Tips: Want To Write Some Flash Fiction?

Flash fiction is popular because it can express deep truths and universal emotions in a few short sentences. Flash fiction may expose important truths and resonate with many people.

What Is Flash Fiction?

In the literary world, flash fiction is a short tale. When it comes to flash fiction, there is no predetermined word count that divides it from traditional short tales (while short stories typically run for several pages). Short-short tales, micro fiction, and micro stories are all examples of flash fiction.

There are other even shorter categories inside that general definition:

• Six-Word Story: In other words, just what you’d expect. Six-word stories are among the most difficult subgenres to master. Think of the classic example attributed to Hemingway: “For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn.”
• Twitter Story: The tales in this collection are all 140 characters or fewer, which is the maximum character count for a tweet.
• Dribble: A “dribble” is 50 words or less short narrative.
• Drabble: is a 100-word story. This popular sub-category of flash fiction offers online contests and challenges to help writers use their creativity and avoid extraneous frills.

Flash tales are micro, nano, abrupt, and instantaneous fiction. Most flash fiction works are 500–750 words, long enough to build tension and intrigue but short enough to constitute a short story. Well-written flash fiction must have tension, a compelling voice, and emotional impact. Flash fiction helps authors strengthen their muscles since it’s tough to accomplish quickly.

3 Characteristics of Flash Fiction

All-flash fiction pieces share several traits.

1. Brevity. Flash fiction shortens the length of a novel to only a few sentences. Flash fiction does not have a fixed word limitation; however, the most typical word restrictions are six words on the short end and roughly 1,000 words on the long end.
2. A complete plot. Like any other narrative form, a flash fiction tale has a beginning, middle, and conclusion. This distinguishes it from a prose poem or vignette, which may explore an emotion, a memory, or a notion without having a storyline imposed on them.
3. Surprise. Surprise is a common element in great flash fiction, whether in the shape of a plot twist or an unexpected last line. This is not a gimmick: the goal is to have the reader ponder the story’s deeper significance.

What Are the Origins of Flash Fiction?

Since the beginning of writing, fables and parables have existed. Walt Whitman, Kate Chopin, and Ambrose Bierce popularized the genre in the 1800s—this period’s best-known flash fiction (although frequently misattributed to Ernest Hemingway).

The passion in these sentences inspired many writers to explore the genre. Robert Shepard and James Thomas’ 1980s collection Sudden Fiction revived interest in flash fiction, W. Norton was also influential, and Tom Hazuka, Denise Thomas, and James Thomas gathered 72 stories.

Lydia Davis, George Saunders, Jamaica Kincaid, Joy Williams, and Stuart Dybek are just a few of the many well-known modern flash fiction authors. SmokeLong Quarterly, a flash fiction journal started in 2003, publishes works of fewer than 1,000 words.

Why Write Flash Fiction?

So why would anyone spend time writing such short work? Shouldn’t you be working on your next novel instead? Flash fiction improves writing abilities. Flash fiction’s short length makes it difficult to create a meaningful plot arc. Many authors overuse adjectives and repeat themselves. Every word counts in flash fiction.

Novels earn more than short fiction. I mean, why pay $4.99 for 50 words? Novels take a long time to write, and Flash fiction is difficult yet quick (relatively speaking). You may write a few flash fiction tales daily to advertise your name and business. That’s the key to flash fiction: a writing exercise you can also use as a marketing tool. Talk about doing double duty!

Promoting with Flash Fiction

Authoring additional books is the greatest method to increase your book sales. To increase sales and establish a following, you should publish multiple books so people can discover your work and love it before reading more.

Writing a book is time-consuming, and you can’t always deliver great novels quickly enough to please your readers. It’s possible to fill that need with flash fiction. A continual stream of flash fiction may be released to fill in the gaps between book releases since it is much easier than authoring a novel.

Some of the numerous locations where you may publish flash fiction with a bio are the various online literary magazines. Your bio may provide links to your books, allowing prospective readers to learn more about your work.

Also, it’s a great method to get new readers hooked on your work since they don’t have to devote hours or days to read a book, but rather a few minutes on their commute or while waiting in line. You may utilize flash fiction to promote your writing profession and longer works.

Ideas for Promoting with Flash Fiction

1. Tweet one or more tagged flash fiction stories every Friday.
2. Post a short story on Instagram. Canva and PicMonkey make sharing fun photographs easy. Again, hashtags help people locate and share content.
3. Some email newsletter subscribers could get daily flash fiction. By segmenting your email list, you send daily mini-fiction to your most active readers.
4. Write about a favorite literature character. Gradually extending a character’s tale increases the number of readers who want to know more. As if you were writing book fanfiction.
5. Micro-stories let you try out new settings and ideas. Depending on their reaction, the best ideas will become stories, novellas, or novels. Best market research!
6. Compile a month or quarter’s worth of your most popular Twitter and Instagram short tales into an eBook and offer it free to email newsletter subscribers or for 99 cents on Amazon.

Learn How To Write Flash Fiction in 6 Steps

Whether for publication or practice, writing flash fiction may be a test of creative discipline. To help you start, here’s a little tutorial.

1. Visualize the topic. Use every word. Give your readers mental images.
2. Focus on one thing. Focus on one moment. Trying to cram many scenes into a short tale is pointless.
3. One or two characters at a time. 3. Don’t overload your story with characters. If you have more than two characters or circumstances, consider a short narrative.
4. First-person writing helps. You’ll say more in fewer words and engage the reader more effectively.
5. Trick your reader. Change your story’s tone in the end. No matter how short, flash fiction surprises and transports the reader.
6. Titles matter. Few words may pack a powerful title. Widow’s First Year is a nice example. The story’s single sentence is “I survived.”