This article first appeared in Write Stuff, the newsletter of Northern Colorado Writers, September 2009. Enjoy!
Five Keys to Successful Flash Fiction
by Michelle Mach
My love of flash fiction (stories of 1,000 words or fewer) began when I had limited time outside my full-time job to write. I naively thought that shorter stories would be easier and faster to write. By the time I learned they weren't, it was too late. I was hooked. Here are five tips I've learned over the years about writing successful flash fiction:
1. Focus on the main point-of-view character. This doesn't mean your story should only have one character; it's easier to show conflict with two characters. But more than two becomes tricky in a small space. Referencing off-stage characters is one way to give the illusion of a fuller cast. Characters can also be nameless. Surprisingly, this can add unexpected depth. In one short mystery, I only named the villain. Showing that the detective was too flustered to introduce himself and that the villain didn’t care revealed more about their characters than pages of description.
2. Create a one-scene story. Additional scenes mean additional description, which you won't have room for in a very short story. Since you don't have the luxury of working up to a scene, choose the scene where the climax occurs. And forget about subplots!
3. Write long, then edit for length. Worrying about word length too early may stunt your finished story. Nothing will tighten your writing like having to trim 1,000 words down to 500 or even 250. Characters will no longer "figure out" something, they'll "learn" it. They'll hardly ever "um" and "uh"; they'll state what's on their minds. Adverbs and adjectives will melt away, as will word-gobbling passive voice. Metaphors will take on new importance. In one 250-word story, I described a menacing thug as "looming like Mather Tower." Not only did this succinctly convey his threatening size, but it also underscored the 1920s Chicago setting.
4. Twist the ending. More than other story forms, flash fiction often ends with a twist, something that reverses the reader's expectations. Genre stories tend to be more twist-oriented than literary stories, but even those often end with a quiet realization that everything was not what it seemed on the surface.
5. Focus on the title. Think of the title as bonus words for your story, a way to set the stage or add another telling detail. Sometimes it takes longer to find a compelling title than to write the story itself. One of my own favorite titles is "Criminal Express"—a title that conveys both the ranting of a criminal
narrator and the grocery store express checkout lane setting.
The shorter the story, the more likely you’ll find yourself relying on all five of these tips. Stories with 1,000 words obviously have more latitude than those of fifty, the length of my first published short story. No matter what your favorite story length, a little time writing flash fiction will convince you that less is more.
Michelle Mach's flash fiction has appeared in Mslexia, Short Attention Span Mysteries, and other publications. She has twice won honorable mentions in the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine's mysterious photo contest which limits word count to 250 words. Her short story "Love Heist" which won 3rd place in The Writer's 2008 mystery fiction contest felt like a "long" story at 2,000 words.