Flash Fiction

Looking for a fun writing exercise? Here's one that will challenge the best of writers. Flash Fiction. Getting a complete story into as few words as possible. Publishers of flash fiction vary in their required word limits, but it can be anywhere from fifty to a thousand words. 

In the January, 2007 issue of The Writer, there is an article by Harvey Stanbrough, Sharpen Your Skills with Flash Fiction. 

He says, “Because of its brevity, flash fiction forces writers to see how unnecessary some words are, and their other writing always improves, too.” 

Although short, flash fiction must be a complete story with these elements:

a.    Setting: Will most likely be shown or implied through action, dialogue, or characterization.

b.    Character: Most flash fiction has only one or two, but may have three or four, with some of them only implied. “In flash fiction more so than in any other genre, you will often find implied characters.”  — Stanbrough

c.    Conflict: In flash fiction this is the most important element.

d.    Resolution: The natural and satisfactory outcome to the conflict.

e.    Implication: Give the reader just enough to get what the story is about. In so few words, you are forced to trust your readers to see what you’ve shown without having to tell it.

“When you only imply an emotion or an occurrence and let the reader infer it, he actually experiences it to some degree.” — Stanbrough 

Do you want to try it? See if you can write a complete story in 100 words or less, then add it  in the comments. 

Editing for brevity

One of the most important steps in editing anything I've written, is to cut—lots of it. As William Zinsser claims, about 50% of what we write can be eliminated without losing meaning. 

A good example is my last blog post. I usually edit each one several times before posting. This time, I was forced to publish it quickly before my computer shut down. I couldn't get it to save and I didn't want to lose it all. Normally I would have gotten back to it immediately and revised it, but I was late for an appointment that kept me away all day. Eventually, after several cuts, I reduced it by at least half. If you read an early version, I invite you to scroll down to see the latest, more spare one. 

In following the advice I give in my writing classes, I write without concern for the editing steps I know will come later. I take Ann Lamott's advice and let the first draft be the child's draft, writing without censor whatever comes to mind. This allows free thinking and the chance to get the thoughts down before they are lost. When the first draft is written, I take very seriously Zinsser's advise, and incorporating his "four basic premises of writing: clarity, brevity, simplicity, and humanity." 

Too often we writers will add an adverb that carries the same meaning as the word it modifies. The same is true of adjectives. And far too often I'm guilty of rambling, as I seek the exact idea I wish to convey. As David Belasco said, "If you can't write your idea on the back of my calling card, you don't have a clear idea." 

Thomas Jefferson declared that "The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do." 

My advice to writers is this: Write freely, using as many words as come to mind to state what you are thinking and feeling. But before publishing them, cut every unnecessary word. When rewriting, remember the words of Hosea Ballou, "Brevity and conciseness are the parents of correction."