its climactic peak, then jump into that tension-filled melting pot of character emotion.
  • Think of your story as a lightening bolt. It must strike your reader with its flash of heat, and then dissipate, leaving the reader with only an idea of what occurred and his or her imagination to fill in the blanks.
  • Think about the words: Do they grab your readers’ attention, suck them in, get them reading, and then send them on their way, breathless and wanting more?
  • Do not think of your piece as a fragment of a larger story.
  • Wield that red pen (or delete key) with abandon. Brevity is crucial to success.
  • Upon completion, determine whether your story can stand alone. You can leave your readers wanting more, but ensure that it is not because you have left them with unanswered questions.

By keeping these points in mind, you will discover you are able to convey emotion and depth of character with far fewer words than you originally imagined possible. Take Ernest Hemingway’s Hills Like White Elephants, for example. The rapid-fire dialogue, attention to detail and the subtle nuances of the characters challenge the reader to form his or her own opinion on the characters’ motivations and hidden agendas.

Contemporary writer Jorge Luis Borges, considered by many to be one of the finest writers of the twentieth century, has penned flash fiction stories that are no longer than half a page. Included within his lines of prose are images and flashes of brilliance that remain in readers’ minds long after the book has been laid aside.

The beauty of this bare-bones writing lies in the fact that it is so pure. Frilly, non-essential words are peeled away, leaving behind only the words that are essential for conveying the tone and idea of your yarn.

Every writer, at some point in his or her career, should attempt this form of prose. It is an ideal way to get back to the basics of writing by forcing you to compress beginnings, middles, and endings into a space so brief you could paste it on the back of a picture postcard. Imagine how much cleaner, clearer, and more concise your "real" writing projects would become if you sharpened your skills in the flash fiction forum.

Those who are considering making the leap into flash fiction should read as many examples of them as possible. Flash Fiction, an anthology compiled by Tom Hazuka, James Thomas, and Denise Thomas, is a good place to start. The editors sought out stories that could be read "without turning the page." According to Hazuka, the book is a celebration of stories that top the word scale at 750.

You may never become rich writing flash fiction pieces but you will gain something more valuable — insight into a deceptively simple form of writing that refuses to tolerate anything but the tightest of prose and a tool to help you improve your writing in general.The End

Robbi Hess is a freelance writer living in New York. She writes for Genesee Country, Business Strategies, and several newspapers. She also operates The Professional Edge, a resumé writing service.

Some online magazines that exclusively feature flash fiction:

http://www.mysterynet.com/

http://www.iceflow.com/doorknobs/DB.html

http://www.anotherealm.com/flash/ff1q01.html

http://www.eaze.net/~oz/phoenix/html/flash_fiction.html [Link no longer works.]

 
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