Prepared by: Eric Petersen
Posted on: January 20, 2002
Reposted on: January 19, 2003
Reposted on: January 18, 2004
Reposted on: January 23, 2005
Reposted: June 18, 2006
This exercise was developed by Eric
Petersen, and was
first run on January 20
2002.
Flash Fiction (also known as Short-Short
Stories, Sudden
Fiction, and Furious
Fiction) is a shorter, more compact version of the short story. Its
very brief
length makes it one of the most challenging forms of writing to partake
in.
There is quite a lot of disagreement about
the exact
length a Flash story
should be. I have seen publishers' guidelines declaring it to be
anywhere from
100 to 1,000 words maximum. The most common maximum length publishers
request
for Flash Fiction is 500 words, so that will be the limit for this
exercise.
Flash Fiction stories are very much like
standard short
stories in that they
must have a beginning, middle, and an ending. They must also have
character(s),
setting, and theme. However, a Flash story must begin immediately and
move
swiftly toward the end - no long descriptions, no unessential words.
The goal
of the Flash story should be to present a single effect resulting from
a single
cause. The character(s) must change radically and the outcome must be
swift.
There are two typical outcomes of a Flash
story:
- An unresolved or downbeat ending
- A surprise ending or unexpected twist - irony
According to Stephen Minot (Sudden
Fiction: American
Short-Short
Stories),
Flash fiction has its origins in five different traditions: True
Experiences,
Anecdotes, Speculations, Dream Stories, and Poetic Stories. Flash
Fiction and
the Prose Poem are kissing cousins.
Here is the exercise: in 500 words or
less, write your
own Flash Fiction story,
keeping in mind the information just given you above. Use your own
ideas or
write a Flash story based on the following scenario: a man notices a
curious
object abandoned on a park bench, so he sits down and examines it,
meditating
on its nature. For example, the object could be a toy that brings back
a
painful (or happy) childhood memory.
Flash Fiction is the most challenging form
of literature
to write, and writing
Flash is a great way to sharpen your writing skills. The Workshop's
Prose-P
list deals exclusively with Flash Fiction and Prose Poetry, so if you
enjoyed
this exercise, you might want to join Prose-P. To join, just send an
e-mail to
prose-p-request@lists.psu.edu
Eric Petersen's wrap-up
Posted on: January 25, 2003
Hey, Folks -
As the author of the In A Flash exercise,
I would like
to commend you all on
your submissions. I have seen a lot of excellent writing from you. I
had a
feeling that I would, because here on Practice-W, all of our exercises
require
us to limit our submissions to 300-500 words, which are typical lengths
for
flash fiction.
The main difference between flash fiction
and the other
exercises we've done is
that flash pieces have a definite beginning, middle, and end, whereas
the other
exercises require us to just write a scene illustrating the point of
the
exercise.
As you know, I am the administrator of the
Prose-P list,
which caters
exclusively to flash fiction and prose poetry. If you enjoyed the flash
exercise and would like to write more flash pieces or prose poems or
both,
please feel free to join Prose-P by sending an e-mail to
prose-p-request@lists.psu.edu and I will add you to the list. We're a
small but
dedicated group, and I know you'll enjoy yourself on Prose-P.
Thank you all for making this exercise a
memorable one.
- Eric Petersen
.
Web site created by
Rhéal Nadeau and
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Modified by Gayle Surrette.