FlashFiction.Net

Think long and hard about why you avoid this subject. Then write about that subject, so that your search is the character's search, both of you searching for the same answer. Make sure you don't know the exact reasons for your avoidance. See what you and your character discover together.

Take a flash that you've been struggling with completing and reverse your sensibilities. Side with the person you know to be wrong. Make the person you like (the one you identify with) be the mistaken one. Sometimes this process helps you see deeper into the issue.

Create a narrative-based flash, somewhere around 500-700 words, probably not less than 200 words, rarely more than 1000 words.

• Begin with the incident that sets the story in motion.


• Develop the middle section through an action or actions that are attempts to satisfy the desire aroused at the beginning.


• End the story with the resolution of the tension in the middle section, that conflict created between the character's strong desire and the force(s) that thwart its fulfillment.

Further Reading:

Kathy Fish, "Wren" from FRiGG

Joseph Young, "What Happened Was" from the angler 

Jeff Landon, "Five Fat Men in a Hot Tub" from SmokeLong Quarterly 

Kelly Spitzer, "Disintegration" from Vestal Review 

Katrina Denza, "Crimes on the Bus" from Long Story Short 

Stephen Douglas Gullion, "A Flute Named Desire" from Adirondack Review 

Kim Teeple, "Raw Silk" from Salome Magazine 

Robert J. Bradley, "Blind Love" from SmokeLong Quarterly 

Ellen Meister, "A Crack in the Foundation" from Ink Pot 

Claudia Smith, "Bluebonnet" from juked 

Gary Cadwallader, "Out of Scale" from flashquake 

Ellen Parker, "Metallic" from SmokeLong Quarterly