Flash Fiction Review

Source - Unsplash

Hello, Steemians. Today, I want to talk about flash fiction. This post was inspired by a reply someone left on my fiction post few days ago. The post was a flash fiction and he didn’t quite understand it, so he asked what the character did in the end. I’ll give an overview of what flash fiction is and its possible differences with short story.

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Flash fiction, like the name implies is a fictional work. Flash fiction is not really the whole story though it has beginning, middle and end. It’s like taking a peak into a character’s life. It still offers plot and character development as well as settings. It could be a six words story, fifty words story, five hundred words story, even a thousand words. It could also be part poetry, part narrative, very short stories etc. It’s a tough medium to tackle because the writer will have to make the reader understand the story without necessarily knowing everything about the characters or the story itself.

Take a look at an example of a one paragraph flash fiction I wrote few weeks ago. I wrote the story using this drawing by @vermillionfox as prompt.

Everyday, I sat and watched. It used to be every Tuesday, but not anymore. I've been watching them since the day he was born, sixteen years ago. It wasn't an easy birth. I had held her hand and called her a champ, which she hated, but it worked. Her hands always fascinated me. They were what attracted me that warm Saturday night. She was sitting alone in a booth for two at the east side of the restaurant, holding a wine glass with both hands. I had noticed the long fingers and the short nails before I saw the sadness in her eyes. Two months later, we were married. Then life happened. Work began to pile up for both of us. We barely saw each other. Sex became a ritual. We stopped trying to conceive. And one day, I received the annulment papers and a note. "I can't do this anymore," the note read. I never questioned it. I just signed. But that wasn't the end. A voicemail came after two weeks. We were going to have a baby; our baby. I was thrilled. I pushed and got visitation rights once every week. I would sit and watch them - she and our son. He was perfect. The curly bangs across his forehead, the mole on his small upturned nose, the dip on his upper lip and the smooth skin all helped frame his beautiful face. His eyes, however, remained closed. At first, we tried to deny it. We told ourselves that babies took all the time they needed to adjust. But anophthalmia was diagnosed. She stopped smiling. Every night, before putting him to bed, she would gently cup his face with both hands, her index fingers on both eyes, as she traced his eyebrows, and raised his eyelids. Then, she would realise the eyeballs didn't and wouldn't form, and she would stifle a sob. I began to show up everyday. She never objected. I would rub her shoulders while she read to him. Today, I sat on my usual spot at the foot of the bed, watching her slender fingers run slowly across his face. For the first time in sixteen years, I saw a warm smile on her lips.

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The story is less than four hundred words but it took me hours to narrow it down to the way it is. In the story, there is no mention of the kind of work the characters do. It also doesn't say if they got back together after the child was born. There is nothing on what happened in that sixteen years space. But the story is still beautiful and understandable without those information. That’s the thing with flash fiction. It’s not just about telling a story that has beginning, middle and end, you keep your readers glued and guessing while making the story beautiful at the same time. A short story can also easily be formed with it.

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Here are few tips to consider when writing a flash fiction.

• Few characters: Flash fictions are usually short so using a lot of characters is likely to get the reader confused. It also creates useless characters who actually do nothing to spice the story.

• Beginning of the end: This one is my favourites. Make the story beautiful by starting from the end or the middle and work your way up. It gives the reader something to chew on.

• Don’t go in circles: There are limited number of words so going in circles is not an option, especially when there isn't a good twist. Circles make the story boring.

• Story, not essay: Remember, you are writing a story not an essay. Relax and write your story like a story. Let your readers picture the scenes as they are reading.

• Be concise and straight to the point: Avoid using unnecessary words or phrases. Purple prose too except the work demands for it. Use as few adjectives as possible and hit the story on the head.

• Intense prose: Keep the readers at the edge of their sits. Intense prose won’t burn them. Make them take a peek at the end before they finish.

• Finally, don’t forget to deliver your message.

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Differences between flash fiction and short story.

Flash fiction and short story are often used interchangeably. The most notable difference is that flash fiction is usually not more than one thousand five hundred words, while short story ranges from one thousand to ten thousand words. Short story, no matter how short or long it is, is complete and has more depth. Flash fiction, although developed, is incomplete.

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Thanks for stopping by!
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