With the advent of our very own Activated Authors “Flash Fiction February” challenge, it only seemed right that we should help those writers who have no idea what flash fiction is to understand a little more about the form.
So, what is flash fiction?
Flash fiction is simply a story that you write while holding an electric Van de Graaff.
Don’t believe us?
Good. That was a test.
Flash fiction, in its most simplest terms, is a form of incredibly short fiction. While arguments still ring out about what the precise word counts are that denote flash fiction, short stories, novelettes, novellas, novels, and grand-novels (yes, that last one is fake), flash fiction is typically seen as an story that is self-contained within a range of 100 to 1,000 words.
It’s all about brevity, you see. Flash fiction tests an author to see if they can write a story that leaves a complete imprint on a reader, while being economic and efficient with their words.
What’s the point of flash fiction?
There are many reasons as to why a writer might consider engaging with the shorter form that flash fiction gives. Here are some of our top reasons why you might consider flashing some readers:
It’s a challenge:
Have you ever tried to write the entire story of The Lord of the Rings in just 1,000 words? I wouldn’t recommend it, though it is possible. Writing flash fiction can be a great challenge to see if you’re able to peel away all the extraneous detail that comes with writing a novel, so that you can boil down your story concept into one core idea. After all, an entire story can be inferred in only a few words. For example:
“I’m sorry, it’s a girl” said the doctor to the father.
“No, I’m sorry, you’re a sexist” said the girl child to the world.
“Untitled,” by Adhiraj Singh
To improve your prose:
What better way to strip bad habits and improve your prose by putting confinements around your story? If you’ve got a bad habit of using “saidisms” (e.g. “he said,” “she gasped,” “they asked”) or “filtering” words (e.g. “he saw the woman approach,” instead of “she approached”) then there’s no better arena for these bad habits to be highlighted and for you to force them out of your go-to lexicon. In writing, often, simpler is much better.
To build a habit:
I’ve seen a lot of writers over the years decide that they have a story to tell, and then jump into an attempt to write 80,000 words of a story, when they’ve never finished anything smaller (I’m not judging, I spent three months writing the start of 10 different efforts of my still-to-come epic fantasy trilogy), but there’s something to be said for finishing a story and collecting “quick wins.”
Building the writing habit can be hard work, especially when you’re chipping away at a mammoth story and you can see no end in sight. With flash fiction, you get the opportunity to sit down, write a story, and finish that story—often in just one sitting.
By completing short works every day, the dopamine lightbulb in your brain oven gets brighter, and you begin to see the benefits of creating a consistent routine. Soon enough, you may even begin to view chapters of your book as shorter stories, and the habit transfers into your novel writing.
What better way to improve than to trick your brain with win-fluid?
To experiment:
Oftentimes, flash fiction leaves a pretty wide scope for you to play with. A writing prompt may be as simple as, “When we all fall asleep, where do we go?” With this stimulus, you can then create a number of different stories from different angles, playing with genre and voice and point-of-view and tense and form, spinning short tale after short tale just to discover what works best for you. You can write in dialogue only, or in description only, or theme your story with as many synonyms and references to the colour red, all in the interest of discovering yourself as a writer, deliberately practicing, and (most of all) having fun along the way.
It’s quick:
Some writers take months to write a novel. Some take years. Some take weeks.
I can almost guarantee you can write a 100-word story in one quick sitting. After all, 100 words is considerably less than the current length of a tweet.
To take a break between projects:
Some authors use flash fiction as a pallet-cleanser between larger projects. After gluing fingers to the keyboard for 8 months (a method I would advise against unless you’re diving into a life of crime and no longer fancy your fingerprints), the notion of completing a few short, experimental works is a great way to flush out your creative stagnation and remind yourself that writing doesn’t always have to be year-long endeavour.
To expunge ideas:
My introduction to flash fiction came from my work co-founding and writing for The Other Stories podcast. Each month myself and my three co-founders gave each other a theme for our horror stories, and we all worked to write something unique from the stimulus.
Over the months that passed, I was tested. I had limited time to write these stories, and some of the themes threw me through a loop. What this challenge did was force me to generate new ideas, to flex my creative muscles and really think outside of the box to avoid the typical stories I’d read (after all, how many angles can a horror writer approach a vampire from?).
With flash fiction, and a prompt of your choosing, you can throw ideas onto the page endlessly. It’s a great way just to test ideas and see where they lead. Some of my longer works have come from flash fiction that was adored by readers who demanded more.
To summarise, flash fiction is a fantastic form of writing for creatives to experiment with. In just a short time, you can create a body of work to submit to publishers, you can experiment with ideas and improve your prose along the way, you can grow your confidence and voice as a writer, and you can use this form as a palate-cleanser between projects.
How can I get started with writing flash fiction?
Have you got a pen and paper? Computer and fingers? Thumb and phone. Then that’s all you need to begin. Give yourself a prompt, and away you go.
There are also a host of communities, projects, prompts and challenges online that can help you settle into writing your flash fiction and building your writing habit. Why not check out our very own “Flash Fiction February” challenge, in which we’re giving writers a prompt every day throughout February, with a 36-hour deadline to submit a story, with the chance for writers to be published in our flash fiction collection, “Bolts of Fiction?”
All the information can be found at www.activatedauthors.com/flash
What has been your experience with flash fiction? Did you find it useful? What are some recommended resources you have to help get writers started on their stories?
