Advice on Writing Good Flash Fiction

Writing flash fiction (a story of less than 1,000 words) may seem like the easiest job in the world, but it’s a lot harder than you might initially think. Flash fiction requires all of the elements of a novel, in condescended form.

First of all, you need a protagonist. The challenge in flash fiction is to create a compelling, memorable protagonist in an extremely short usage of words. It can be challenging, but the key is to keep things simple. Give them a tick – something to make them unforgettable. They don’t necessarily have to be named (some of the best protagonists aren’t, even in longer works), but they do have to have something about them that stands out and makes people want to keep reading.

Conflict must also be present in flash fiction. This can be in the form of an antagonist, or some other obstacle that the hero needs to conquer. Brevity can be a huge factor in making this difficult, but again, the key is to keep things simple. Limit yourself to a main conflict, and possibly only one or two sub-conflicts (depending on how long your work is). By keeping it simple, you make way for a nice, clean resolution to tie up your story.

The resolution might very well be the easiest part of your flash story. If you’ve kept the other elements simple, but strong and memorable, the ending should be easy to write. A good ending with any story ties up the loose ends and answers questions – this philosophy should hold true when writing flash fiction as well. Keep your resolution strong and in tone with the rest of your story, but again, make it clean and simple. By doing so, you make it readable and the end result should be a short, interesting work that flows well – the hallmark of good flash fiction.

Keep these simple notes in mind and you’ll be writing flash fics like a pro in no time.