Flash Fiction

Flash fiction is a style of fictional literature or fiction of extreme brevity. There is no widely accepted definition of the length of the category. Some self-described markets for flash fiction impose caps as low as three hundred words, while others consider stories as long as a thousand words to be flash fiction.

In one particular format, established by Steve Moss, editor of San Luis Obispo New Times, the requirement is 55 words; no more and no fewer. Another, unspecified but frequently held, requirement is that the title may be no more than seven words. Hyphens do not alter the word-count ( ...more

Most Read This Week Tagged "Flash Fiction"

Flash Fiction International: Very Short Stories from Around the World

Writing Flash Fiction: How to Write Very Short Stories and Get Them Published

Flash Fiction Books

Flash Fiction Forward: 80 Very Short Stories

Micro Fiction: An Anthology of Fifty Really Short Stories

The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction: Tips from Editors, Teachers, and Writers in the Field

Flash Fiction America: 73 Very Short Stories

Going Short: An Invitation to Flash Fiction (Master Class)

More flash fiction books...

Lists

Flash Fiction List 2 - Extremely Short Stories

73 books — 3 voters

In the Shadows of Giants by Summit Abrams

Summit Abram's Stories

2 books — 1 voter

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Works of Pure Genius

773 books — 703 voters

2014 SHORT STORIES

37 books — 73 voters

Chimaera and Other Stories by Steven Bruce

Netherworld and Other Stories by Steven Bruce

Euphoria and Other Stories by Steven Bruce

Flash Fiction-Short Stories

40 books — 50 voters

"Of Words" series

5 books — 1 voter

Related Genres

Fiction
Short Stories
Ficțion
Fiçtion

Featured News & Interviews

Pick Your Poison: Four Paths to Find Your Next Horror Read

Read »

Quotes Tagged “Flash Fiction”

“ Let's press ahead a little further by sketching out a few variations among short shorts: ONE THRUST OF INCIDENT. (Examples: Paz, Mishima, Shalamov, Babel, W. C. Williams.) In these short shorts the time span is extremely brief, a few hours, maybe even a few minutes: Life is grasped in symbolic compression. One might say that these short shorts constitute epiphanies (climactic moments of high grace or realization) that have been tom out of their contexts. You have to supply the contexts yourse Let's press ahead a little further by sketching out a few variations among short shorts: ONE THRUST OF INCIDENT. (Examples: Paz, Mishima, Shalamov, Babel, W. C. Williams.) In these short shorts the time span is extremely brief, a few hours, maybe even a few minutes: Life is grasped in symbolic compression. One might say that these short shorts constitute epiphanies (climactic moments of high grace or realization) that have been tom out of their contexts. You have to supply the contexts yourself, since if the contexts were there, they'd no longer be short shorts. LIFE ROLLED UP. (Examples: Tolstoy's 'Alyosha the Pot,' Verga's 'The Wolf,' D. H. Lawrence's 'A Sick Collier.') In these you get the illusion of sustained narrative, since they deal with lives over an extended period of time; but actually these lives are so compressed into typicality and paradigm, the result seems very much like a single incident. Verga's 'Wolf' cannot but repeat her passions, Tolstoy's Alyosha his passivity. Themes of obsession work especially well in this kind of short short. SNAP-SHOT OR SINGLE FRAME. (Examples: Garda Marquez, Boll, Katherine Anne Porter.) In these we have no depicted event or incident, only an interior monologue or flow of memory. A voice speaks, as it were, into the air. A mind is revealed in cross-section - and the cut is rapid. One would guess that this is the hardest kind of short short to write: There are many pitfalls such as tiresome repetition, being locked into a single voice, etc. LIKE A FABLE. (Examples: Kafka, Keller, von Kleist, Tolstoy's 'Three Hermits.') Through its very concision, this kind of short short moves past realism. We are prodded into the fabulous, the strange, the spooky. To write this kind of fable-like short short, the writer needs a supreme self-confidence: The net of illusion can be cast only once. When we read such fable-like miniatures, we are prompted to speculate about significance, teased into shadowy parallels or semi allegories. There are also, however, some fables so beautifully complete (for instance Kafka's 'First Sorrow') that we find ourselves entirely content with the portrayed surface and may even take a certain pleasure in refusing interpretation. ("Introduction") ...more ”
― Irving Howe, Short Shorts

6 likes

“ So when she looked in the mirror one day, and saw the beginning of thorny protrusions on her legs, a slight greenish tinge to her skin, she sighed. It was inevitable. - The Monster In Her Bedroom, Havok Magazine, Issue 1.1 ”
― Katherine Valdez

2 likes

More quotes...