Best Flash Fiction

Some call it...

sudden fiction

microfiction

micro-story

postcard fiction

prosetry

or

a short-short story...

Some believe the term 'flash fiction' came from an anthology of stories 750 words or less published in 1992. The literary magazine publishers wanted stories short enough to fit on two magazine pages.

Flash fiction could be as short as two or three words... though most of it is much longer, up to 1000 words. The bottom line is, the publisher is the one that decides how long the stories should be. Study your market, know what's expected and desired, and write to specifications.

My favorite flash fiction length is right around 500 words.

I write to the prompt. Each day I find a writing prompt, then spend a moment thinking about the story I'd like to write, then simply write it out. That usually takes about ten minutes.

The story should have a beginning, an end, and a middle. If it doesn't it could be just a scene rather than an actual flash fiction story.

Remember to give your characters character. They must express themselves through their personalities and desires.

I believe in practice writing - a daily habit of putting something down on PAPER (not computage this time!) ... yes, PRACTICE writing, just for fun and for stretching the imagination.

My suggestion is to use practice writing time to quickly write a little story of about 300 to 500 words. I do this quite often, and have come up with some stories I think are terrific! Of course, I've also written some stories that fell flat when I re-read them six months later. It is the luck of the draw and you can't write good stories unless you risk writing bad ones!

My practice writing sessions are my best source of flash fiction.