Monday Guest Flash Blogger: John C. Mannone Answers "What is Flash Fiction?
?
Of course, this is all my opinion, so I am going to dispense with those qualifying words IMHO. An opinion is an opinion. It is neither humble nor is it wrong (though it can be misguided; I pray mine is not). I am writing this from the top of my bald head, so forgive sentence structure and any clarification problems.
?
If flash were nothing more than a shortened short story, then there would have been zero reason to christen a literary genre called flash. There is already short story (2000-7000/8000 words) and short short story (1000-2000 words). To have a short short short and relabeling it flash is absurd.
?
The compression of language does something that changes the writing paradigm between short story and flash. Just the mere reduction in the word count tells me that it is “impossible” to have a short story, necessarily partitioned with a beginning, middle and end, a main character, a plot, a conflict and its resolution, not to mention the setting and multiple characters development.
?
In short story, the words will have to be transparent to achieve all this without bogging the reader down. There is a balance between character-driven and plot-driven stories. That balance requires words so that the reader flows along without having to do too many mental gymnastics or to get defocused with excessive character description and character study. Pretty much (but not completely) the story is laid out and the ending is satisfying (from a reader point of view).
?
Flash fiction does have word count limits, just like any other short fiction form. There is virtually unanimous acceptance of the 1000-word upper limit (though some zines will administratively limit the count to 500 words (I think deliberately to minimize short story attempts in disguise or for space considerations, too). I saw a quality ezine (forgot its name at the moment) that actually rewards its contributors by the shorter-is-better standard. They’d pay twice as much for a 300-word flash than for a 700 to 1000-word flash. The lower limit is a little more flexible (undetermined) but seems to be in the 250-300 word range, though I’ve seen it down to 100 words (clearly well into the microfiction range). The boundaries are blurred and that’s okay.
?
I said earlier that I believe there is a paradigm shift in flash fiction writing in contradistinction to short story. The tighter language will necessarily bring more focus to the words (compare with poetry where the weight of words usually reaches a maximum). And what is not said becomes increasingly important. The flash fiction piece approaches poetic writing in that the language is distilled and requires more of the reader to extract the nuances the author designs into the piece. (In fact, one way certain kinds of flash fiction can be thought of—the kind that I would normally write—as a prose poem with dialog and other prosy elements in it. But I have also written flash fiction that is 90% dialog and not poetic at all).
?
I’ve delayed “defining” flash fiction until now because I think there is a big difference between flash and short story (and wanted to show some of these differences) even though flash may approach short story, it must necessarily rely on the stuff in between the lines. Regardless, flash can and usually does bring something than a story. Like the name suggests, flash fiction focuses on a flash moment or a slice of life. It is not that something that is read in a flash (of time) simply because it is shorter, though this might be true too. But that is artificial, most flashes often beg to be read again (immediately) because of a “sharp ending”… I’m looking for a different word here, can’t find it; not clever or cerebral, but certainly not a typical story ending. It might have to do with the intensity, I don’t know. (We encounter something similar in poetry; we reread to see the layered meanings that become apparent by the end of the poem. But I don’t want to dwell on this because I don’t want to give the impression that flash is typically like poetry, because it is not… but can be—one of the beauties of this form for me.)
?
In flash, there will be no word-room for it to do all the things a short story does (and does well—I have come to appreciate the short story and think very highly of it in case I might have given a different impression). So, the wisdom is to have fewer characters (one or two is typical), it still has to have setting, but plot, conflict and its resolution, are not necessary ingredients. However, that doesn’t mean they must be absent. For example, Vestal Review, a highly respected journal imposes a 500-word limit on flashes and they must have a plot! So it is possible to have some more of the short story elements than initially suggested, but I’ll bet a more attentive (as opposed to casual) reader is required. (I might stand corrected here, but it wouldn’t vitiate anything I have voiced.)
?
When I was introduced to the term a little over a year ago, I eyed it suspiciously with a jaundiced eye, but have since then seen the exquisite beauty of this form. It deserves more respect than that of a bastardized form of short story.
?
I would highly recommend consulting with people who really know what flash fiction is and be able to defend it better than I have attempted. I would believe [them] over the other “camp” who say that “flash is all about word count: it’s a story, just like a short story, only shorter.” Now I’m getting mad again. I better stop.
?
?
Subscribe to FlashFiction.Net by Email
Post Your Comment